POLYESTER [CRITERION COLLECTION] [BLU-RAY] (1981)

Polyester photographs by Larry Dean. Courtesy of the Criterion Collection and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. Polyester ©1981 New Line Productions. All rights reserved. United States, 1981, 86 minutes, Color, 1.85:1, English, Spine #995

For his first studio picture, filth maestro John Waters took advantage of his biggest budget yet to allow his muse Divine to sink his teeth into a role unlike any he had played before: Baltimore housewife Francine Fishpaw, a heroine worthy of a Douglas Sirk melodrama. Blessed with a keen sense of smell and cursed with a philandering pornographer husband, a parasitic mother, and a pair of delinquent children, the long-suffering Francine turns to the bottle as her life falls apart—until deliverance appears in the form of a hunk named Todd Tomorrow (vintage heartthrob Tab Hunter). Enhanced with Odorama™ technology that enables you to scratch and sniff along with Francine, Polyester is one of Waters’ most hilarious inventions, replete with stomach-churning smells, sadistic nuns, AA meetings, and foot stomping galore.

DIRECTOR-APPROVED BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

• New, restored 4K digital transfer, supervised by director John Waters, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
• Audio commentary featuring Waters from the 1993 Criterion laserdisc release of the film
• New conversation between Waters and critic Michael Musto
• New program featuring interviews with Waters collaborators Tab Hunter, Dennis Dermody, Pat Moran, Vincent Peranio, Mink Stole, Mary Garlington, and Greer Yeaton
• Interviews from 1993 with crew members Moran, Peranio, and Van Smith
• Archival interviews with Waters, Moran, and actors Divine and Edith Massey, featuring footage from the making of the film
• Twenty minutes of deleted scenes and alternate takes
• Trailer
• English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• PLUS: An essay by film scholar Elena Gorfinkel and a foldout poster of the cover

New cover by Sam Hadley with Raphael Geroni