7. Polyester (1981)
Poor Francine Fishpaw. Her hubby Elmer is the owner of a porn movie theatre and this has made her a social outcast. She has crappy kids as well - the promiscuous Lu Lu and the delinquent Dexter whose favourite pastime is stomping on women's feet. Her cocaine addicted socialite mother - La Rue - strips Francine of her money. The only friend Francine has is Cuddles - a woman who used to be her housekeeper but then inherited a crap load of money. Francine discovers that Elmer is having an affair with his secretary. She demands a divorce and sinks into depression and alcoholism, as her kids run wild. Dexter is revealed as the Baltimore Foot Stomper and Lu Lu gets pregnant by her thug boyfriend Bo-Bo. She is determined to have an abortion but at the clinic she gets scared away by protestors. She tries to induce an abortion at home causing Francine to call a home for unwed mothers who kidnap Lu Lu and spirit her away. Bo-Bo comes to trash Francine's house and in an altercation with La Rue Is shot dead. Lu Lu comes back from the unwed mothers home and sticks her head in the oven - traumatised by Bo-Bo's death. She has a miscarriage and this turns Lu Lu from a silly slapper into a gentle hippie. Dexter is released from jail - completely rehabilitated. Will Francine find happiness of her own? And can she escape the machinations of some dark forces to strip her of everything she owns? A pastiche of angsty women's films from the 1950s and 1960s, John 'Pope of Trash' Water's deliriously trashy movie is sure to satisfy fans of the garbage pail of cinema. It isn't as in your face as early Water's efforts such as Desperate Livin', Pink Flamingos or Female Trouble, but it retains the campy dark humour of the previous films and it is a showcase for Water's troupe of amazing/quirky actors - Divine, Edith Massey et al. Originally released in cinemas with 'Odorama' - a scratch and sniff card to be used at certain times in the movie to enhance the viewing experience (a marketing trick reminiscent of the films of William Castle), Polyester acts as a bridge between Water's early, in your face, offensive trash and his more mainstream work. Fans of either facet of Water's oeuvre will enjoy the endearing trash that is Polyester.