Multiple Maniacs [VHS]
If you don't enjoy circus freaks, transvestites, and the idea of  intimate relations with arthropods, then you probably won't get the humor inMultiple Maniacs. If, on the other hand, you enjoyed John Waters's infamousPink Flamingos("the filthiest film ever made!"), then check out this earlier attempt to shock even the most jaded moviegoer.The story, such as it is, revolves around Lady Divine's Cavalcade of Perversions, a smutty sideshow featuring such depraved attractions as armpit lickers and "actual queers, kissing on the lips." Divine plays a homicidal dominatrix who slaughters hapless suburbanites lured by the carnival's cheap thrills. The filming, like the subject matter, is crude, but shows hints of Waters's keen eye for visuals, as in Divine's first scene, when the colossal drag queen wallows nakedly, ample backside to the camera, delivering his/her lines into a makeup mirror. Things really get going when emcee Mr. David decides to leave Divine for a more petite woman... and Divine's wrathful revenge is diverted by an apparition of the Christ Child of Prague. Before it's over, rabies, Charles Manson, and giant, randy lobsters all come into play. To enjoyMultiple Maniacs, there's just one strategy--sit back and take it.--Grant Balfour