Review of Suds (1920) by Aj V — 23 Jul 2005

Sometimes you finally see something that was a real source of controversy 25 or 30 years ago and it loses a lot. Watching "Deep Throat" 20 years after the fact you wonder how it caused all the fuss it did, since there have been thousands of sexier and often better porn films since. "Pink Flamingos" stands the test of time. I just saw it for the first time and even though it's 33 yearsold, it's still every bit the sick, grotesque and demented outrage it ever was.

It became most famous for Divine eating dog shit at the end (which is just as gross as you'd imagine) but there's plenty of other jaw-dropping stuff, sex that involves two chickens being rubbed between the lovers' bodies, police being clubbed to death and eaten, the legendary Edie "The Egg Lady" Massey, baby-selling, cross-dressing, murder, contortionists. This puppy was one of a kind. The so-called outlaws today like Kevin Smith would never have the guts to make something this just plain wrong.

And I saw it on Starz On Demand cable! This movie has explicit sex scenes they wouldn't let the Playboy or Spice Channels get away with, but somehow "Pink Flamingos" has passed into the realm of "art" and it gets shown uncut. This was even a 25th Anniversary Edition that had John Waters showing deleted scenes at the end! Well I guess it isn't like anything a sane person would call a sex film. Something this bizarre yet focused has to be a work of art. There's nothing else to call it. This is the damnedst thing to come out of Baltimore since the work of Edgar Allen Poe.