Multiple Maniacs
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| Multiple Maniacs | |
|---|---|
 Mary Vivian Pearce and Divine |
|
| Directed by | John Waters |
| Produced by | John Waters |
| Written by | John Waters |
| Starring | Divine David Lochary Mary Vivian Pearce Mink Stole Cookie Mueller Edith Massey |
| Music by | John Waters |
| Cinematography | John Waters |
| Editing by | John Waters |
| Distributed by | New Line Cinema Dreamland |
| Release date(s) | April 10, 1970 |
| Running time | 81 min. |
| Country |  United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $5,000 |
| IMDb profile | |
Multiple Maniacs is a 1970 comedy film by Baltimore, Maryland filmmaker John Waters. The film 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, and Cookie Mueller.
The title pays tribute to Herschell Gordon Lewis's 2000 Maniacs, as John Waters stated in his book Shock Value.
[edit] Plot
Lady Divine (Divine) is the owner and operator of a show called the The Cavalcade of Perversion, a free exhibit of various perversions and fetish acts ("see actual homosexuals kissing each other, on the lips like queers!") and obscenities such as the "Puke Eater". The show is free, although the various performers must persuade and even physically drag reluctant passers-by to attend.
As a finale to every show, Lady Divine comes in and robs the patrons at gunpoint. This arrangement seems successful to Lady Divine's lover, Mr. David (David Lochary), until Lady Divine becomes bored with the routine, and murders the patrons rather than merely robbing them.
After escaping the murder scene, she comes home to her drug-dealer daughter Cookie (Cookie Mueller) and her new boyfriend Steve (Paul Swift), a member of the Weather Underground.
Lady Divine receives a call from Edith (Edith Massey), proprietor of the local bar, calls Lady Divine after Mr. David had been at her bar with another woman. She heads there to catch them, but is raped on the way by two glue-sniffers. While contemplating these events 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 (Mink Stole). They have a sexual encounter in the church pew, the woman inserting a rosary into Lady Divine's rectum while describing the Stations of the Cross.
Now lesbian lovers, Lady Divine and Mink go to a bar Mr. David patronizes intended to kill him, but they are too late; David and his lover (who have by this time decided that they have to kill Lady Divine to protect themselves) have left. They go to find him at Lady Divine's house. On arriving they find that Mr. David and his new lover have killed Lady Divine's daughter Cookie, as well as her assistant Rick.
When Mr. David tries to shoot Lady Divine, she pulls out a butcher knife and eviscerates him. She devours his internal organs becoming more frenzied.
Just after collapsing on a couch, exhausted from the ordeal, a giant lobster (named Lobstora) enters and rapes Lady Divine. In the aftermath, she runs around Baltimore, crazed, bloody, and wearing a mink coat.
The film ends with the appearance of the National Guard, who surround Lady Divine on the street and shoot her down, accompanied by the sound of Kate Smith singing "God Bless America".
[edit] 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
- George Figgs as Jesus Christ
- Michael Renner Jr. as The Infant of Prague
[edit] External links
- Multiple Maniacs at the Internet Movie Database
- John Waters at the Internet Movie Database
- Dreamland Studios
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