I am at a complete loss to understand why this film was not nominated for an Oscar for costuming, makeup and set decoration. It had the most outrageous costuming that I have ever seen. The sets were so hideous that they made me nauseous. The makeup was beyond belief.

That was the good things about the film that featured an outrageous star in Divine, a transvestite that played Dawn Davenport. He was so over the top that I couldn't take my eyes off the screen.

This is the first John Waters (Hairspray, Pecker) film that I have seen. He is definitely on the cutting edge in outrageous humor, horror, and satire.

This film on the outrageous cult of celebrity is no more outrageous than the current obsession in the media with Paris Hilton.

If you haven't seen a John Waters film, check out the Sundance Channel for this one.

This is NOT one of those cute little John Waters films like CRY BABY or SERIAL MOM that you and your family can watch and enjoy together. No, instead, this is one you rent when your kids are away at grandma's or are at a sleepover. No sane parent would ever want their kids to see this sick film--especially with its frontal nudity and very, very adult subject matter. BUT, for adults with a high tolerance for the weird and bawdy, this is definitely a great film. However, others should be forewarned--it is truly an intentionally offensive and gross film.

Yes, the film is deliberately trashy and shocking--featuring some of the sickest and funniest moments on film. Some examples? Well, when Divine's character runs away from home, she meets up with a guy (actually Devine but NOT in drag) and there is a bizarre sex scene where she (?) makes love to this guy (herself). And, to top it off for grossness and weirdness, the guy has huge brown "skidmarks" in his underwear! Also, there is copious amounts of child abuse, an aunt that is angry that her nephew the hairdresser is NOT gay and she sees this as very unnatural and sick, a Christmas scene that is one of the funniest and most irreverent in history, a hand being chopped off in retribution for acid being thrown into Devine's face, etc., etc. There's just so much over-the-top and funny grossness and awful behavior it's hard to keep track of it all!!

The film appears to have been filmed on a budget of about $16.93--with over-the-top acting (if you can even call it acting),grainy cinematography and a script that seems, at times, like it was just made up as the film was rolling. And, together, these actually give the film some goofy charm and make it an interesting bit of social criticism--particularly regarding the cult of the celebrity and beauty. Divine is at his/her most outrageous--with the only prison movie performance MORE amateurish and over-the-top than Susan Hayward in I WANT TO LIVE--which, in many ways, this film parodies in the final segment.

Violence, mayhem, violation of pretty much all social norms and a stunning electrocution scene--this film's got a little bit of everything! But, if you let your kids see this, they will never be the same again!!! Watch it and then if others ask, deny you ever saw it--and try not to snicker, as it is truly a hilarious film!

By the way, if the raunchiness of this film seems a bit daunting, try watching POLYESTER--it's a bit less sleazy and more mainstream but practically as weird.

I first saw this film without its soundtrack while at a gay bar in a now gone San Francisco bar, the Phoenix, riveted to the film as disco music pumped in the background. As soon as I returned home to Los Angeles, I had to rent the film to see what I hadn't heard, and I was not bored for a minute. To say that Dawn Davenport had a lot of problems is an understatement. I'm sure she was right down the hall from Tracy Turnblad (of "Hairspray") as these both took place in Baltimore around the same time, so watch it with that thought in mind.

Tracy was sent to detention for "a hair don't" while Dawn (the over-sized Divine) was expelled after fighting the girl who tattled on her for eating a meatball sandwich in class. Dawn is then furious when on Christmas day, she opens her present to find sensible lady-like shoes while she wanted "cha-cha heels". A fight with her father follows and Dawn rushes out into the cold in nothing but a coat and a slinky, too-tight nighty. Then, she is picked up by none other than Divine, in male guise, and ravished by him, leaving her pregnant and alone. You'll be mesmerized as Dawn delivers the baby herself, goes from hash slinger to go-go dancer to a part of a mugging ring.

Divine isn't the only gross-out character here; There's the enormous Edith Massey, stuffed into a one-piece leather outfit, as the aunt of the long-haired man Divine becomes lovers with. If the sight of Divine having sex with herself/himself isn't enough to drop your jaw, try Massey fondling herself topless then strutting around in this leather sausage wrapper as she begs her nephew to convert to homosexuality. "The world of heterosexuality is a sick and boring life!" she protests, even more aghast by Divine's womanly presence in his life. Daughter Taffy grows up into a Rhoda/Bad Seed/Nellie Olsen like brat who rebuffs her "daddy" then sets off to find her real father, now a disgusting drunk who ends up repulsing her.

Their world changes when Massey throws acid in Divine's face, but Divine uses the scars to accentuate what she already feels to be beautiful. I can't really repeat a lot of the dialog here, but even if I could, it would take away the pleasure of hearing some of the most obscene words put together in a reviling type of poetry. The film sort of falls apart when Divine goes on a major crime spree towards the end, but it really is spoofing all of those bad girl 50's and 60's movies, so that's a necessary evil. I can guarantee that while Waters' later films "Hairspray" and "Cry Baby" went on to become Broadway musicals, this one will remain where it belongs, as a midnight cult movie where the somewhat tipsy audience members shout out the lines along with the stars.