Pink Flamingos

In case you’re still in any doubt, Pink Flamingos is one of the most stomach-turning, taboo-smashing films ever made. lt’s great fun, and oddly endearing, but it’s almost impossible to watch without clamping your hands over your eyes for 20 per cent of the running time. And that’s just the effect that its writer-director wanted it to have. “To me, bad taste is what entertainment is all about,” says Waters in one of his memoirs, Shock Value. “If someone vomits watching one of my films, it’s like getting a standing ovation.”

Nicholas Barber, BBC