The culmination of Waters’s “commercial” period and an intriguing reverse of Female Trouble. As he had done in his 1974 avant-garde classic, the director blurs the boundaries between the norm and excess, and indulges in deliberations regarding the perverted nature of popularity. This time, the pretext Waters uses for his reflections is the story of Beverly Sutphin (the excellent Kathleen Turner), an exemplary housewife who turns out to be a serial killer, murdering anyone who has harmed her family in any way. The protagonist’s unique personality immediately attracts the attention of the general public, and Beverly unexpectedly proves to be a master at skillfully managing her ambiguous fame. Serial Mom is not only a satire on the cult of celebrities, but also an ironic story about the ubiquitous spectacle, gradually invading an increasing number of areas of public life. The judiciary is one of them, and the trial scenes during which Beverly uses various legal loopholes to defend herself and discredit successive witnesses give the movie the status of a masterful parody of the courtroom drama.
Zdjęcia dzięki uprzejmości Park Circus/Universal
Born in 1946 in Baltimore, Maryland. Since childhood interested in macabre and black humour, he completed one semester of a film school in New York. His amateur films shot with friends exhibited conscious violation of moral and aesthetic standards (Mondo Trasho, Multiple Maniacs). His Pink Flamingos was a great commercial success, enabling him to make higher-budget movies, the most popular of which was Hairspray, adapted to a Brodway musical and to a high-budget remake with John Travolta. Waters is also a stand-up comedian and actor appearing in films of his friends.
1969 Mondo Trasho
1970 Multiple Maniacs
1972 Różowe flamingi / Pink Flamingos
1974 Kobiece kłopoty / Female Trouble
1988 Lakier do włosów / Hairspray
1994 W czym mamy problem? / Serial Mom