Pink Flamingos

John Waters's monument to bad taste, in which Divine, living in a trailer under the name Babs Johnson, defends her title as the filthiest person alive against a jealous rival couple. It escalates through every taboo Waters could stage and ends with Divine eating fresh dog excrement on camera, in one unbroken shot, to prove the point.

It is deliberately, aggressively disgusting, and also very funny, made with Waters's Baltimore friends for almost nothing. It is the purest act of provocation in American cinema and the foundation of the midnight-movie circuit. Know exactly what you are getting.