This Is Odorama

Polyester (1981) remains my favorite John Waters film. Previous to this, his movies were a belligerent assault on the American Middle Class. Extremely funny and often witty, but an assault nonetheless. But Polyester is more of a satire, referencing the melodramatic style of the mid-century Douglas Sirk movies and adding pitch-black humor. And of course there's the William Castle-inspired Odorama gimmick.

I saw this in a revival theater in '89, where they supplied the largely gay male audience with the original 1981 Odorama cards. They'd been found in a warehouse somewhere. I took mine home and tucked it next to my VHS cassette copy, but somehow lost it in later years. That's okay, the smells remain in memory. But the cards have been remade for DVD, and even a cable broadcast, so you can easily find one on ebay. I recommend you do so, wait a few days for it to arrive in the mail, THEN click 'play' below.



(I'm embedding the free youtube movie because that's what I do, but it looks awful. Just pay the $1.99 to stream the official hi-def widescreen print already.)

Bonus Documentary: A 30-minute chronicle of the Pink Flamingos phenomenon, produced by the AMC network, way back before they just showed The Walking Dead and Jean-Claude Van Damme movies.