When John Waters met a real-life ‘Serial Mom’ survivor
Certain filmmakers stick to a specific formula, making movies they know will generate millions and attract a wide audience. Blockbuster movies and franchise films practically guarantee success, allowing the filmmaker to work on a big budget, rake in the cash and applause, and perhaps even win some awards. Then there are the filmmakers whose ethos is to challenge the mainstream, make people uncomfortable, and cause cinematic chaos. John Waters is a prime example, with some of his earlier films, like Multiple Maniacs and Pink Flamingos, still shocking viewers decades later.
The filmmaker claims he started making movies to “scare hippies”, aiming to provoke and bring attention to the weirder and less ‘normal’ people who exist on the margins of society. Front and centre was typically Divine, an obese drag queen, real name Harris Glenn Milstead, with a hairline starting near the back of his head and a penchant for ridiculously dramatic eye makeup. Divine was a true joy to watch, even if Waters mainly made his muse play criminal types with all disregard for morals and ethics.
From the genuine consumption of dog shit to performing unsimulated oral sex, Divine was down for anything, making Waters’ films truly out there. The filmmaker built quite a reputation during the 1970s, although his trashy, campy, low-budget movies are now held in high regard by many dedicated fans and critics alike. You can even buy copies of many of his films from the Criterion Collection – an institution that prioritises the cream of the crop within cinema – something a young Waters would surely be shocked to discover.
As his career progressed, however, Waters began making movies with bigger budgets and more established stars. As much as his DIY ethic came to define his early style, to maintain a job as a filmmaker, Waters simply had to progress to larger projects, something he gladly accepted. Still, even with more mainstream movies like Hairspray and Serial Mom, Waters’ deranged sense of humour and love of all things weird and wonderful are still more than apparent.
Serial Mom, released in 1994, saw Kathleen Turner play a perfect-looking housewife with a secret love of murder. Seeking vengeance on anyone who marginally wrongs her family, such as her son’s teacher, Beverly Sutphin doesn’t hesitate to beat people to death, stab them, or run them over with her car. It’s a hilariously dark film, one that seemed to predict the rise in the true crime obsession, which has boomed in recent years with the rise of Netflix specials, podcasts, and YouTubers dedicated to telling terrifying real-life stories.
However, while Waters was filming Serial Mom, he had a bizarre experience that really is a testament to the strange dedication of some of his fans. Talking to Film Threat, he revealed: “There was one person who came up to me at the end of one shooting day. Right when they said ‘Wrap,’ he was standing right there – which is always kind of scary. And he said, ‘You’re not going to believe this, but listen to me for a minute. My mother is a serial mom, she killed my father and my brother.’ He started giving me specifics, details, and I remembered the case. It was in Baltimore, eleven years ago. I remember the names and everything.”
Unbelievably, the guy wanted a piece of unconventional memorabilia to take home. “And he said, ‘Would you sign a Serial Mom banner to my brother and myself and put her name on it?’ I think he was telling the truth, but I don’t know. If not, he was incredibly ahead in his acting. It really seemed – and while he was telling me this, I could see one of the crew looking at us, not knowing what to do and wondering if he should get this guy away from me. But I was kind of interested. They couldn’t believe it. Their eyes were like – ‘Oh no!’”
