Week 9 (Aug 16 – 22) – Cinema of Transgression: “none shall emerge unscathed” -Nick Zedd
Neurotic Guilford housewife Peggy Gravel (Mink Stole) and her loyal housekeeper Grizelda Brown (Jean Hill) find themselves on the run after brutally murdering Peggy’s abusive husband. Following a chaotic detainment by a cross-dressing police officer, they are slapped with an ultimatum: face a murder trial or accept permanent exile to Mortville, a dystopian shantytown populated entirely by outcasts, fugitives, and criminals, all ruled with an iron fist by the fascist Queen Carlotta (Edith Massey).
Opting for Mortville, Peggy and Grizelda move into a boarding house run by the formidable lesbian wrestler Mole McHenry (Susan Lowe) and her girlfriend, Muffy St. Jacques (Liz Renay), who is hailed as the most beautiful woman in town. Chaos ensues when Mole hits the Maryland Lottery using a ticket confiscated from Peggy. She uses the windfall to undergo gender reassignment surgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital, only to castrate herself when Muffy is utterly repulsed by the results. Meanwhile, a twisted political war brews as Queen Carlotta, exhausted by her unruly subjects, enlists Peggy in a sinister plot to unleash a rabies epidemic and wipe out Mortville’s entire population once and for all.
Released as the third installment of the Trash Trilogy, following Pink Flamingos and Female Trouble, Desperate Living stands as the only film in the trilogy made without the iconic Divine, who was tied up starring in a stage production of Women Behind Bars. David Lochary, another essential Dreamland regular, was originally slated for a major role but struggled with severe PCP issues during production. His tragic passing occurred just weeks after the film’s release.
Production designer Vincent Peranio actually cooked a real rat so it could be sliced up during the opening credits (with Mink Stole’s hands doing the knife work). Meanwhile, the cockroaches that characters are forced to eat in the castle were cleverly substituted with ordinary raisins. I guess no one was ready to eat dog turds other than Divine.
“Go home to your mother! Doesn’t she ever watch you? Tell her this isn’t some communist daycare center! Tell your mother I hate her! Tell your mother I hate you!”
