Switchblade Sisters Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.0

Switchblade Sisters Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman April 29, 2021

If you’re the kind of filmgoer who feels it’s not really necessary to hang around during the closing credits, you might occasionally miss some incredible music, along with whatever little “stings” the filmmakers have inserted expressly to keep keisters in theater seats until the lights come completely back up. In that regard, there is a really fantastic song called “Endless Summer” that closes the film Drift, a film which was in fact kind of an Aussie version of the long ago documentary bearing the tune’s name. The band doing the song is called The Jezabels, and if their music video for this single is unabashedly bat guano crazy, the tune itself is stellar (in my not so humble opinion, of course) and the lyric contains one of my all time favorite lines:

Never too late to be touched by
The feasting tendrils of the night.

With tongue obviously more than a bit in cheek, it might be suggested that slightly changing the spelling of Jezabels as well as changing that "never too late to be touched by" from "feasting tendrils of the night" to either a marauding girls' prison matron and/or the slash of a knife from one of the prison's inmates themselves, and you'll have a general overview of the unabashedly sleazy goings on in Switchblade Sisters, a film which was also evidently released under an alternate title highlighting the name of a girl gang in the picture, The Jezebels.

The girl gang at the core of Switchblade Sisters is actually initially called the Dagger Debs, which is run by the imperious Lace (Robbie Lee). An opening vignette seems to suggest the girls are actually vigilantes of a sort, as they take on a debt collector in an elevator, something that soon gets the police involved. In the meantime, Lace and her motley crew of underlings have run into newcomer Maggie (Joanne Nail) at a nearby fast food joint, and when threatened by Lace's acolyte Patch (Monica Gayle), Maggie proves she's more than just another pretty face.

The Dagger Debs are kind of the distaff adjunct to the male gang in the film, the Silver Daggers, which is run by Lace's boyfriend Dominic (Asher Brauner). Suffice it to say that Dom is not exactly the gallant type, and he both sexually assaults Maggie and refuses to accept paternity for the baby Lace is carrying, with both of these plot elements leading to various violent interchanges. There's also a competing male gang led by a guy named Crabs (Chase Newhart) whose interloping on both the Silver Daggers' and the Dagger Debs' territory leads to even more violence.

This is all resolutely silly stuff, played with the sort of hyperbolic overacting that actually makes things almost funny a lot of the time, despite the underlying smarm. And in fact there's no doubt that director Jack Hill and screenwriter F.X. Meier actually intend for there to be passing laughs in the enterprise, which perhaps makes the entire thing a bit easier to take. Switchblade Sisters is famously a favorite of some guy named Quentin Tarantino or something, and in fact the German Blu-ray release of the film contains a commentary from Jack Hill and Quentin Tarantino which is unfortunately not included on this Arrow version.

Switchblade Sisters Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Switchblade Sisters is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. Arrow's insert booklet contains only the following pretty generic information on the transfer:

Switchblade Sisters is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 with mono sound. The film was restored from the best available archival elements by the filmmaker. The HD master was supplied by Subkultur Entertainment.

This is a rather impressive looking transfer overall, especially considering the fact that the "best available archival elements" statement might lead some to believe that substandard sources were all that remained for this feature. While there are some density fluctuations, for the most part the palette is very nicely suffused throughout and looks natural. Detail levels are often quite commendable as well, with fabrics on the wild seventies clothing precisely rendered, and other fine detail, like hair on both the male and female performers, resolving very well. There are some darker scenes where grain can look a bit ungainly and general detail levels understandably falter (see screenshot 14), and the film also has some kind of cheeky "old school" segues like wipes where the image quality is somewhat degraded. There are a few nicks and scratches along the way, but for the most part, this is a nicely damage free presentation.

Switchblade Sisters Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Switchblade Sisters features an LPCM Mono track which doesn't have a ton of dynamic range, especially considering the over the top "action" elements, but which has rather good fidelity which provides capable support for the film's goofy dialogue and its swingin' score credited to Medusa, though Exotica titan Les Baxter evidently was involved as well. There are no issues whatsoever in terms of damage, distortion or dropouts. Optional English subtitles are available.

Switchblade Sisters Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary by Samm Deighan and Kat Ellinger


• We're the Jezebels! (HD; 39:19) is a really fun and interesting making of piece which offers some great interviews with Jack Hill, producer John Prizer, casting director Geno Havans, production designer B.B. Neal, stunt co-ordinator Bob Minor, and actors Joanne Nail, Asher Brauner and Chase Newhart.


• Gangland: The Locations of Switchblade Sisters (HD; 6:54) is an archival piece from 2012 with Elijah Dremmer and Jack Hill visiting some of the shooting locations for the film.


• Jack Hill and Joanne Nail at The Grindhouse Film Festival (HD; 9:24) is another archival piece, this time from 2007, and comes with a warning about video and audio quality.


• Interview with Jack Hill, Robbie Lee, and Joanne Nail (HD; 7:48) completes the trifecta of archival material, and also comes with a warning about video and audio quality.


• Theatrical Trailers

  Switchblade Sisters (HD; 3:07)

  
  

  The Jezebels (HD; 3:03)

  
  

  Spider Baby (HD; 1:04)

  
  

  Pit Stop (HD; 2:02)

  
  

  Coffy (HD; 1:56)

  
  

  Foxy Brown (HD; 2:01)

  
  

  The Swinging Cheerleaders (HD; 2:37)

• Still Galleries

  Behind the Scenes (HD; 1;00)

  
  

  Promo Stills (HD; 4:00)

  
  

  Lobby Cards (HD; 4:40)

  
  

  Posters (HD; 1:10)

  
  

  Home Video (HD; 1:20)

Additionally, Arrow provides its typically well appointed insert booklet, this one with cast and crew information, an "about the transfer" informational snippet, and three essays and/or articles, Operation Butterfly Eyepatch: An Interview With Jack Hill and On Maggie's Rape, both by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, and You Can't Stop the Children of the Revolution by Heather Drain.

Switchblade Sisters Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

This may say something about my subconscious which frankly I may not want to really know about, but my favorite part of this inarguably sleazy film was the provocative scene with prison matron "Mom Smackley", who is portrayed by the late, great Kate Murtagh, who had a slew of credits in both television and film, but who may be best remembered by music fans as the "cover model" on Supertramp's Breakfast in America album. Here, I swear she looks very much like Modern Family's Eric Stonestreet in drag, which may have only upped my enjoyment factor. One way or the other, this gonzo outing should be appreciated by cult collectors, though those with an interest in this film may well want to check out the region free German release from Subkultur, since it includes the commentary by Hill and Tarantino. This release offers solid technical merits and its own slate of enjoyable supplements (some of which are evidently on the Subkultur release as well), for those who are considering a purchase.