John Waters

Multiple Maniacs

Multiple Maniacs

John Waters’ gloriously grotesque second feature is replete with all manner of depravity, from robbery to murder to one of cinema’s most memorably blasphemous moments. Made on a shoestring budget in Waters’ native Baltimore, with the filmmaker taking on nearly every technical task, this gleeful mockery of the peace-and-love ethos of its era features the Cavalcade of Perversion, a traveling show mounted by a troupe of misfits whose shocking proclivities are topped only by those of their leader: the glammer-than-glam, larger-than-life Divine, out for blood after discovering her lover’s affair. Starring members of Waters’ beloved regular cast, the Dreamlanders (including David Lochary, Mary Vivian Pearce, Mink Stole, Susan Lowe, Edith Massey, George Figgs, and Cookie Mueller), Multiple Maniacs is an anarchic masterwork from an artist who has doggedly tested the limits of good taste for decades.

Film Info

  • United States
  • 1970
  • 96 minutes
  • Black & White
  • 1.66:1
  • English
  • Spine #863

Director-Approved Special Edition Features

  • New 4K digital restoration, supervised by director John Waters, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
  • New audio commentary featuring Waters
  • New interviews with cast and crew members Pat Moran, Mink Stole, Susan Lowe, George Figgs, and Vincent Peranio
  • New video essay by scholar Gary Needham
  • Trailer
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • PLUS: An essay by critic Linda Yablonsky

New cover by Eric Skillman

Purchase Options

Director-Approved Special Edition Features

  • New 4K digital restoration, supervised by director John Waters, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
  • New audio commentary featuring Waters
  • New interviews with cast and crew members Pat Moran, Mink Stole, Susan Lowe, George Figgs, and Vincent Peranio
  • New video essay by scholar Gary Needham
  • Trailer
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • PLUS: An essay by critic Linda Yablonsky

New cover by Eric Skillman

Multiple Maniacs
Cast
Divine
Lady Divine
David Lochary
Mr. David
Mary Vivian Pearce
Bonnie/Cavalcade patron
Mink Stole
Mink/Cavalcade patron
Cookie Mueller
Cookie Divine/Cavalcade patron
Edith Massey
Edith/Virgin Mary
Susan Lowe
Cavalcade pervert
Rick Morrow
Ricky
Howard Gruber
Gilbert
Paul Swift
Steve
Vincent Peranio
Freak
Jim Thompson
Freak
Dee Vitolo
With
Ed Peranio
Bob Skidmore
Margie Skidmore
Jack Walsh
Susan Walsh
Gilbert McGill
Pat Moran
Paul Landis
Mark Lazarus
Harvey Freed
Suzie Nichols
Steve Waters
Julia Richardson
Will Cullen
Jack Roberts
Mark Isherwood
Berenica Cipcus
Hawley Peterson
Tom Wells
Michael Renner
Cowboy
George Figgs
Jesus Christ
Credits
Director
John Waters
Produced, written, filmed, and edited by
John Waters
Production assistance
David Lochary
Production assistance
Howard Gruber
Production assistance
Bob Skidmore
Production assistance
Jack Walsh
Production assistance
Mink Stole
Stills
Lawrence Irvine
Original music composed by
George S. Clinton
Lobstora by
Vincent Peranio

Current

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If you’re hankering for a heavy dose of sleaze, you need look no further than John Waters’ 1970 sophomore feature, Multiple Maniacs, which joined our collection this week and is now streaming on the Criterion Channel. Made in Waters’ beloved ho…
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