Vixen Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		3.0

Vixen Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman January 19, 2025

Note: Severin Films is releasing a trio of Russ Meyer efforts in both 4K UHD and 1080 formats, for a total of six releases (the 4K UHD packages come with a 1080 disc): Vixen 4K, Vixen, Supervixens 4K, Supervixens, Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens 4K and Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens . Severin's website has a number of other offerings, some fairly pricey, which may be of interest to, um, hardcore Russ Meyer fans, including items advertised as having come from the Russ Meyer Estate (the back cover of this release offers a slightly different formulation by mentioning The Russ Meyer Trust). The entire collection has been branded with a Russ Meyer's Bosomania imprimatur, which I for one really wish had come with a ™ symbol.

In an archival commentary included on this disc as a supplement, Russ Meyer is kind of hilariously (no "Bosomania" pun intended) up front about how Vixen! put him permanently on easy street, though the controversy the film engendered at the time of its original theatrical exhibition, controversy that no doubt helped it rake in even more moolah at the box office, can seem positively quaint to modern day sensibilities perhaps desensitized by more explicit sexual depictions than anything Meyer has to offer in this 1968 opus. There is of course lots of heavy breathing, as well as an abundance of topless females, and if some of the interrelationships may supposedly push boundaries (at least for 1968), the film probably comes off as more of an historical curio than anything to those aforementioned jaded contemporary eyes, albeit one with an obvious lack of self importance that actually helps to make its inherent smarminess, well, kind of fun.

Vixen Palmer (Erica Gavin) is the evidently bored wife of bush pilot Tom (Garth Pillsbury), a guy whose work keeps him away too much for Vixen to have satiated her evidently pretty insatiable in any case sexual needs. Vixen is a seductress par excellence, and let's just say things start out with a reversal on that old adage that a Mountie always gets his man. The ostensible Canadian police officer is just the first of Vixen's many conquests, all of which probably would have given the film enough titillation power (at least for its era) to coast more than successfully, which may then beg the question as to why Meyer also chose to inject both racial and political elements into the mix, to fitful results.

It's therefore kind of interesting in a way that many people at least dimly aware of Meyer and his contributions to salacious cinema may tend to think of efforts like Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! as what put Meyer on the "map", so to speak, and while that may be true in one way, it was Vixen that assured his financial success in a way that none of his previous outings had, despite whatever box office receipts they may have engendered. And in that regard, maybe there was some kind of Bizarro World zeitgeist that Meyer tapped into with Vixen with regard to both its frequently disparated black character Niles (Harrison Page), as well as a later development that kind of hilariously involves the then nascent "troubles" in Ireland.

Vixen Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Vixen is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Severin Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.67:1. A prefatory text card before the main feature offers this information:

This 4K restoration was produced by the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA).

The film was scanned, graded and restored at ImagePro from the 35mm original camera negative, with additional sections scanned from the 35mm interpositive.

The audio was sourced from the 35mm original track negative and a 35mm release print to make a complete composite track.

Maybe a bit surprisingly the 1080 and 4K UHD offerings by Severin are the first high definition releases of this film, and I can't imagine any fans not thinking that it's probably been worth the wait. The negative was evidently either curated extremely well or restoration efforts were outstanding, as this presentation offers only negligible signs of age related wear and tear, and the palette is rather nicely suffused for the most part. While there are some occasional very fleeting and minor variations in densities, which I suspect may have to with interpolating material from the interpositive, on the whole the palette is really lush looking, and the outdoor material in particular really pops beautifully throughout. I found a couple of moments, again very brief, to be just slightly on the brown side, but on the whole the palette is vivid and natural looking. Detail levels are generally excellent, and fine detail on everything from naked bodies to props and (when worn) costumes is commendable. Grain is tightly resolved and gives the presentation a really nice organic quality. While I'd probably advise those with the appropriate setups to opt for Severin's 4K UHD release (which also includes this 1080 disc), this 1080 presentation is excellent on its own merits.

Vixen Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Vixen features a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono track that may frankly show its age a bit more than the video side of things, at least insofar as it's unavoidably boxy and kind of shallow sounding. There is still nothing to really cause any undue worry, though, and everything from sound effects out in the countryside to the brief uses of what were evidently stock cues to the all important (?) dialogue encounter no issues of any major import. Optional English subtitles are available.

Vixen Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• 1981 Censor Prologue (Theatrical Re-Release) (HD; 1:38) is a rather fascinating little defense of free expression.


• Archival Audio Commentary with Co-Writer / Producer / Cinematographer / Co-Editor / Director Russ Meyer


• Audio Commentary with Actress Erica Gavin


• Woman. . .or Animal? (HD; 20:04) features interviews with Erica Gavin and Harrison Page.


• David Del Valle's The Sinister Image (HD; 21:27) offers an episode with Russ Meyer and Yvette Vickers.


• Entertainment. . .or Obscenity? (HD; 13:34) is a fun recounting by Marc Edward Hueck of the actions undertaken by Cincinnati to prevent the exhibition of this film (and others).


• Trailer (HD; 1:24)

Severin sent its 4K UHD release for purposes of this 1080 review, and that release has a slipcover. It's not clear to me if this standalone 1080 release will come similarly packaged.

Vixen Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

You can kind of imagine Russ Meyer chuckling to himself as the film's opening narration begins with "bush country". The ensuing tale is undeniably tawdry, and some of its elements like Vixen's racist rants against Niles will probably chafe against modern sensibilities, but you just can't really end up faulting things too much because it's so obvious Meyer doesn't take himself seriously. Severin is offering Meyer fans a really solid technical presentation and some very appealing supplements.