Trailer
Assistive Technologies

Desperate Living

Runtime
1hr 30mins
Directed by
John Waters
Featuring
Liz Renay,
Mink Stole,
Susan Lowe,
Jean Hill

Showtimes

Fri 11/29
Available for online purchase
Sold out/unavailable
Body

Peggy Gravel (Mink Stole) and Grizelda Brown (Jean Hill) escape arrest by running away to Mortville, a fantastical, trash-filled slum ruled by the fascist Queen Carlotta (Edith Massey), where they receive alarming makeovers. 

Van Smith, a Dreamland regular, designed the makeup and costumes, amalgamating the film’s garish outfits with drastically clashing textures and colors for a full-on assault on the eyes—and taste—of the audience. The third in John Waters’s so-called "trash trinity" that started with Pink Flamingos (1972) and Female Trouble (1974), Desperate Living’s fantastical sets were designed by his frequent collaborator Vincent Peranio with literal trash from Baltimore streets for a truly tasteless look. - Academy Museum

This Week

  • At 11:30pm on October 11, 1975, a troupe of young comedians and writers changed television and culture forever.

    Showtimes
  •  

    If you follow the instructions, what could go wrong?

    Showtimes
  • Amazing NEW TERROR Device Makes You A Living Participant in the FLESH-CRAWLING ACTION! PERCEPTO!

    Showtimes
  • From director John Crowley (Brooklyn) and starring Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh. 

    Showtimes
  • Limited 35mm engagement! Winner of the Palme d'Or at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival.

    Showtimes
  • The new thriller from Edward Berger (All Quiet on the Western Front) starring Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow, and Isabella Rossellini. 

    Showtimes
  • A new adaptation of Peter Brown’s beloved, award-winning, #1 New York Times bestseller, The Wild Robot.

    Showtimes
  • Director Nicholas Ma’s new film challenges us to consider whether we can disagree and still belong to each other in a divided world.

    Showtimes
  • You’re invited to a Halloween party at our house before a double-feature of Scream (1996) and Scream (2022)!

    Showtimes
  • An American horror story from filmmaker Ali Abbasi (Border, Holy Spider), starring Sebastian Stan, Jeremy Strong, and Maria Bakalova. 

    Showtimes
  • From renegade auteur Jacques Audiard comes an audacious fever dream that defies genres starring Karla Sofía Gascón, Zoe Saldaña, & Selena Gomez.

    Showtimes
  • Actor Marco Pigossi will join us for a post-screening Q&A following our 7:15pm screening on Friday, November 1.

    Showtimes
  • Winner: Golden Bear at the 2024 Berlin International Film Festival. 

    Showtimes
  • David Lynch's startling debut feature is a lasting cult sensation influenced by the writings of Franz Kafka and Nikolai Gogol.

    Showtimes
  • The BJ Hickman Magic Show is family entertainment, with fun, audience participation, magic, and silliness galore!

    Showtimes
  • Alfred Hitchcock's Best Picture-winning gothic tale of a remarried widower haunted by the ghost of his first wife.

    Showtimes
  • Post-film discussion led by Northeastern professor Nathan Blake!

    Showtimes
  • 1 woman became 2. 2 women became 3. 3 women became 1.

    Showtimes
  • Students will learn the technical approaches & reasoning behind some of the most treasured moments of moving image storytelling.

    Showtimes
  • The new film from director Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave), starring Saoirse Ronan. 

    Showtimes
  • The definitive Final Cut of Ridley Scott's dystopian science fiction classic.

    Showtimes