The Show that Smells

The Show That Smells is the most SHOCKING story ever shown on the silver screen! It’s also the tale of Jimmie, a country music singer dying of tuberculosis, and Carrie, his wife, who tries to save him by selling her soul to a devil who designs HAUTE COUTURE CLOTHING! Elsa is a powerful Parisian dress designer, and a vampire. She wants to make Carrie look beautiful, smell beautiful – AND THEN SHE WANTS TO EAT HER! Will Carrie survive as her slave? Will Jimmie be cured? Starring a host of Hollywood’s brightest stars, including Coco Chanel, Lon Chaney and the Carter Family, The Show That Smells is a thrilling tale of HILLBILLIES, HIGH FASHION, AND HORROR!

[Directed by Tod Browning (Freaks) from a screenplay by Derek McCormack. Black and white. 79 minutes.]

Derek McCormack is the author of The Haunted Hillbilly, a novel about Hank Williams, which was published by ECW Press in 2003. It was named a “best book of the year” by both the Village Voice and the Globe and Mail, and was nominated for a Lambda Award in the Best Gay Fiction category. McCormack is also the author of the short-story collections Dark Rides and Wish Book, and of the non-fiction book Christmas Days, a history of Christmas in Canada. He regularly writes fashion articles for the National Post. He is currently creating a series of installations and mail-art projects for the Art Gallery of York University. He lives in Toronto.