Vixen. (4K UHD Review)

Reviewed by: Tim Salmons
Review Date: Jan 03, 2025
Format: 4K Ultra HD

Director

Russ Meyer

Release Date(s)

1968 (January 28, 2025)

Studio(s)

Coldstream Films/Goldstein Films/Eve Productions/RM Films (Severin Films)

Film/Program Grade: N/A
Video Grade: A
Audio Grade: A
Extras Grade: A

Review

Vixen. (or Vixen! as it was originally released in 1968) was simultaneously Russ Meyer’s first large scale hit while also being one of his most controversial, at least in certain parts of the United States where local censors attempted and succeeded at getting it removed from theaters. Certainly tame compared to what came later, many overlooked its other qualities, including its cinematography and self-satirization, with its sights focused squarely on the sexploitation genre, but it also had a little more on its mind than many gave it credit for.

Deep in the Canadian wilderness lives Vixen (Erica Gavin), a lonely housewife who is only too eager to hop into the bed of almost anyone she meets while her clueless and devoted husband Tom (Garth Pillsbury) flies in various sightseeing tourists. While she makes her moves on an unhappy visiting couple, Dave (Robert Aiken) and Janet (Vincene Wallace), her older brother Judd (Jon Evans) and his friend Niles (Harrison Page) constantly harass her, especially since she’s a horrible racist and absolutely terrible to Niles, a black man, whenever he’s around. It seems as if it’s only a matter of time before Tom will catch wise of Vixen’s sexual escapades, whether she will learn to get past her prejudices, or if Niles will finally get fed up and take action against her.

Though Russ Meyer tended to use women in his films that were shall we say abundantly oversized in the chest area, Erica Gavin won the leading role of Vixen after having worked with previous Meyer collaborators Tura Satana and Haji from Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! at a topless bar, and answering an ad in Variety for auditions for the film. Her frank and unusual manner, as well as her gorgeous looks, eventually won him over. The rest of the cast also does good work, including Vincene Wallace as the ditzy jealous wife Janet, Jon Evans as Vixen’s older brother Judd, and Harrison Page as the young and angry Niles, the latter by far the best actor in the film.

There are also other factors at work in Vixen. besides just sex and nudity that you don’t often find in too many other low budget “skin flicks.” What begins as a send-up of titillating hypersexualized fare turns into a full-blown sociopolitical and racial dissertation and dissection in the final minutes. Some of the characters actually learn a thing or two about the world and each other, leaving the film different people than they were when it started. It’s nothing groundbreaking, but it’s certainly more interesting than a generic T&A fest that has little on its mind other than just naked flesh.

All of that was, of course, overlooked by anti-pornography activist Charles Keating when the film was screened in Cincinnati, Ohio, whereupon a long and drawn out legal battle took place and Vixen. was outright banned, which continues to the present day. Keating also helped to successfully wipe out all purveyors of all types of pornography in that area in the next several years, despite later being exposed as someone with, shall we say, questionable business ethics.

Russ Meyer was certainly in the business of putting nude women in front of the camera for money, but did so on his own terms. His work always tended to look good, with effective camera angles and compositions, but also appearing colorful and easy on the eye. Today, he’s considered one of the most successful independent filmmakers of any genre. His crew on Vixen. mostly consisted of about four or five people as he co-wrote, produced, edited, and directed the film; he had direct control over it and knew exactly what he wanted, and though he was a hard-driving filmmaker, all of his actors purportedly respected him and he personally looked out for and protected his female stars. However you feel about his work, it seems that it wasn’t created under abusive circumstances. If you’re in the right frame of mind, his work, especially Vixen., is a hoot.

Vixen. was shot by Russ Meyer himself on 35mm film with Arriflex 35 cameras and spherical lenses, finished photochemically, and presented in the aspect ratio of 1.66:1. Severin Films debuts the film on Ultra HD with a new 4K restoration of the original camera negative (with additional sections taken from an interpositive) by The Museum of Modern Art. It has been graded for High Dynamic Range in HDR10 and presented on a dual-layered BD-66 disc. It’s a beautiful presentation that’s highly organic and true to its sources. Their differences aren’t alll that pronounced and they blend well together, but there are a couple of shots where you can spot the changes in depth if you’re paying close enough attention. None of that really matters though as the majority of the picture is strong with only mild scratches and speckling leftover, and bitrates that often sit between 80 and 100Mbps. Grain is natural and well-attenuated, never clumping or appearing heavy. The HDR grade soaks up detail in the primarily forested and countryside color palette, which is varied and lush, with perfect flesh tones on display. Blacks are deep with perfect contrast, and the whole of the presentation is stable from end to end. It’s a terrific-looking picture.

Audio is included in English 2.0 mono DTS-HD Master Audio (sourced from the 35mm original track negative and a 35mm print) with optional subtitles in English SDH. It’s a clean track that offers excellent support for dialogue and score, free of any instances of hiss, dropouts, distortion, or sibilance. One need to look no further than the first commentary track on this release that uses the previous DVD and Blu-ray audio underneath to hear the vast improvement in aural quality.

The 2-Disc 4K Ultra HD release of Vixen. sits in a black Amaray case alongside a Region-Free 1080p Blu-ray with an insert and a slipcover that features the original theatrical artwork, re-creating the original RM Films VHS and DVD artwork. This is also being released simultaneously in the US, Canada, and the UK, for those keeping score. The following extras are included on each disc:

DISC ONE: UHD

Audio Commentary with Russ Meyer
Audio Commentary with Erica Gavin and David Gregory
Trailer (HD – 1:24)

DISC TWO: BD

1981 Theatrical Re-Release Censor Prologue (HD – 1:38)
Audio Commentary with Russ Meyer
Audio Commentary with Erica Gavin and David Gregory
Woman... ...Or Animal? (SD – 20:04)
Sinister Image (SD – 21:27)
Entertainment... Or Obscenity? (HD – 13:34)
Trailer (HD – 1:24)

The audio commentary with Russ Meyer was first included on Image Entertainment’s 1997 LaserDisc release. Meyer, like his films, is extremely frank and doesn’t pull punches, offering his honest opinions about the people he works with, his various relationships with the women he’s known in his life, and his repeated battles with the censors. He goes quiet for several passages, but his input is absolutely invaluable and entertaining, but if you’re an overly sensitive person that has a difficult time with non-PC speak, you might want to steer clear (then again, if you’re watching this film, that statement is null and void). Next is a new commentary featuring Erica Gavin, moderated by David Gregory, who seem to be chatting with each other via Skype or Zoom. Gavin is absolutely charming and offers her own brand of frankness as David Gregory keeps the conversation moving briskly. Both are excellent commentary tracks and worthy of your time.

The 1981 Censor Prologue has also been restored by MoMA and included separately as an extra, though it would have been nice to have had the option of watching it with the main presentation, just for kicks. Woman... ...Or Animal? is a vintage DVD featurette that includes interviews with Erica Gavin and Harrison Page, covering some of the same ground as the commentaries, but with the added benefit of Page’s involvement and point of view. Sinister Image is an episode of David Del Valle’s cable access show wherein he interviews Russ Meyer and the legendary Yvette Vickers. Entertainment... Or Obscenity? is a new featurette that interviews actor, writer, and producer Marc Edward Heuck, a Cincinnati native who details the history of Charles Keating’s attack on pornography and the lives of those he ruined in the pursuit. Last is the film’s trailer, which appears to have been reconstructed from HD scans of a print and footage from the main presentation.

Many these days who watch Vixen. for the first time are likely to see the satire in it, and probably not understand why it was so controversial when it was released. HBO and Showtime has far more graphic sexual content in their shows than Vixen., not to mention the plethora of hardcore pornography produced since then. Severin Films’ 4K presentation allows the film to exist in a form never seen before as it looks better than it ever has, with a nice package of extras to go with it. For fans of psychotronic cinema, or for anyone with an open mind, it comes highly recommended.

- Tim Salmons

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