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S E A R C H    D V D B e a v e r

(aka "The Jezebels" or "Playgirl Gang" or " Maggie's Stiletto Sisters" or "The Warriors II")

 

Directed by Jack Hill
USA 1975

 

THE WILDEST GIRL GANG THAT EVER BLASTED THE STREETS!

 

From Jack Hill, legendary director of Spider Baby, Coffy, Foxy Brown, and The Swinging Cheerleaders comes another iconic cult classic, Switchblade Sisters! Lace (Robbie Lee), the leader of inner city girl gang The Dagger Debs, meets her match when new girl Maggie (Joanne Nail) moves into the neighbourhood. Mistrust and conflict turn to friendship as the girls end up in Juvenile Detention together at the mercy of abusive guards. Meanwhile, The Dagger Debs male counterparts The Silver Daggers have to contend with the arrival of a new gang, led by the villainous Crabs (Chase Newhart). But when the girls get back on the streets, a planned retaliation strike in tandem with The Silver Daggers backfires and puts Lace in hospital. Maggie assumes control, teaming up with Muff (Marlene Clark) and her gang of African-American militants from across town to declare all out war. But there's a traitor in their midst... Filled with sharp, clever dialogue and tongue in cheek humour, this Shakespeare-influenced girl gang/women in prison/action movie medley is a stone cold grindhouse classic! 

***

A tough gang of teenage girls are looking for love and fighting for turf on the mean streets of the city! Bad girls to the core, these impossibly outrageous high school hoodlums go where they want ... and create mayhem wherever they go!

Posters

Theatrical Release: May 1st, 1975

Reviews                                                                                                       More Reviews                                                                                       DVD Reviews

 

Review: Arrow - Region FREE - Blu-ray

Box Cover

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Bonus Captures:

Distribution Arrow - Region FREE - Blu-ray
Runtime 1:30:10.905        
Video

1.85:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray

Disc Size: 48,583,279,111 bytes

Feature: 27,974,511,552 bytes

Video Bitrate: 34.81 Mbps

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.

Bitrate Blu-ray:

Audio

LPCM Audio English 1152 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 1152 kbps / 24-bit
Commentary:

LPCM Audio English 2304 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 2304 kbps / 24-bit

Subtitles English (SDH), None
Features Release Information:
Studio:
Arrow

 

1.85:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray

Disc Size: 48,583,279,111 bytes

Feature: 27,974,511,552 bytes

Video Bitrate: 34.81 Mbps

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

 

Edition Details:

Brand new audio commentary by historians/critics Samm Deighan & Kat Ellinger
We Are The Jezebels, an archival documentary featuring director Jack Hill, producer John Prizer, casting director Geno Havans, production designer B.B. Neel, stunt coordinator Bob Minor, and stars Joanne Nail, Asher Brauner, and Chase Newhart (39:19)
Gangland: The locations of Switchblade Sisters, an archival documentary in which Jack Hill and filmmaker Elijah Drenner revisit the shooting locations of Switchblade Sisters (6:54)
Jack Hill and Joanne Nail at the Grindhouse Film Festival, a 2007 (9:24)
Archival interview with the director and actor Interview with Jack Hill, Robbie Lee, Joanne Nail - an archival 1990s interview with the director and stars in conversation with Johnny Legend (7:48)
Galleries of behind the scenes stills, international posters, video covers, and lobby cards
Theatrical trailer (3:07)
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by The Twins of Evil FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collectors' booklet featuring new writing by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and Heather Drain


Blu-ray Release Date:
April 19th, 2021
Transparent Blu-ray Case

Chapters 13

 

 

Comments:

NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Arrow Blu-ray (April 2021): Arrow have transferred Jack Hill's Switchblade Sisters to Blu-ray. It is on a dual-layered disc with a max'ed out bitrate. It's getting hard to think of new superlatives for Arrow's 1080P transfers. They are the most consistently adept of all Blu-ray production companies. This is another example of a beautiful, textured image, no over-embellishment of the colors that carry natural depth, contrast is sublime... it looks very film-like, clean with occasional depth. I can't imagine it looking any more authentic in this format. A wonderful HD presentation on my system.

NOTE: We have added 86 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Arrow use a linear PCM 1.0 channel mono track (24-bit) in the original English language. The aggression is passive and there is a score credited to Medusa (their only credit) and, Roger Corman regular, Les Baxter (How To Stuff a Wild Bikini, The Man With the X-Ray Eyes The Comedy of Terrors, Panic in the Year Zero, The Beast Within, US version of Baron Blood) sounding supportive and authentically flat carrying subtle depth. Like the video this is, likewise impressive - via the lossless transfer. Arrow offer optional English subtitles on their Region FREE Blu-ray.

The Arrow Blu-ray offers a new commentary by historians / critics Samm Deighan and Kat Ellinger. Like their wonderful commentary on Queen of Evil, they are appreciative and passionate about the film - sharing how it so positively effected them as they were young budding cinephiles, the empowerment of women, a bit on the Shakespearean link (Iago), the performances they loved, the uniqueness of the film in the exploitation genre, extolling Jack Hill, some discussion of Corman and much much more. They joy of the film definitely transfers to the listener. Great job ladies - what a pleasure. We Are The Jezebels is a 40-minute an archival documentary featuring director Jack Hill, producer John Prizer, casting director Geno Havans, production designer B.B. Neel, stunt coordinator Bob Minor, and stars Joanne Nail, Asher Brauner, and Chase Newhart discussing the film production, details of making Switchblade Sisters and their initial impressions at that time. Gangland: The locations of Switchblade Sisters is a 7-minute archival documentary in which Jack Hill and filmmaker Elijah Drenner revisit the shooting locations of Switchblade Sisters commenting on the scenes and what has changed. There is footage of an archival interview at the 2007 Grindhouse Film Festival with Jack Hill and Joanne Nail running almost 10-minutes. We also get interviews with Jack Hill, Robbie Lee, Joanne Nail from the 1990s interview with the director and stars in conversation with Johnny Legend. There are extensive galleries of behind the scenes stills, international posters, video covers, and lobby cards and a theatrical trailer. The package offers a reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by The Twins of Evil (see below) and for the first pressing there is an illustrated collectors' booklet featuring new writing by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and Heather Drain.     

Jack Hill's Switchblade Sisters is a quintessential classic of the exploitation genre. A decently made film with some sub-themes, good dialogue and a supremely attractive premise. There is a lot here to enjoy from the beautiful a/v transfer, the pairing of the Deighan / Ellinger commentary, documentary, interviews and delightful cover(s). Fans of this niche of films will be very pleased with this exceptional Arrow Blu-ray package. We wish all films were as completely and competently put to this home video format. A very strong recommendation!

Gary Tooze

 


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Box Cover

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Bonus Captures:

Distribution Arrow - Region FREE - Blu-ray


 


 

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