Multiple Maniacs

Multiple Maniacs
Promotional release poster
Directed by	John Waters
Written by	John Waters
Produced by	John Waters
Starring	Divine David Lochary Mary Vivian Pearce Mink Stole Cookie Mueller Edith Massey George Figgs
Cinematography	John Waters
Edited by	John Waters
Music by	John Waters
Production company	Dreamland
Distributed by	New Line Cinema
Release date	April 10, 1970 (1970-04-10) (Baltimore)
Running time	96 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$5,000
Box office	$33,036

Multiple Maniacs is a 1970 independent American black comedy film composed, shot, edited, written, produced, and directed by John Waters, as his second feature film and first "talkie". It features several actors who were part of the Dreamland acting troupe for Waters' films, including Divine, Mary Vivian Pearce, David Lochary, Mink Stole, Edith Massey, George Figgs, and Cookie Mueller. The plot follows a traveling troupe of sideshow freaks who rob their unsuspecting audience members.

A major restoration received national exhibition in August 2016, after initially screening in June at the Provincetown Film Festival.

Plot

Lady Divine is the owner and operator of The Cavalcade of Perversion, a free exhibit of various perversions and fetish acts and obscenities, such as the "Puke Eater". The show is free, but the various performers must persuade and even physically drag reluctant passers-by to attend.

As the finale to every show, Lady Divine appears and robs the patrons at gunpoint. This arrangement seems successful to Mr. David, Lady Divine's lover, but Lady Divine becomes bored with the routine and decides to murder the patrons rather than merely robbing them. After escaping the murder scene, she comes home to Cookie, her prostitute daughter, and her new boyfriend Steve, a member of the Weather Underground.

Lady Divine receives a call from Edith, proprietor of the local bar, who informs her that Mr. David had been at her bar with another woman (Mary Vivian Pearce). Lady Divine heads there to catch them, but is raped on the way by two glue-sniffers. Meanwhile, Mr. David and his new lover Bonnie, a woman who desperately wants to be part of the troupe, engage in sex acts at the home he shares with Lady Divine, during which Bonnie anally penetrates him with a dildo.

While Lady Divine contemplates her rape, the Infant of Prague appears and leads her to a church. Making her way uncertainly into the church, Lady Divine prays, but is then approached and seduced by a strange young woman named Mink. They have a sexual encounter in the church pew, with Mink inserting a rosary in Divine's rectum while describing the Stations of the Cross.

Now lesbian lovers, Lady Divine and Mink go to Edith's bar with the intent to kill Mr. David and his mistress, but they are too late: David and Bonnie, who have by this time decided that they have to kill Lady Divine to protect themselves, have left.

Mr. David returns to Cookie's house, intending to kill Divine, but instead he finds Cookie and fellow Cavalcade performer Ricky there. An argument ensues, and Bonnie accidentally kills Cookie. They tie up Ricky and hide Cookie's corpse just before Divine and Mink return. When Bonnie tries to shoot Lady Divine, Divine attacks and kills her with a knife. She then turns on Mr. David and eviscerates him as well, cannibalizing his internal organs, and becoming more frenzied. Ricky suddenly surprises Mink, who shoots him. In a fit of anger, Divine accuses Mink of betrayal and stabs her. Divine becomes even more crazed upon finding her daughter Cookie's body hidden behind the couch.

Exhausted from the ordeal, Lady Divine collapses on a couch and is subsequently raped by a giant lobster. In the aftermath (mumbling "You're a maniac now, Divine"), she destroys a car, then wanders Baltimore trying to kill anyone she can. The National Guard appear, surround Lady Divine on the street, and shoot her, to the tune of "America the Beautiful".

Cast

• Divine as Lady Divine
• David Lochary as Mr. David
• Mary Vivian Pearce as Bonnie
• Mink Stole as Mink / The Religious Whore
• Cookie Mueller as Cookie Divine
• Edith Massey as Edith the Barmaid / Virgin Mary
• Paul Swift as Steve
• George Figgs as Jesus Christ
• Michael Renner Jr. as The Infant of Prague
• Rick Morrow as Ricky

Production

Development

Waters has said he was influenced by Herschell Gordon Lewis's Two Thousand Maniacs! (1964) when writing the film, and the title Multiple Maniacs is a direct reference. The idea for "Lobstora"—the giant lobster that rapes Divine towards the end of the film—was derived from a combination of influences: Salvador Dalí; Jack Smith; a postcard for Provincetown, Massachusetts, that featured a lobster in the sky overlooking a beach; and taking LSD and cannabis.

Filming

Filming took place in Baltimore, Maryland. The scene in which Divine cannibalizes Mr. David's innards was accomplished using a cow's heart that Waters had purchased from a butcher two days prior and refrigerated. Lobstora was played by Vince Peranio and Peranio's brother in a papier-mâché costume.

Themes

Queerness and trash

Waters, in an interview regarding the re-release of the film in 2016 is quoted as saying  ‘’There was such a war going on then between the hippies and the straight world; and straight didn’t mean heterosexual … it meant you didn’t smoke pot or you didn’t think the revolution was going to happen.’’. This is the basis for all his films including Multiple maniacs. Although the movie is shocking and grotesque, it aims to subvert its lewdness for ironic and revolutionary purposes. Multiple Maniacs has often been described as a ‘’camp’’ movie. Although we don't exactly know what camp is other than a perceived trashy aesthetic, Guy Schaffer, a lecturer at Rensselaer Polytechnic institute, describes camp aesthetics in queer movies as a mode of reappropriating and revaluing ‘’trash’’ whilst still broadcasting the trashiness of the things it glamorizes. The perceived trash in this case is not only the visual aesthetics but the main characters which are depicted as criminals, sodomites, cannibals, etc, the trash of society. This is evident as in the Cavalcade of Perversion, puke eaters and “actual queers kissing” are part-and-parcel of the same show, and elicit the same guttural reactions from the ‘’straight’’ crowd. These depictions of filth reflect the sentiment social deviants such as queers might feel in reaction to society's treatment of deviants. ‘’By forging a radical form of glamour based on a revaluation of trash and low culture, these performances refuse to value authenticity over artifice, beauty over ugliness, truth over trash’’. This encapsulates the sentiment of John Waters films, more specifically Multiple Maniacs. At the end after being raped, beaten, etc divine proclaims ‘’ Now… I am a Maniac that cannot be cured…I am Divine!’’ And although she might've been proclaiming her name, it is no coincidence that Divine was the chosen name of a character that seems to embody degeneracy itself. Divine harnesses her power in these stories from the misfortune she faces. Every crime committed (against her or by her) pushes her further to the edge of society where she is then inclined to radicalize her behavior in retribution which actually brings a sense of freedom from society. Multiple maniacs is the intrinsic depiction of the perceived ‘’free queer’’ in the 70’s when the film was made: A sideshow attraction, criminal, needle-using junkie; But it is also the intrinsic satire.

Religious imagery

John Waters is known, amongst other things, as the Pope of Trash, so it is probably unsurprising that religious imagery is rampant throughout his films. Thus far in the movie, Divine is part of a dysfunctional heterosexual relationship. After she is raped once more, she awakens to the Infant of Prague by her side. The child leads her to a church where she has her first homosexual encounter: A “rosary job” performed by Mink Stoles character. The sex scene is also intercut with reenactments of the crucifixion, which seemingly brings Divine even more pleasure. This is significant because it is the first scene of Divine experiencing consensual (and furthermore pleasurable) sex in the movie. John Waters noted in an interview in 2016 that the Catholic church is the only enemy he has left and that the religion is so inherently anti-sex that it's easy to sexualize it. Moreover, he describes that rosaries and other religious garbs were popular at the time in counter-culture movements such as goth. The scene was actually inspired by a rosary that Mink Stole wore on her time off-camera. Comparing homosexual sex to a religious experience is a parallel that will continue to be drawn for centuries; it's the strongest form of rebellion in a system where religion continues to have a role in social norms and also continues to be known to condemn homosexuality. The subversion of what it means to be homosexual means decoupling from oppressive standards that are imposed upon us and reassociating them with something of personal value, we cannot escape the system but we can interpret it. John says about religion that there is no God, but the comfort brought by God is real. He quotes David Baddiel, a Jewish comedian as saying ““I am moved by Jewish survival…I am moved by it comically, when, before every dinner that marks every Jewish festival, some guest says, ‘They tried to kill us, they failed, let’s eat.” This is the type of subversive mindset that inspires this film and its use of religion; we were once persecuted by religious ideologies, let's make something of our own out of it.

Release

Multiple Maniacs had its world premiere at the First Unitarian Church in Baltimore on April 10, 1970. Waters later recalled that he toured the film throughout the United States, showing it at small arthouse theaters and other venues which often required a deposit to screen features. The film also showed internationally, with screenings in England in early 1971. In 2024, Waters recalled an incident where the Ontario Censor Board burnt a print of Multiple Maniacs that he sent for review.

Critical response

Upon the film's debut in 1970, The Baltimore Sun's Lou Cedrone wrote: "Multiple Maniacs is very smelly, save for a moment here and there when the Waters humor is apparent. And humor he has. It's just a shame he has chosen to ignore that for the brutality which is not, as he and his audiences may think, a gas." In 1981, Geoffrey Himes, also of The Baltimore Sun, referred to the film as "thoroughly disgusting" yet "also quite funny at times."

The film holds a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, Waters' highest-rated film on the site.

2016 restoration

A new restoration of Multiple Maniacs by American art house film distribution company Janus Films and video distribution company The Criterion Collection was previewed June 17, 2016 at the Provincetown Film Festival, and national exhibition began August 5, 2016 at the IFC Center in New York City.

The Criterion Collection released the restored print on Blu-ray and DVD on March 21, 2017, featuring a commentary track by Waters among other newly produced special features. This release marked the first time the film had been available on a home format in 30 years, since its original VHS release by Cinema Group in 1987.

Box office

As of August 18, 2016, Multiple Maniacs has grossed $33,036 in North America.

See also

• List of American films of 1970

External links

• Multiple Maniacs at IMDb
• Multiple Maniacs at AllMovie
• Multiple Maniacs at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
• Multiple Maniacs at the British Board of Film Classification
• Multiple Maniacs at the British Film Institute
• Multiple Maniacs at Rotten Tomatoes
• Multiple Maniacs: Genuine Trash an essay by Linda Yablonsky at the Criterion Collection