Supervixens – Severin Films (4k UHD/Blu-ray Combo)

Theatrical Release Date: USA, 1975
Director: Russ Meyer
Writer: Russ Meyer
Cast: Shari Eubank, Charles Napier, Uschi Digard, Charles Pitt, Henry Rowland, Christina Cummings, Colleen Brennan, John Lazar, Stuart Lancaster, Deborah McGuire, Glenn Dixon, Haji, 'Big Jack' Provan, Garth Pillsbury, Ron Sheridan, John Lawrence, Fred Owens, John Furlong, Paul Fox, Ann Marie, John Steen, Stan Berkowitz, Richard S. Brummer, Russ Meyer

Release Date: January 28th, 2025
Approximate Running Time: 105 Minutes 29 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Widescreen / 2160 Progressive / HEVC / H.265 / HDR10+
Rating: NR
Sound: DTS-HD Mono English
Subtitles: English SDH
Region Coding: Region Free
Retail Price: $59.95

"Following the ‘serious’ features The Seven Minutes and Black Snake, this 1975 return to form written, photographed, edited, produced and directed by Russ Meyer remains perhaps his most over-the-top and savagely entertaining epic of all: When a hot-blooded wife (Shari Eubank) and a psychotic cop (a startling performance by Charles Napier of The Blues Brothers fame) come together, it will ignite a cross-country odyssey of violence, vengeance and relentless coitus." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 5/5 (4K UHD), 4.5/5 (Blu-ray)

Here’s the information provided about this release's transfer, "now restored by Severin Films in conjunction with The Russ Meyer Trust and scanned in 4K from the original negative stored at The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences."

Supervixens comes on a 66 GB dual layer 4K UHD.

Disc Size: 61.5 GB

Feature: 60.3 GB

The source is in excellent shape; it is vastly superior to all of this film’s previous home media releases. Colors are nicely saturated, flesh tones look healthy, and image clarity, contrast, black levels, and compression are solid. Also, grain remains intact, and the image always retains an organic look.

Supervixens comes on a 50 GB single layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 39.5 GB

Feature: 30.3 GB

This Blu-ray uses the same master that is used for the 4K UHD disc.

Audio: 4.5/5

This release comes with one audio option, a DTS-HD mono mix in English with removable English SDH. Like the video, Severin has done a fantastic job with the audio. The audio is in excellent shape; there are no sibilance issues, dialog always comes through clearly, and everything sounds balanced. Range-wise ambient sounds are well-represented, and the score sounds appropriately robust. That said, not only does the audio sound better than ever, it is difficult to imagine it sounding any better.

Extras:

Extras on the 4K UHD disc include a theatrical trailer (2 minutes 3 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), and an audio commentary with writer/cinematographer/editor/producer/director Russ Meyer.

Extras on the Blu-ray disc include a TV spot (33 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), a theatrical trailer (2 minutes 3 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), Mike Carroll’s archival interview with Russ Meyer titled Russ Meyer Versus The Porn-Busters (23 minutes 54 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an archival extra titled The Incredibly Strange Film Show Season 1, Episode 5: Russ Meyer (39 minutes 17 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an archival interview with actor Charles Napier titled The Return of Harry Sledge (18 minutes 45 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), and an audio commentary with Russ Meyer.

Other extras include a slipcover.

Summary:

A man wrongly accused of murdering his wife finds himself constantly in trouble and surrounded by oversexed women.

Supervixens is a sort of sequel to Vixen, and a third film, Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens, rounds out this loose trilogy of films. The three films that are part of the Vixen trilogy are parody sex comedies with big bosoms and outrageous sex scenes. Though the Vixen films are self-contained, Russ Meyer was one of the first filmmakers who created his own cinematic universe where characters would appear in multiple films.

By the time that Russ Meyer directed Supervixens, he had firmly established his brand of cinema. And though others have tried to copy or pay homage to Russ Meyer, it’s not possible to recapture something uniquely him. That said, Russ Meyer was more than just a filmmaker who worked in sexploitation; he was an auteur in the truest sense of the word.

The opening moment of Supervixens is pure perfection. There is a sexy woman at a gas station, and the attendant is trying to calm down his girlfriend while the woman flirts with him. While this is all unfolding, Russ Meyer cuts between the gas station and the girlfriend raging on the other end of the phone. The tone and pace of this sequence do a phenomenal job laying the foundation for what follows.

When it comes to casting, one thing you can’t always count on with a Russ Meyer film is a bevy of busty women. Though all of the women in Supervixens leave a lasting impression, the most memorable performance is Shari Eubank, who portrays two characters, Supervixen and Superangel. These two characters are like mirror images; one is good, while the other is bad. She delivers a captivating performance, and it is a shame she would only appear in one more film.

The other performance of note is Charles Napier (Cherry, Harry & Raquel!), who portrays a psychotic cop named Harry Sledge. Though there are several characters who are violent, they are all tame compared to Harry’s brand of violence. In one scene, he stomps a woman within an inch of her life, and then he finishes her off by throwing a radio into the tub and electrocuting her. Other notable cast members are John Lazar (Beyond the Valley of the Dolls) and Uschi Digard (Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens), who portrays a hypersexual Austrian mail order bride.

From a production standpoint, Supervixens is a film where everything perfectly falls into place. Things move quickly, and pacing is never an issue; the well-executed narrative does a superb job building momentum to its outlandish finale. Humor once again plays a significant role, and it never misses the mark. Also, Russ Meyer’s visuals never miss an opportunity to show off the ample assets of its leading ladies. Ultimately, Russ Meyer was at the top of his game with Supervixens, a film that is arguably his best.

Supervixens gets a definitive release from Severin Films, highly recommended.

Note about the 4K screenshots: It is not possible to make Dolby Vision or HDR10 screenshots that faithfully match the experience of watching a film in motion on a TV. Instead of not having any screenshots, all of the 4K screenshots are m2ts taken with a MPC-HC player and lossless PNGs.

Written by Michael Den Boer