"Russ Meyer's Nutty, Nudie, Under Milk Wood?"
The last (for now) of Severin's UHD and Blu-ray releases is a 4K transfer (after what sounds like a great deal of painstaking restoration of the original camera negative) of cult director Russ Meyer's final feature, all with the cooperation of the Russ Meyer Trust.
BENEATH THE VALLEY OF THE ULTRAVIXENS couldn't exactly be called poetry, but with its narrator introducing us to each of the characters and many of the situations, and its detailing of the (frequently bizarre) goings-on in a small town it stands up to comparison with Dylan Thomas' classic 'play for voices' Under Milk Wood.
The inhabitants of the community of Small Town USA get up to all kinds of strange things, from Martin Bormann watching a stripper from a coffin while covered in a sheet (based on a true story told to Meyer), to lead Francesca 'Kitten' Natividad trying to find a cure for husband Ken Kerr's predilection for being a 'back window' man.
It's a film that's considerably sillier than either 1968'S VIXEN or 1975's SUPERVIXENS, with the result that it's less erotic than the former and less thrilling than the latter, although of course your mileage may vary. However, if lots of scenes of vigorous breasty bouncing up and down to the repeated twangs of a Jew's harp is for you then you'll think you've died and gone to heaven.
Once again Severin's transfer is eye-popping in the vividness of both colour and detail. Extras include an archival Russ Meyer commentary, an interview with Natividad (17 minutes) that looks archival but boasts a copyright date of 2024, a 1979 talk show in which Meyer is interviewed (23 minutes) and a new piece with Ellen Adelstein whose talk show it was (seven minutes). There's also a trailer.
Russ Meyer's BENEATH THE VALLEY OF THE ULTRAVIXENS is out from Severin Films in either a UHD / Blu-ray combo or just Blu-ray alone on Monday 27th January 2025
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