Russ Meyer’s Long-Unavailable ‘Vixen’ Trilogy Will Soon Be Busting Out On 4K
by David Lewis
Legendary sexploitation writer-director-producer Russ Meyer was best known for casting buxom beauties in insane genre camp such as Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!, Mudhoney (both 1965), and Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970).
In a rare move for the era, the fiercely independent Meyer was able to retain the rights to the movies he produced. When he passed away in 2004, the films went into copyright limbo and have been nigh impossible to find since.
The genre specialists at Severin Films are here to help correct that cinematic oversight, with the long overdue remastered releases of the three titles in Meyer’s loosely connected Vixen Trilogy: Vixen! (1968), Supervixens (1975), and Beneath the Valley of the Ultravixens (1975).
All three movies share a zany, anything-goes aesthetic that typically involves farcical sex scenes, scantily clad women wrestling, light violence, cornball jokes, and broad satirical jabs at the puritanical mores of the mainstream US at the time. Fun fact: Vixen! was the first movie to earn the then-new X rating, based solely on its sex scenes. Another fun fact: like Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, Ultravixens was co-written by a young Roger Ebert.
In collaboration with the Russ Meyer Trust, the films have been mastered from their negatives for the first time in forty years, and will be released on 4K, Blu-ray, and DVD in December. Details, specs, and special features will be announced soon.
“As a filmmaker, distributor and First Amendment warrior, Russ Meyer is one of the last great icons of American cinema,” says Severin co-founder David Gregory in a press release. “We’re grateful for the support of The Russ Meyer Trust as we begin what we hope will be an ongoing and bountiful partnership. The Severin Films team is enormously proud of our work in restoring these legendary titles for a new generation of fans and look forward to bringing Russ’ classic catalog back to the bosom of cinéastes everywhere.”
“Russ Meyer’s biggest requirement was QUALITY,” adds Janice Cowart of the Russ Meyer Trust. “RM Films is overjoyed that Severin Films took on this gargantuan effort to meet Russ’ expectations, and we are delighted his films will once again be available.”
