by John Waters
First published 2025
Babs Johnson steps off the bus in Baltimore after fifteen years of hiding in transit station restrooms. The drag queen who once held the coveted title of "Filthiest Person in the World" discovers her reign has ended. New challengers have emerged to claim her crown of depravity. Vera Venninger, sister to Babs's old enemy Connie Marble, has arrived with her necrophiliac husband Wilbur. They want the title for themselves. Babs must prove she still deserves to be called the world's most depraved person. The competition escalates into a grotesque contest of shocking behavior. Each side tries to outdo the other with increasingly vile acts. This screenplay from Waters's Trash Trilogy never became a film, leaving only the written version to show how the saga concludes.
Genres: satire
Vibes: dark-humorous, grotesque, irreverent
Tropes: anti-hero, over-the-top, rivals
Setting: Baltimore
80 pages · Kindle Edition · Picador
Content warnings: body-horror, graphic-violence, sexual-content