40 years ago, today, the most lasting form of Polyester arrived.
Forty years ago this month, John Waters, a man who notoriously ended a movie with its star snacking on freshly made dogshit, broke into the mainstream. The filmmaker wanted to prove he wasn’t just a tacky, trashy, tasteless provocateur. So, he came with, his first R-rated, 35mm movie that’s still filled to the brim with tacky, trashy, tasteless, provocative moments.
was Waters’ opportunity to show his transgressive brand of movie comedy could put asses in multiplex seats. He did this by bringing back a long-dormant movie gimmick: Smell-O-Vision. Unlike when theaters pumped in scents during the 1960 film—the only film to use Smell-O-Vision—Waters’ approach to getting folks to smell the movie was simpler. He had theaters hand out cards with 10, numbered scratch-and-sniff scents.
Just like the more grotesque-minded David Lynch, Waters is a filmmaker who has always taken wicked glee in exposing the weird, perverse, unspeakable shit lurking underneath the façade of “normal” America. He also enjoys bringing it all out in the open, which he does oh-so-hysterically in, right down to the gaudy furnishings in the Fishpaw residence and the purposely kitschy wardrobe.