Multiple Maniacs(2016)

Janus Films

1h 31m

Release Date: Aug 5, 2016 | Limited

6.5

Watch as the life of a leader of a menacing group of deviants explodes in a spectacle of debauchery. Accidentally filmed from beginning to end, on purpose.

Official Website

Releases

Original Release | Aug 5, 2016

View Advanced Data Watch on

Box Office Results

Updated as of Jan 31, 2025 11:51 AM ET

Results

Opening Weekend US & Canada:
$9,814
Total US & Canada:
$33,036
Total International
$5,367
Total Worldwide:
$39,025

Current Showtimes

orround

Tue Aug 11
Wed Aug 12
Thu Aug 13
Fri Aug 14
Sat Aug 15
Sun Aug 16
Mon Aug 17

Director & Top Cast

John Waters
Director

Divine
Lady Divine

David Lochary
Mr. David

Mary Vivian Pearce
Bonnie

Mink Stole
Mink

Cookie Mueller
Cookie Divine

Edith Massey

Edith

Susan Lowe

Cavalcade pervert

Rick Morrow

Ricky

Howard Gruber

Gilbert

Paul Swift

Steve (Cookie's boyfriend)

Vincent Peranio

Freak

Jim Thompson

Freak

Dee Vitolo

Freak

Ed Peranio

Freak

Bob Skidmore

Cavalcade Patron

Margie Skidmore

Murdered spectator

Jack Walsh

Straight Person

Technical Specifications

Sound Mix: Mono

Aspect Ratio: 1.66 : 1

Other Details

Country of Origin: United States

Language: English

Summaries

Plot Summary

Lady Divine, a woman of obese proportions, and her boyfriend, Mr. David, operate "The Cavalcade of Perversion," a traveling freak show mounted by a troupe of misfits whose shocking proclivities are topped only by those of their leader. Young housewives and businessmen from the suburbs are lured into a small tent to observe a bevy of their favorite horrors, such as junkies, homosexuals, and pornographers, only to be bullied, robbed, and even murdered by Lady Divine and her gang. Mr. David, realizing that his long-standing romance with Lady Divine is on the decline, takes up with Bonnie, whom he met at the world premiere of Inga, a sex exploitation film. Lady Divine, upon hearing of the affair, recedes into depression, and decides to seek spiritual contact with a superior force. She goes to an empty church and there she unexpectedly meets a woman named Mink Stole, a religious fanatic who gives her the moral support she needs; indeed, with the aid of a rosary, Mink Stole seduces her on the spot while Lady Divine has hallucinatory visions of a blasphemous crucifixion and of Jesus transforming five loaves and two fish into tons of a well-known brand of bread and cans of tuna. With Mink's help, Lady Divine sets out to murder the lovers. The murders having supposedly been carried out, she loses complete control of her behavior, and in the process is attacked by Lobstora, a 15-foot broiled lobster. Dazed by the experience, she makes her way into the street, causing mass hysteria, and is subsequently gunned down by the National Guard as a mob of thrill-seeking citizenry looks on.

Storyline

The travelling sideshow 'Lady Divine's Cavalcade of Perversions' is actually a front for a group of psychotic kidnappers, with Lady Divine herself the most vicious and depraved of all, but her life changes after she gets raped by a 15-foot lobster. — Michael Brooke Divine leads a troupe of misfits, calling themselves 'Lady Divine's Cavalcade of Perversions,' who perform lewd and illegal acts for "free". Once onlookers are lured in the tents, they are then robbed and possibly killed to support Divine's greed, lust, and maniacal need to run the show. Her boyfriend Mr. David sees that she's getting more and more out of control, and he starts an affair with a sex-mad young woman. David plans to kill Divine with his new paramour's help, but Divine is always one step ahead. Divine is on her way to kill David when she is raped in the streets by a couple on drugs. A young saint finds her in the street and leads her to a church where she is molested by an enamored lesbian with a rosary. The two proceed to Divine's daughter Cookie's apartment, where David and the new girlfriend have already killed Cookie and the remaining troupe member and are waiting for Divine. Divine overpowers the two, killing them and the lesbian. She then recognizes her madness, proclaiming herself a maniac shortly before a huge lobster enters the apartment and rapes her. Then, foaming at the mouth, she wanders the streets in a fugue state and rages on innocent people until she's taken down by a small brigade of cops and local gunmen. — Raven 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.

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