Serial Mom

Serial Mom

In person: John Waters, Peaches Christ.

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In person: John Waters, Peaches Christ.

Though entirely fictional, John Waters’s dark comedy Serial Mom satirizes the true-crime genre. Beverly Sutphin (Kathleen Turner) is a suburban housewife often compared to June Cleaver. But the charming Beverly is secretly prone to murdering her neighbors for perceived crimes against polite society, such as wearing white after Labor Day and neglecting to rewind a rented videocassette. While on trial, Beverly becomes a media sensation, and is even set to be portrayed by Suzanne Somers in a made-for-television movie—the very kind Waters is spoofing. Though it was not a success at the box office upon release, Serial Mom has been propelled into cult classic status ever since.

DIRECTED/WRITTEN BY: John Waters. WITH: Kathleen Turner, Sam Waterson, Ricki Lake, Matthew Lillard. 1994. 95 min. USA. Color. English. Rated R. 35mm.

Academy Museum film programming generously funded by the Richard Roth Foundation. 

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