Multiple Maniacs is a 1970 comedy film by American cult filmmaker John Waters; his second feature film. 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 states in his book Shock Value. Lady Divine is the owner and operator of a show called The Cavalcade of Perversion, a free exhibit of various perversions and fetish acts 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 , until 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 her prostitute daughter, Cookie , and her new boyfriend, Steve , a member of the Weather Underground.
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