That too. But more realistically, MONDO TRASHO is very much a film of its time. Long sections with seemingly no real significance (the several minutes spent on Mary Vivian Pearce waiting for a bus, etc.) Heavily influenced by the underground film movement, stylistically very out of date.
I'm not saying this takes away from its value for what it is. But, in terms of marketability 40 years later, it just wouldn't be a commercially viable idea. The early films would have to be released in a box set with more commercial Waters titles, but considering that PINK FLAMINGOS, FEMALE TROUBLE and DESPERATE LIVING (all of which are also examples of films that ultimately have a limited marketability value, despite how much us Waters fan love them!) were just released on special edition DVDs not too long ago, I doubt that they would re-release them in a DVD box set this soon.
I have seen both MONDO TRASHO and MULTIPLE MANIACS and feel that they are not "awful" at all for what they are. MULTIPLE MANIACS in particular has some great dialogue. But ultimately, I think you would have to be an extremely hardcore John Waters fan to enjoy these (I imagine that casual viewers who are just fans of HAIRSPRAY and SERIAL MOM would not appreciate these as much). Also, I cannot imagine anyone who is not interested in underground filmmaking and midnight movies of the late 1960s-early 70s would enjoy these films much if at all.
Similarly, there have been no DVDs of the Warhol films (EMPIRE might just fit on one disc..), of the Kuchar films, or Kenneth Anger. There is simply no perceived commercial market for these films on DVD, I imagine.
Matt
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artstar04
19 years ago
i saw the DVD at borders a few months back (maybe june-ish)
www.geocities.com/underthecounter123
I need more parts...
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FauxShow
18 years ago
John has said that Mondo Trasho won't be re-released because it has issues with music rights. Though this is true, he is probably using this as an excuse to pull it from distribution, as he thinks this film is awful, and should've only been twenty minutes long when it's actually ninety.
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BornJaded
17 years ago
There's some fairly esoteric stuff on DVD, so I think that "perceived commercial viability" (I hate encountering such bloodless corporatespeak, particularly in forums that adress the arts) is less an issue than you'd think. It's more or less up to the rights holders, and with so many unreleased titles in all their respective back catalogues, their selection process in many cases is arbitrary. This, other Waters titles, and perhaps even Warhol's 'Empire,' will likely be available on DVD within the next five years -- if not in the US, then somewhere (if not already). Between the time this last message was posted and now, at least one NTSC collection of Kenneth Anger's films has been released.
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