Russ Meyer’s ‘Vixen’ Trilogy – Review

By Sarah Morgan
Time for a confession – until this week, I’d never seen a single film directed by Russ Meyer. Any knowledge I had of them came from books containing startling images of big-breasted women.
But that’s now changed due to a new boxset containing three of his movies – Vixen!, Supervixens and Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens. The release is the first in a partnership between The Russ Meyer Trust and Severin Films.
The movies have been restored by The Museum of Modern Art; the institution’s involvement might have surprised Meyer if he’d been around today – I can’t imagine he ever thought his work in the low-budget sexploitation field would ever be taken so seriously.
“Genuinely amusing”
The first film in the trilogy, Vixen!, was released in 1968 and follows the misadventures of the titular character (played by real-life erotic dancer Erica Gavin), a nymphomaniac who seduces everyone she meets, including her own brother. Alongside the bonkfest, Meyer addresses issues such as racism and communism; it’s an unusual mix and no mistake.
The second film, 1975’s Supervixens, isn’t a direct sequel. Instead, it continues the theme of over-sexed women, this time those who attempt to have their way with all-round good guy Clint Ramsey, a garage worker forced to go on the run after his wife is killed and the finger of suspicion (wrongly) points at him. Various bizarre encounters occur, and there is a genuinely amusing segment involving a farmer with a voracious wife whose passion knows no bounds – no matter where they happen to be.
Finally, the weakest of the bunch, Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens from 1979, I found to be almost unwatchable, despite a supposedly satirical script co-written by Meyer with revered film critic Roger Ebert.
“Desperate”
Again big-breasted sexually frustrated and domineering women abound, all of them seemingly desperate to cure scrapyard worker Lamar of his perversion – the details of which are not for a family audience…
Some cultural observers have claimed that Meyer’s depiction of women dominating men in an attempt to get what they want made him an accidental feminist. But seeing as they have to bare their breasts to do so rather spoils that argument. Some of them die in the process too.
Although I wasn’t expecting high art, I was disappointed by all three movies. Rather than being the silly romps I’d been led to believe they were, I found myself thinking it was all a bit unpleasant. The best I can say about them is that they are at least less grim than Britain’s foremost take on the sexploitation genre – the Confessions films.
UHD:
- Archival Audio Commentary with Co-Writer/Producer/Cinematographer/CoEditor/Director Russ Meyer
- Audio Commentary with Actress Erica Gavin
- Trailer
- 1981 Censor Prologue (Theatrical Re-Release)
- Archival Audio Commentary with Co-Writer/Producer/Cinematographer/CoEditor/Director Russ Meyer
- Audio Commentary with Actress Erica Gavin
- Woman... Or Animal? – Interviews With Actors Erica Gavin And Harrison Page
- David Del Valle's The Sinister Image with Guests Russ Meyer And Yvette Vickers
- Entertainment... Or Obscenity? – Marc Edward Heuck on the Film's Historic Cincinnati Censorship Battles
- Trailer
UHD:
- Archival Audio Commentary with Writer/Cinematographer/Editor/Producer/Director Russ Meyer
- Trailer
- Archival Audio Commentary with Writer/Cinematographer/Editor/Producer/Director Russ Meyer
- Russ Meyer Versus the Porn-Busters – Mike Carroll Interview with Russ Meyer
- 'The Return Of Harry Sledge – Interview With Actor Charles Napier'
- The Incredibly Strange Film Show Season 1, Episode 5: Russ Meyer
- Trailer
- TV Spot
UHD:
- Archival Audio Commentary With Co-Writer/Producer/Cinematographer/Editor/Director Russ Meyer
- Trailer
- Archival Audio Commentary with Co-Writer/Producer/Cinematographer/Editor/Director Russ Meyer
- The Latin Brünhilde – Interview with Actress Kitten Natividad
- Talk It Over – Ellen Adelstein Interviews Russ Meyer for Her Tucson Talk Show In 1979
- Still Talking It Over – New Interview with Ellen Adelstein
- Trailer
Russ Meyer's 'Vixen' Trilogy is available from Severin Films.