John Waters

Waters is a Baltimorean. He set many of his movies in and around Baltimore (like "Serial Mom"), and filmed on location in his favorite city, as well. Many of his movies reference cultural elements of Baltimore, especially those of the 1950's (for example, the TV dance show in "Hairspray" was a clear homage to a local show that actually aired).

This is as comprehensive a list of John Waters movies as I can find:

• Hag in a Black Leather Jacket, 1964
• Roman Candles, 1966
• Eat Your Makeup, 1968
• Mondo Trasho, 1969
• Multiple Maniacs, 1970
• Pink Flamingos, 1972
• Female Trouble, 1974
• Desperate Living, 1977
• Polyester, 1981
• Hairspray, 1988
• Divine, 1990
• Cry-Baby, 1990
• Serial Mom, 1994
• Pecker, 1999
• Cecil B. Demented, 2000
• A Dirty Shame, 2004

John Waters' movies can be classified into two categories:

Before Polyester.

These are extremely low-budget using Waters' friends as actors. Low production values, but they're what made Waters famous. (Don't take a significant other to one of these unless (s)he's admitted to seeing one already)

After Polyester.

As Waters' cult following grew, he drew the attention of Hollywood: bigger budgets and well-known actors. Worth seeing, but they do show the influence of Tinsel Town (No, Hon, that's not the Christmas decoration display at Hochschild's).

The first time I heard of John Waters was when my sister brought home the Odorama cards from Polyester. Too bad we scratch'n'sniff'ed em. They'd be worth a bundle today.

czeano says: "Apparently the odorama cards were reprinted for the dvd release, but they had to remove the "glue" smell becuase "we can't have kids sniffing glue!" Which is ridiculous considering what else is on the card."