John Waters on 'humor as terrorism' and the continuing appeal of 'Pink Flamingos'

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Subversive Baltimore filmmaker John Waters has been offending sensibilities since the release of his 1972 film “Pink Flamingos,” which gave the world the gleefully disgusting drag queen Divine.

On May 27, Waters released new versions of the screenplays for “Pink Flamingos,” “Desperate Living” and “Flamingos Forever.” The review blurbs on the books offer a range of takes on the films and Waters himself. Alan Cumming called Waters a “national treasure,” and contrastingly, a Variety review calls “Pink Flamingos,” “one of the most vile, stupid and repulsive films ever made.”

“I built a career on bad reviews,” Waters said. “I didn't start getting good reviews until way later. I got all bad reviews, and we put them in the ad.”