Rock wrote:
Cinema of Transgression is not one of my favourite movements, but I've enjoyed a couple of shorts here and there. This is one of the funnier ones I've seen, although one needs to muscle past the shrillness.
Oh, I might have done John Waters an injustice with that comparison. His early stuff shares the same no–budget production value and some similar themes, but his stuff is definitely on a different level. Imaginative, unpredictable, hilarious, he took depravity about as far as it can go.
Also, he had Divine.

Like I said before, nothing else has come close, before or since.
I'm a bit of an anti–spoiler fanatic so my commentary can be pretty lean on details. "Porno–comedy" would not be an inaccurate description, but still wouldn't quite cover it. Maybe I should let the trailers speak for themselves.
Desperate Living (1977)
I'm leading with the trailer for Desperate Living because, of all the John Waters trailers, I think this one best captures the spirit of his early films. So "inappropriate" you'll have to (DUN–dun–DUNNN) sign in!
Multiple Maniacs (1970)
Now we're takin' it way back. 16mm b&w convention–trashing guerilla cinema insanity, and a lot of fun. Clutch your prayer beads for dear life, and hang onto your seats for the lobster scene:
Pink Flamingos (1972)
The most famous of his early films, and for good reason. If any John Waters flick could be considered "seminal," it is without a doubt Pink Flamingos. Or should I say semen–al. Or some anal. Who cares. Guaranteed to defy expectations. I'm looking forward to the upcoming Criterion release.
With the title of "Filthiest Person Alive" at stake, Babs Johnson (Divine), her degenerate son and dim-bulb mother face stiff competition from the vile Marble clan (David Lochary and Mink Stole) in an unbridled assault on every taboo in the book. Incest, drug trafficking, bestiality and an egg fetish are merely the tip of the proverbial iceberg in this controversial ultra-black comedy from renegade filmmaker John Waters.
—gaymoviereviews
I could have included the trailer for Female Trouble (1974), another good Waters flick, but I think these three trailers are plenty. I have not yet seen Mondo Trasho (1969) or Polyester (1981), Waters' "first movie to flirt with the mainstream." Polyester introduced Odorama, Waters' own variation of the Aroma–Rama/Smell–O–Vision concept: audience members were given scratch–and–sniff cards. Criterion went to great lengths to create faithful replicas of these cards to include with their latest... ahem... release.

"...One critic had said that if you saw my name on a marquee you should walk on the other side of the street and hold your nose. That gave me the idea to make a movie that really stunk!"
—John Waters