The horror film Multiple Maniacs, released in 1970, was John Waters’ debut (talking) feature. In one hour and thirty minutes, we see murder, mariticide, sodomy, “actual queers kissing on the lips,” and cannibalism. The last of these sins is a personal favorite of Waters.
Waters has been known throughout his career to give great film advice, from B-movie gems to wacky splatter flicks. Notably, Waters has always been fond of films featuring cannibalism and often includes them in “best of” lists and film articles. While some, like Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) and Night of the Living Dead (1968), have been admired by audiences for decades, several of Waters’ favorites have been left in the gore-y past of midnight movies and grindhouse picture houses. I have unearthed just a few from the archives of Waters, and I am not at all surprised at just how depraved and trashy they are.
Mainly found in the pages of Crackpot, in which Waters’ film knowledge is impressive and intimidating, the following list can give you a glimpse into the gooey, delightfully twisted mind of the Pope of Trash. Here is a selection of cannibalistic films applauded by Waters throughout his career.
Warning: these films are not for the faint of heart. Luckily, some of them barely last an hour!
A Selection of Films Recommended By John Waters
Blood Feast (1963)
Directed by Hershell Gordon Lewis
Duration: 1 hour 7 minutes
Streaming: Tubi
“Can we watch that scene again? You know, the one where he rips her heart out? Please?” – Mrs. Beverly Sutphin, Serial Mom
As with TCM and NOTLD, Blood Feast is an obvious favorite of Waters. He has cited Blood Feast as an inspiration for his early filmmaking and included scenes and posters for the film in his 1994 horror comedy Serial Mom. In a world of CGI and now AI technology, the graphic practical effects of Blood Feast feel incredibly refreshing when watching today. Blood Feast was produced, scored, and directed by gore legend Herschell Gordon Lewis. Mr. Ramses, a local butcher and original “Florida Man,” manipulates a housewife into letting him cater her daughter’s birthday with an Egyptian blood feast. This blood feast uses the flesh, blood, and organs of beautiful young women, all blonde and white (just like the film’s ancient Egyptians). One of these women, Connie Mason, graced the centerfold spot in PlayBoy magazine when the film was released! Bad acting, great interior decorating/costuming, and long takes with few cutaways would ultimately influence Waters’. And don’t worry: the tongue scene is still gooey after sixty years.
The Undertaker and His Pals (1966)
Directed T.L.P. Swicegood
Duration: 1 hour 3 minutes
Streaming: Tubi
“Our host’s office was the original one where the Watergate scandal was born… We ate in the White House dining room for guests and talked about movies such as Chesty Morgan’s Deadly Weapons (she kills people with her breasts), The Undertaker and His Pals, Please Don’t Eat My Mother, and other cinematic shockers… Only in America could you get invited to a Republican White House for making films that the very administration would pay to have burned.” – Waters in Crackpot
This film must have engrained itself in Waters’ psyche, particularly regarding the color palette and opening credits complete with rockabilly surf music. If you enjoy A Bucket of Blood (1959), The Undertaker and His Pals will not disappoint. Armed with a phone book, vicious motorcyclists target random locals to provide a funeral director with fresh bodies. This gooey horror comedy incorporates actual medical footage, resulting in, among other factors, canceled film screenings and confiscations by authorities.
The Corpse Grinders (1971)
Directed by Ted V. Mikels
Duration: 1 hour 12 minutes
Streaming: Internet Archive
“It used to be the way to start [in film] was to make a low budget exploitation film […]. But now it’s not so simple. Hollywood has co-opted the slash-and-trash formula, and these days garbage needs a big budget. It’s not nearly as much fun. A $10 million version of The Corpse Grinders just wouldn’t have the charm of the original.” – Waters in Crackpot
The Corpse Grinders is grainy, extremely low-budget, and bizarre. To make extra money, a poverty-stricken couple provides dead bodies to Lotus Cat Food. Local cats soon crave human flesh and start attacking their owners. Local veterinarians and lovers Dr. Glass and Nurse Robinson investigate the phenomenon. This grindhouse flick opts for joltingly fast cutaways to dripping meat grinders, though unfortunately, most of the muscle and bone evisceration happens off-screen.
Bloodsucking Freaks (1976)
Directed by Joel M. Reed
Duration: 1 hour 24 minutes
Streaming: Tubi
“I’m the happiest in my office… First duty— call the box offices of the theaters in town playing the most embarrassing movies so I can hear the mortified employees say the title. ‘Yes, what’s playing, please?’ ‘Bloodsucking Freaks…” Waters in Crackpot
This is one of the nastiest movies I have ever seen.
Villain Sardu (Seamus O’Brien) is Master of the Theater of the Macabre. With a personality teetering between Allister Crowley and Andrew Tate, Sardu performs live mutilations, torture, and murders of naked young women before a captivated yet skeptical audience. Torture is art! This film has surprisingly beautiful cinematography at times and is quite hypnotic. Blood Sucking Freaks has since been hailed a cult classic, and was re-released by Troma Entertainment in 1981. Sadly, director Joel M. Reed passed away due to complications from the COVID-19 virus in April 2020. The Brooklyn native directed other bloody gems such as Night of the Zombies (1981) and Blood Bath (1976), and even wrote a book about Donald Trump’s scandals in 1990. Scary! And another frightening note, O’Brien was murdered in his Greenwich Village apartment a year after the film’s release! Blood Sucking Freaks walked so Hostel (2009) could run.
Zombie Holocaust (1980)
Directed by Marino Girolami
Duration: 1 hour 24 minutes
Streaming: Plex!
“Being a Catholic, guilt comes naturally. Except mine is reversed. I blab ad nauseam about how much I love films like Dr. Butcher, M. D. …” – Waters in Crackpot
Zombi Holocaust is an Italian grindhouse picture rereleased as Dr. Butcher M.D. in the U.S. in 1982. Twenty-five minutes in, I wished death upon all characters. Luckily, most of them meet their demise by the film’s end! The dialogue is all overdubbed and questionable, and the script holds plenty of racist tropes. Along with general silliness, the gruesome practical effects that undoubtedly inspired the torture porn subgenre make this a fun watch. The attempts to make this film look New York City enough are comical and add to its overall charm.
If you ever walk into a medical school that looks like this one, be prepared to receive no scientific help and run like hell!