Polyester lands in Calgary and it stinks

A movie that originally hit the big screen 43 years ago is getting dusted off for a revival of sorts, and the people hosting the event hope it really stinks.

Calgary Cinematheque is bringing John Waters' first studio production, Polyester, to the Globe Cinema on Thursday, complete with Odorama cards. 

Executive director Spencer Estabrooks says Odorama wasn't the first attempt at a scratch-and-sniff experience.

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"John Waters is an infamous provocateur and a trash-cinema maker," Estabrooks told the Calgary Eyeopener in a Wednesday interview.

"There was a 1960s version of it called Smell-O-Vision. This guy named William Castle came up with it, but it never really worked out well."

But where did the idea come from for Polyester?

"John Waters, a lot of his early films, people said they stink, and he decided to take that literally and make a film that does stink," Estabrooks said with a laugh.

"The smells of hot dogs are such a visceral scent. It brings you back, it makes your mouth water, right? That's what this movie is trying to get across. It is trying to trigger those smell emotions. First you see it, then you hear it, now you smell it."

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And triggered is what a self-described John Waters' superfan says she was after first experiencing Waters, but in a good way.

"I just fell in love," Jamie Leer told CBC News in a phone interview.

"It was just so gross, it was so filthy. It was like nothing I had seen before. I immediately watched the commentary right after and I just fell in love with him as a person."

Leer gets that Waters is not to everyone's taste.

"He is the self-proclaimed father of filth, pope of trash," she said.

"We are expecting shock and humour. Humour that doesn't land with everybody but a perverse humour that pokes fun at itself and the content it's presenting. I tell friends to view John Waters through a comedic lens. Some of the stuff can come off as offensive, but it's meant to be poking fun at people that are committing the offence."

The Odoroma cards for Thursday's showing of Polyester have 10 numbered scents to scratch and smell when the movie prompts you.

"The film opens up with a scientist named Arnold Quackenshaw. He describes what Odorama is," Estabrooks explained.

"Any time a number flashes on the screen, that's when you scratch and sniff the card."

Polyester features drag queen, singer and actor Divine — also known as Harris Glenn Milstead — along with Tab Hunter.

"John Waters is just one of those filmmakers who really did well building a cult of notoriety around him," Estabrooks said.

But for a superfan, it's more than that.

"He's the king of camp," Leer said.

"A lot of people who want to get into campy queer genres, he's the one who did it. You have to start at the beginning, and that's where John Waters comes in."