Multiple Maniacs

The scuzzy early 16mm films by John Waters, then lovingly known as the Prince of Puke, are unlikely subjects for shiny digital restorations. But that’s exactly what’s happened with Waters’s still-scandalous and blasphemous second feature Multiple Maniacs. The iconic drag queen Divine gives a ferocious performance as the operator of a sideshow attraction called The Cavalcade of Perversion who slaughters the gormless suburbanites lured there with the prospect of cheap thrills. The derangements and crudities only pile up from there! (91 mins., DCP)