Back in 1968, Russ Meyer’s Vixen! was a surprise hit at the box office. A film Meyer made on what could be considered a micro-budget, the wild and racy storyline, dialogue, and explicit nudity made Vixen! the first-ever X-rated film.
A satire feature – mixing drama, eroticism, comedy, and social commentary – by and large, Vixen has not been seen anywhere in forty decades. However, a deal was struck between Russ Meyer’s estate and Severin Films’s estate to distribute it. With this new agreement, Severin Films restored the film to 4K Ultra HD and complied with many extra features for a physical release.
This is an exciting time for Russ Meyer fans, but there is more. Severin Films also acquired the rights to release 1975’s Supervixens, and 1979’s Beneath the Valley of the Ultravixens. Considered the Vixen Trilogy, each film will be released as a stand-alone 4K UHD, Blu-ray, and DVD on January 28, 2025.
Three different films, Supervixens is a sort of sequel to the original classic, but with entirely different characters and story. Seven years after Vixen!, Supervixens arrived in theaters in the spring of 1975. This time, even more robust when it came to sexuality and wild situations, Supervixens outdid even Vixen!, racking in over eight million dollars during the initial box office run. Impressive, it stood as Meyer’s biggest commercial success since 1970’s Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. So, what made Supervixens different than Vixen!?
In Supervixens, you have a gas jockey named Clint Ramsey (played by Charles Pitts, who had an extensive career in film/television) who is involved with an unpredictable lady called SuperAngel (Shari Eubank). The two get into a scuffle, a psychopathic police officer named Harry Sledge (portrayed by the late veteran Actor Charles Napier) comes to the scene, and soon Clint is on the run for the slaying of SuperAngel without as much laying a hand on her.
From here, Clint is on a cross-country excursion where he encounters one wild lady after another, looking to get in his pants against his consistent declines, only to put him in one bad predicament after another. Clint is a cool character, but he seems to have the worst luck with women. Fortunately, in the end, things work out… but if you have never seen Sueprvixens, you will have to find out for yourself.
Overall, Supervixens stands out because the story is constantly moving. In fact, there is a new ‘vixen’ after ten minutes. You have SuperCherry (Colleen Brennan) and her boyfriend, who pick up Clint hitchhiking, a farmer and his young Austrian mail-order bride, SuperSoul (Uschi Digard), a motel owner and his deaf daughter, SuperEula (Deborah McGuire; former wife of Richard Pryor), and finally a reincarnation of SuperAngel, the better half called SuperVixen (also played by Shari Eubank). Each portion of SuperVixens is more insane than the next, and the humor is perfectly balanced.
All this considered, once again, Meyer was up against censorship with the initial release of Supervixens. While other cuts exist, such as omitting certain scenes, fortunately, Severin Films’ restoration release is completely uncut.
Scanned from the original camera negative, the 4K restoration is nothing less than breathtaking, with superb image quality, sound, and vivid color. It is amazing to see, and you would have to think it took tremendous work to put it together with such high quality. Beyond this, you also get three-plus hours of special features, including a never-before-seen archival interview with Actor Charles Napier and more.
Ultimately, Severin Films does Supervixens justice with this long overdue high-end, loaded physical-format release. Those who know Russ Meyer will love this. For those who have only heard of Meyer and films like Supervixens, you are in for a treat because the over-the-top quality is good adult-oriented fun. That is why Cryptic Rock gives the Severin Films releases of Supervixens 5 out of 5 stars.
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