Multiple Maniacs

Multiple Maniacs (1970) is John Waters' black horror-comedy, and you can watch it online on iFILM. A roving troupe runs the Cavalcade of Perversion, luring gawkers with the promise of something shocking. The act always ends the same way — the audience gets robbed blind.

Running the show is Divine, Waters' signature star. When she learns her lover, Mr. David, has been stepping out, she turns to revenge — and falls in with a religious con artist played by Mink Stole along the way. From there everyone schemes against everyone, each plotting a murder of their own. Plot is really just an excuse for provocation: the movie is cheap, filthy and built to offend on purpose.

This is early Waters, shot in Baltimore on almost no money, years before his cult landmark Pink Flamingos. It isn't for everyone — crude, trashy, all about the shock. But for anyone digging into the roots of American underground and trash cinema, it shows where the whole thing started. Stream Multiple Maniacs (1970) online on iFILM.