Product Details

• Actors: Leigh Bowery, Clark Render, Jackie Beat, RuPaul, John Epperson
• Directors: Barry Shils
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Original recording reissued, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
• VHS Release Date: July 5, 2000
• Run Time: 82 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 0792846036
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #32,496 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The king, or maybe that should be queen, of all drag shows, New York City's 10th annual Wigstock festival, provides the setting for this lively and frequently funny documentary. Some 30,000 fans showed up, many of them suitably adorned with impossibly huge wigs, and roving cameras did a fine job of capturing the celebratory atmosphere. It goes without saying that those who find men performing as women fascinating will revel in what the camera captured. Several drag performers prepping for their star turns on the Wigstock stage are profiled, and some of them speak about what possesses them to admittedly make spectacles of themselves. There are also quirky interviews with construction workers building the festival's stage, jaded neighbors in the East Village, and even some encounters with bemused New York City cops. The film features very professionally shot performance footage of such characters as RuPaul, Deee-Lite, Crystal Waters, and even a pair of dueling Tallulah Bankhead impersonators performing "Born to Be Wild," but the real star of the production is the hip sense of humor the filmmakers brought to the project. At times the interviews with people attending the shows and passersby in New York who simply shrug it all off come close to upstaging the guys in size 14 heels singing and dancing their hearts out onstage. --Robert J. McNamara

From The New Yorker

The "Lady" Bunny has been organizing New York's drag festival for a decade now, and what began as a small wigs-and-heels gathering in Tompkins Square Park has grown into a major get-your-hot-dogs-here event. Barry Shils's record of the 1993-94 celebrations captures some of its style and playfulness-Joey Arias singing a Billie Holiday tune, Jackie Beat outfitted as the heir to Divine's designs, Lypsinka strutting across the stage like an escapee from a fifties Amana Radar Range demonstration. What's on-screen, though, could pretty much have been captured on anyone's camcorder, and the editing and directorial cues seem to have been taken from public-access television. The performers have character; the movie doesn't. -Bruce Diones
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely Fabulous, July 4, 2005

By	Cat Black "Wizard's Hat" (Boston, Mass) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wigstock - The Movie (DVD)

I first saw Wigstock in an Art-house cinema in Berlin amidst an audience largely made up of glamorous and extremely vocal German drag queens. And let me tell you, it was one of the most fun experiences in my life. Talk about audience participation? It was a riot!

I've since bought first the video and now the DVD and watch it again and again - whenever I need a pick me up - whenever I need to remind myself that, as The Lady Bunny says: "We can all get it together and have a great time!"

I have only two minor criticisms of this movie. 1. At a running time of approx 85 mins, it is not long enough! And 2. I really don't like Leigh Bowery's performance at all. Otherwise, it's all good. The audience are every bit as fabulous as the performers on stage and backstage.

A couple of my fellow posters have complained about the lipsynching. Why? It's a given in drag culture. And Girlina, Mistress Formika and the like are awesome exponents. Got a complaint? You try lipsynching in those heels, honey!

This film somehow manages to be both a celebration of diversity and community at the same time. I am totally in awe. My thanks to all concerned.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great documentation of one of the largest Drag Shows, December 10, 2002

By	Mr. Wynn (State of Confusion) - See all my reviews

The highlights of this film are the performances of the artists. There are a few doozies but, for the most part, they are great.

There is no real theme or plot. It's basically video footage of the annual drag show held in New York. A very campy video to watch.

Some of the commentaries are nice to add a bit of depth to the film. Wonderful contribution by Jackie Beat and Alexis Arquette! Alexis is hilarious!

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Does this movie even need a review?, July 10, 2006

By	Edge Morbid "-Morbid" (Burlington, VT) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wigstock - The Movie (DVD)

Wigstock is simply one of those movies every gay man should own. If you haven't heard of it, go watch it. I don't care if you're the butchest gym bunny or the gruffest leather daddy, the messages of freedom, the celebration of homosexuality and the importance to unite our community is one that every gay man should experience. Besides, there are drag queens in this flick! Gaggles of them! And draq queens are the bestest! They have more nut than the butchest of the butch because they don't just wear their sexuality on their sleeve, they flaunt it, they own it and they take the brunt of a lot of negativity only to pick themselves up, fix their hair and do it again.