We were told it would never happen. We were told it wasn't possible. We were told it was just too expensive to even consider. Then again, we were all told, at one time or another, to never say never. And after years of John Waters insisting in interviews that a dvd/blu-ray release of Multiple Maniacs wasn't in the cards, well, there you go. Never say never, John.

And for those of you who don't know, the original version of Multiple Maniacs was scored with some rather popular music, which would have made it financially impossible to release it as is in modern times where the big corporations own everything, and are ready and willing to sue anyone who dare use one of their fucking songs in a movie without handing over millions. Mondo Trasho and Multiple Maniacs have both suffered from this problem. But luckily, something has finally been worked out for the latter. I'm not entirely convinced the silent Mondo Trasho would be worth the trouble, but John Waters' first talkie seriously needs to be seen by more people. And with it's new and improved, generic score, that has finally been made possible. Multiple Maniacs finally got the release it deserves.

Outside of Hairspray, when most people think of John Waters, they think of three movies. Pink Flamingos, Female Trouble and Desperate Living. And rightfully so. They all kick ass. But with this new release, the trashy three will no doubt become the trashy four. I say that because Multiple Maniacs is neck and neck with the others as far as shock value is concerned. Quality-wise, no so much. But trust me. You'll see some shit you've never seen before. Shit you might even wish you hadn't. While Pink Flamingos is widely considered the most shocking, Mutiple Maniacs very much holds the title as most mean-spirited of all the Dreamland pictures.

Multiple Maniacs stars all the Dreamlanders we remember, and maybe a few others. A story about terrible people doing terrible things. The psychotic Lady Divine and her gang of killers use their "Cavalcade Of Perversion" as a front for their true intentions. Before the unsuspecting victims are robbed and often killed, they're treated to some good old fashion weirdness, like "two queers kissing like lovers on the lips", and a heroin addict in withdrawal. Silly stuff by today's standards, but I'm guessing everyone's horrified reactions to these things were pretty spot on for the times.

The thing about Lady Divine is that she's getting really out of hand, lately. She's starting to lose it, and her temper and blood lust is even getting her boyfriend, Mr. David, a bit concerned. Not so much for her, since he hates her guts, but her recklessness and eagerness to take chances just to get in some extra kills, is going to fuck this up for everybody. Meanwhile, Mr. David and his mistress plot to kill Lady Divine so they can perform acts together as often as they please. No way would she let Mr. David walk. If he even tries, they're both as good as dead.

Before they can plan anything, one of Lady Divine's spies informs her that her man was spotted with another woman. As she rushes over to destroy them, Lady Divine is randomly attacked and raped by a couple of drug addicts, which changes everything. Bewildered, Lady Divine wanders into a Catholic Church where she makes a new friend. A "religious whore" named Mink takes a shining to Lady Divine, and proves so by giving her a Rosary job. That's right. A Rosary up the ass. This leads to Lady Divine going Lezbo and the two falling for each other. You would think this might solve everything, but this is a raving lunatic we're talking about, here. Lady Divine could be happy she has someone and just let Mr. David be happy with his new girlfriend, too, but then, she wouldn't get to kill and mutilate them both, and descend further into madness. There's no fun in that.

Shot where ever possible for only five Thousand Dollars, Multiple Maniacs is more rough and raw than any of the later trash epics, as Waters was clearly still trying to learn the art of filmmaking while shooting this. In fact, he did pretty much everything except the acting. Clearly, he learned a lot from this one, considering Pink Flamingos was leaps and bounds ahead of this in every way. But Multiple Maniacs is still the darkest of them all, flaunting a rebellious tone that can be heard loud and clear. I wouldn't say this film is John Waters at his best, but perhaps it is Divine at his. I can promise, you'll never see a meaner, nastier, more delusional Divine than in Multiple Maniacs.

Something that recently occurred to me while watching this on my new crystal clear Blu-ray, is that its the only one of Water's early trash films where the comedy is secondary to the shock value. In fact, most of the comedy comes from the lack of acting ability and other so bad they're good flaws. This film often feels like a drug-fueled Political Drama where no one has a bit of common sense and eveything goes very, very bad, spiraling out of control into territory nobody saw coming. All I can say is that John Waters must have had access to some killer acid in his day. 5/10