Polyester

Starring Divine, Tab Hunter, Edith Massey, Stiv Bators, David Samson, Mary Garlington, Ken King, Mink Stole, Joni-Ruth White

In the first Waters film with a real budget and suitable for mass-consumption, he gives us Divine as the 300 lb. housewife, Francine Fishpaw, whose suburban dream home turns into a house of horror.

Her remorseless husband runs a porn theater and flaunts his affair with trashy secretary Sandra Sullivan - played by Mink Stole - in Bo Derek braids and "the finest in Polyester!"

Francine's daughter Lulu is a slut who only dates punks. In a realistic touch, her boyfriend Bobo is played by soon-to-be-dead punk star, Stiv Bators of the Dead Boys. Son Dexter is a popper-sniffing punk with a foot-stomping fetish. And her mother, Leroux is a real bitch.

This is also Edith Massey's last and most touching performance as the retarded maid-turned-millionare, Cuddles.

Everything seems to be going wrong for Francine, but then she meets her dream lover Todd Tomorrow, played by former teen dream Tab Hunter. Everything starts looking up, but what is that stench in the air? It's ODORAMA!

Francine has an extremely sensitive sense of smell. Therefore, the original theatrical release featured scratch-n-sniff Odorama cards (pictured below), allowing the audience to smell what she smells throughout the film. This is a tribute to the gimmicks that B-movie directors like William Castle used to employ when Waters was a kid. Odorama cards are still available in the DVD and on auction sites.

Polyester is undoubtedly my favorite John Waters film. It makes fun of fashion, cinema, marriage, alcoholism, Catholicism, punks, porn, abortion and murder! And make sure to listen to the songs. They're written by Blondie's Deborah Harry and Chris Stein.

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Polyester

1981, 35 mm, color, 85 minutes

Released through New Line Cinema