Multiple Maniacs

1970

Action / Comedy / Crime / Horror

13
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 67% · 23 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 67% · 1K ratings
IMDb Rating 6.5/10 10 5087 5.1K

16mm jealousy rape fetishism dark comedy church

Plot summary

The Cavalcade of Perversion, a traveling freak show, acts as a front for Divine, who is out for blood after discovering her lover's affair.

Director

John Waters Photo
John Waters

Top cast

Susan Lowe Photo
Susan Lowe as Cavalcade pervert
Mink Stole Photo
Mink Stole as Mink / Cavalcade Patron
Cookie Mueller Photo
Cookie Mueller as Cookie Divine / Cavalcade Patron
Divine Photo
Divine as Lady Divine
720p.BluRay 1080p.BluRay
888.42 MB
1204*720
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 36 min
Seeds 4
1.61 GB
1792*1072
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 36 min
Seeds 19

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by Mr Pants 7 / 10

A Lobster Monstre makes it all worthwhile

This film suffers from what a lot of low-budget-inexperienced-director films suffer from: long intervals in which nothing happens in an attempt to get to the better parts of the movie. This one has it is spades, which makes it hard to sit through to get to the highlights. But the high points are some of the most inspired of any John Water's flick: the surreal appearance of "The Emperor of Prague," played by small boy in full monarch regalia who guides Lady Divine, and the completely unsolicited cameo of "Lobstora," the enormous lobster prop who, like nearly everybody in the early films, has its way with Divine. I found these scenes far more interesting than the film as a whole, despite the (possibly unintentional) social commentary of the opening sequence. Here, a crowd of "straights" visit the Carnival of Perversions and witness horrors ranging from the "Puke Eater" to the "Homosexuals." Each attraction is viewed with similar disgust from the suburbanites, yet they make no effort to leave the show, which seems to call to Water's fascination with the American public's fascination with the fringe of society.
Reviewed by csjlong 10 / 10

To Heck With Method Acting

A lot of people look at the performances in Waters' early films as crude but I think both Multiple Maniacs and Pink Flamingos (and, to a lesser degree, Mondo Trasho) are a testament to the talent the Waters' troupe really had. Divine has probably been discussed enough though I think she remains sadly underrated as an actress but what stands out for me in Maniacs is David Lochary's performance. He steals the show and improbably manages to provide some genuine soul to a contemptible character, perhaps because he looks positively saintly compared to Divine. Lochary is funny, sincere, scared and ultimately empathetic as the helpless, brainwashed victim of the implacable force which is the Lady Divine. You couldn't just hire regular actors to play the Lochary or Divine roles - you had to have the real deal and the magic of these movies does come from the superior casting.I think Waters' early films are by far his best, the movies he made before he learned "how to make movies." Some of his later work is cute but never as engaging and fresh as Maniacs and Flamingos. How exactly did Waters manage to combine slimy depravity with wide-eyed innocence in equal doses? The rosary job is perhaps the finest scene Waters ever concocted and then there's Lobstora, one of the most inspired moments the cinema has ever brought us.I don't think of Maniacs as mere camp. I think it's genuinely great film making with far more verve and inventiveness than most of the so-called "well-made" Academy fare.
Read more IMDb reviews

5 Comments

Be the first to leave a comment