15 Essential Movies For LGBT* Pride Month

14. Multiple Maniacs

Carol Rooney Mara Cate Blanchett
New Line Cinema

John Waters has earned his reputation as the Pope of Trash. With films like Pink Flamingos - featuring the infamous feces eating scene - to his glorious satire on suburban obsession, his films have trailblazed a path through the seedy and confrontational side of cinema.

His ultra low-budget 1970 film Multiple Maniacs offers a glimpse into his filmmaking process in its rawest form, exploring the antics of a troupe of performers who take things to the next level and end up murdering the attendees of their show. The star of Multiple Maniacs is Harris Milstead, otherwise known as Divine, a flamboyant, eccentric drag queen with a penchant for depravity and a knack for cutting dialogue and elegant dresses.

Multiple Maniacs' grainy black-and-white footage and improvised feel creates an anarchic vibe which is infectious and often thoroughly entertaining. It's also a wonderful showcase for Divine's talents, who has remained an icon of the LGBT* community decades later, with a recent Netflix retrospective fondly recalling his illustrious career.

Contributor
Contributor

Andrew Dilks hasn't written a bio just yet, but if they had... it would appear here.