Review of Pink Flamingos (1976) by Stuart K — 30 Dec 2012

John Waters was just a local filmmaker who had made short underground films, before moving up to trashy yet controversial films like Mondo Trasho (1969) and Multiple Maniacs (1970). For his next film, he pulled out all the stops, and it would turn him into a cult icon of underground cinema.

The film is still shocking 40 years later, and it has the power to repulse, but it is funny as well. Babs Johnson (Divine) has the alias of Divine and also has the reputation as being "the filthiest person alive", but she lives a quiet existence in a trailer in a bit of woodland outside Baltimore along with her egg-loving mother Edie (Edith Massey), delinquent son Crackers (Danny Mills), and traveling companion Cotton (Mary Vivian Pearce).

Across town, jealous perverts Connie Marble (Mink Stole) and her husband (David Lochary) run an illegal black market baby ring, selling babies mothered by kidnapped girls to lesbian couples. The Marble's believe they have the claim to being the filthiest people alive, and they go about taunting Babs, sending her shit in the mail and torching her trailer to the ground.

But, Babs isn't going to go out without a fight, and holds a kangaroo court. It's a sickening film, but it's one you have to see, the uncut NC-17 rated version can shock the most hardened viewer, and Waters has Divine do some unspeakably sick stuff, and even Crackers does something horrible with a chicken, (cut out of the UK version).

You'll feel dirty for watching it, but it's a good kind of dirty, you've gone beyond the point of no return and you won't be the same after seeing it.