The curious link between John Waters and the Manson Family murders
The American filmmaker John Waters, known in fan circles as ‘The Prince of Puke’ or ‘The Duke of Dirt’, is celebrated for a career rooted in the essence of delightful bad taste. Working closely with the cult performer, actor and drag artist Divine, the duo formed a peculiar relationship, working together on such celebrated independent films as Roman Candles, Mondo Trasho and Pink Flamingos.
Whilst Waters might be better recognised for his collaborations with Divine, he also had a far stranger relationship with a notorious figure of the late 1960s, Leslie Van Houten, the youngest member of Charles Manson’s cult. Responsible for nine murders at four locations in July and August 1969, including the killing of rising film star Sharon Tate, the actions of the Manson Family cult was a significant turning point in modern American culture.
Writing a five-part essay series titled Leslie Van Houten: A Friendship, Waters discussed how he’d originally met the death row inmate, expressing empathy for the cult member. “I think it’s time to parole her,” Waters states, explaining: “She looks back from prison on her involvement in the La Bianca murders (the night after the Tate massacre) in utter horror, shame, and guilt and takes full responsibility for her part in the crimes”.
Claiming to be “jealous” of the notoriety of the cult, the filmmaker even dedicated Pink Flamingos to Van Houten, Susan Atkins and Patricia Krenwinkel of the Manson family, later admitting, “Maybe I had taken too much acid myself”. Still, there’s no doubt that Waters was fascinated by the cult, even if he regrets referring to the cult in a “jokey, smart-ass way” without consideration for the friends and families of the victims.
Later, in 1985, the filmmaker was asked by Rolling Stone to interview Charles Manson in prison and seized the opportunity, but he was admittedly more interested in interviewing Van Houten than the cult leader himself. Intrigued by her, Waters exclaimed that she could have “ended up making movies with us instead of running with the killer dune-buggy crowd,” with his interview with her being free-flowing after a staggered start.
“Can you ever recover from being called ‘a human mutant’ or a ‘monster’ by the government, especially when you know that they were right at one time in your life?” Waters later asked in his essay. Visiting the cult member every year since their first meeting, the filmmaker’s stance hasn’t changed too much with time, pondering her internal reconciliation with her crimes amid the increase in public interest towards the Manson cult.
Pondering her situation, he adds: “How do you begin to deal with the pain of the victims’ relatives when the world has turned your former image into a Halloween costume? With patience. God knows, Leslie Van Houten has patience”.
Of all the bizarre creations and claims Waters has made over the years, his empathy with one of the Manson cult murderers is certainly the most surprising.
