Cult director John Waters makes another foray into mainline cinema with this pastiche of Fifties rock 'n' rebel movies, which is ingenious fun up to a point, with more than a touch of the old Waters outrageousness. About 50 per cent of it is wonderful, while the other half, especially when the songs go on a bit, only serves to remind us how awful some of the original movies were. The colour is exactly the right shade of garishness, the direction is as snappy as hell and the supporting cast of grotesques a mine of half-forgotten faces from every decade: Susan Tyrrell, Joey Heatherton, Troy Donahue, Iggy Pop, David Nelson, Polly Bergen, the Patricia Hearst, Willem Dafoe and more. Stars Johnny Depp and Amy Locane have fun as the boy from The Drapes and the girl from The Squares whose hormone-driven love affair sparks the film. At 85 minutes of ghoulish glee, the film just about manages not to outstay its welcome. Kim McGuire is a notable addition to Waters gallery of gargoyles as an awful Drape woman who even scares convicts watching The Creature from the Black Lagoon.

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