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Switchblade Sisters: Special Edition
List Price: Unknown [Buy now and save at Amazon]
The Movie:
The funkiest of funky, "Switchblade Sisters" is one of the 70's cult films directed by Jack Hill, focusing around a girl gang kicking butt. The acting isn't great, the camerawork is blah and the dialogue is hilarious. Even the fight scenes are impressively funny, but the film does have a few entertaining moments.
Why is this film coming out again? Because "Pulp Fiction" director Quentin Tarantino is an enormous fan of cult cinema like this, and started a company of his own (Rolling Thunder) to have a place to release all of the films that he enjoyed while working in a video store in the days before he got his start as a director.
The DVD
VIDEO: "Switchblade Sisters" is, unfortunately, non-anamorphic and at times, looks as visually funky as the film is. It's not as bad as it could be, but the image quality is soft and lacking detail. Colors are not terribly strong, but come across as looking natural and generally free of problems; occasionally they look a little stronger than other times, such as the roller-rink scene. Flesh tones are consistently natural, as well.
It looks a little grainy at times, but I was really suprised at how few marks and scratches were on the print used. There are also a couple of sequences that show slight pixelation, but nothing too distracting. There are certainly some problems with the image quality, but I was expecting worse.
SOUND: There's not much to the sound quality - the audio for the film is a little thin, and occasionally, there is some background noise and hiss. Dialogue is still easily understood, though. Not great, but no problems.
MENUS:: Not much to the menus, with the main menu simply using the cover art.
EXTRAS: Originally announced a while back, "Switchblade" was going to be a $39.99 Miramax Special Edition. I was pleased to see that the special edition content is still on the disc, but the price has now been dropped to $29.99.
Commentary: Suprise! This is a commentary track from Quentin Tarantino and director Jack Hill. Tarantino has an interest in cult films like this one, and his company produced the film's re-release I believe a year or two ago. The "Pulp Fiction" director's role in this commentary is to help Hill along with the discussion, feeding him questions and comments that the director works off of, and on the flip side, providing feedback and a perspective on the comments that Hill is able to offer.
Tarantino seems like an impressive student of cinema, talking about all of the cult films of the age, as well as pointing out just about every single actor and their history in film. When the two aren't talking about "Switchblade" in general, they fall back into a discussion of 70's cinema that's pretty fascinating to listen to. For those who have seen Tarantino in films or in interviews, he's exactly the same here, offering comments in his over-caffinated rapid-fire delivery.
The discussion between the two is amazing at times, analyzing all of the themes and concepts behind the movie to the most minute detail. The film may not look like there's much to it from a viewing, but from listening to these two chat about the picture, you'd think that there is layer upon layer of plot buried below the surface.
Like the movie or not, the commentary offers a wealth of information and a lot of entertaining moments. There are a few pauses here and there, but the seem to have plenty to chat about, and the result is a commentary that's a lot of fun - Tarantino especially has a lot to offer to the discussion.
Quentin Tarantino Intro/Outro: Tarantino offers an introduction where he explains the picture and the history behind it, even intensely acting out a scene from the film. The outro offers Tarantino talking a little more about the film and the history of director Jack Hill.
Jack Hill Collection: Wow! Trailers for "Switchblade Sisters", "Sorceress", "The Swinging Cheerleaders", "Coffy", "Foxy Brown", "The Big Bird Cage", "The Big Doll House", clips from "Trash-O-Rama Pit Stop" and clips, reviews and the trailer for "Spider Baby".
"The Host" Jack Hill's student film, presented with a new transfer and refurbished sound.
Final Thoughts: If you're a fan of films like this one, Miramax's special edition offers some great extras, especially the Tarantino/Hill commentary, which is a lot of fun. The picture/audio quality is so-so, but a little better than I'd expected.
The funkiest of funky, "Switchblade Sisters" is one of the 70's cult films directed by Jack Hill, focusing around a girl gang kicking butt. The acting isn't great, the camerawork is blah and the dialogue is hilarious. Even the fight scenes are impressively funny, but the film does have a few entertaining moments.
Why is this film coming out again? Because "Pulp Fiction" director Quentin Tarantino is an enormous fan of cult cinema like this, and started a company of his own (Rolling Thunder) to have a place to release all of the films that he enjoyed while working in a video store in the days before he got his start as a director.
The DVD
VIDEO: "Switchblade Sisters" is, unfortunately, non-anamorphic and at times, looks as visually funky as the film is. It's not as bad as it could be, but the image quality is soft and lacking detail. Colors are not terribly strong, but come across as looking natural and generally free of problems; occasionally they look a little stronger than other times, such as the roller-rink scene. Flesh tones are consistently natural, as well.
It looks a little grainy at times, but I was really suprised at how few marks and scratches were on the print used. There are also a couple of sequences that show slight pixelation, but nothing too distracting. There are certainly some problems with the image quality, but I was expecting worse.
SOUND: There's not much to the sound quality - the audio for the film is a little thin, and occasionally, there is some background noise and hiss. Dialogue is still easily understood, though. Not great, but no problems.
MENUS:: Not much to the menus, with the main menu simply using the cover art.
EXTRAS: Originally announced a while back, "Switchblade" was going to be a $39.99 Miramax Special Edition. I was pleased to see that the special edition content is still on the disc, but the price has now been dropped to $29.99.
Commentary: Suprise! This is a commentary track from Quentin Tarantino and director Jack Hill. Tarantino has an interest in cult films like this one, and his company produced the film's re-release I believe a year or two ago. The "Pulp Fiction" director's role in this commentary is to help Hill along with the discussion, feeding him questions and comments that the director works off of, and on the flip side, providing feedback and a perspective on the comments that Hill is able to offer.
Tarantino seems like an impressive student of cinema, talking about all of the cult films of the age, as well as pointing out just about every single actor and their history in film. When the two aren't talking about "Switchblade" in general, they fall back into a discussion of 70's cinema that's pretty fascinating to listen to. For those who have seen Tarantino in films or in interviews, he's exactly the same here, offering comments in his over-caffinated rapid-fire delivery.
The discussion between the two is amazing at times, analyzing all of the themes and concepts behind the movie to the most minute detail. The film may not look like there's much to it from a viewing, but from listening to these two chat about the picture, you'd think that there is layer upon layer of plot buried below the surface.
Like the movie or not, the commentary offers a wealth of information and a lot of entertaining moments. There are a few pauses here and there, but the seem to have plenty to chat about, and the result is a commentary that's a lot of fun - Tarantino especially has a lot to offer to the discussion.
Quentin Tarantino Intro/Outro: Tarantino offers an introduction where he explains the picture and the history behind it, even intensely acting out a scene from the film. The outro offers Tarantino talking a little more about the film and the history of director Jack Hill.
Jack Hill Collection: Wow! Trailers for "Switchblade Sisters", "Sorceress", "The Swinging Cheerleaders", "Coffy", "Foxy Brown", "The Big Bird Cage", "The Big Doll House", clips from "Trash-O-Rama Pit Stop" and clips, reviews and the trailer for "Spider Baby".
"The Host" Jack Hill's student film, presented with a new transfer and refurbished sound.
Final Thoughts: If you're a fan of films like this one, Miramax's special edition offers some great extras, especially the Tarantino/Hill commentary, which is a lot of fun. The picture/audio quality is so-so, but a little better than I'd expected.
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