Earlier this year, Severin Films announced that they’d nabbed the rights to a handful of films from legendary genre filmmaker Russ Meyer, after years of his work being out of circulation. For their first run, Severin released the three Vixen films, which I covered for Blueprint: Review (you can read my thoughts on those films here) and enjoyed thoroughly (for the most part). When it came to their second batch of titles, Severin opted to release two very different films, Motorpsycho, a black and white action rape-revenge feature, and Up!, a comedic softcore porno. As the resident sleaze reviewer for Blueprint: Review, I knew I had to continue in my role as the Meyer reviewer, checking both of these out for the first time and covering them for the site…
Motorpsycho
Director: Russ Meyer
Screenplay: James Griffith, Hal Hopper, Russ Meyer and W. E. Sprague
Starring: Alex Rocco, Stephen Oliver and Haji
Country: United States
Running Time: 74 min
Year: 1965
Known as the film made right before Meyer’s iconic Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!, Motorpsycho is an interesting film in Russ’ career. It feels like a proof of concept for what would come next with FPKK, but still missing a few of the key ingredients (namely the incredible Tura Satana) that would make that film such a beloved cult picture.
The film follows a gang of bikers who have no goals in life other than to wreak havoc on a local town, assaulting, raping and killing anybody in their path for the hell of it. When they end up assaulting the wife of Corey Maddox, he teams up with Ruby Bonner to enact some justified revenge.
It’s a premise that by today’s standards, seems dime-a-dozen, but for a film from the mid-60s, it’s quite daring and shocking, which holds true while you’re watching the film. Fans of Meyer’s trademark nudity may be disappointed with Motorpsycho, although given the subject matter, maybe that’s for the best (I’m looking at you Beneath the Valley of the Ultra Vixens…) but the film more than makes up for it with a campy screenplay that delivers on laughs that Meyer would only improve on for Faster, Pussycat later the same year.
Shot in black and white, the film’s quite gorgeous to look at, even if the filmmaking is fairly stock and standard for the time. As he progressed throughout his career, Meyer improved as a filmmaker, using the medium in more interesting ways than this, but there’s elements here such as how specific scenes are framed that had me quite impressed for something this early in his career. The performances are pretty solid, with Haji stealing the show in every scene she’s in. She’d later work on Faster, Pussycat with Meyer and it’s obvious why, she’s a delightful screen presence that works wonders for Motorpsycho.
I wouldn’t say that Motorpsycho is perfect, as there’s moments where it suffers from poor pacing, even with its 74 minute runtime. There’s moments of downtime that failed to captivate me, but it wouldn’t be long before something outrageous or compelling would happen that won me over again.
While I wasn’t in love with Motorpsycho, when it’s good, it’s a hell of a time. There’s so many great moments, so many hilarious lines of dialogue (the Disneyland one is a personal favourite) and most importantly, a focus on actual characterisation for the lead characters that gives the film some unexpected heart.
Film: 
Up!
Director: Russ Meyer
Screenplay: B. Callum (Russ Meyer), Anthony-James Ryan and Reinhold Timme (Roger Ebert???)
Starring: Raven De La Croix, Robert McLane, Kitten Natividad and Monty Bane
Country: United States
Running Time: 80 min
Year: 1976
Following on from Motorpsycho, Severin’s next Meyer title jumps all the way from 1965 to 1976, much later into Meyer’s career and offering a completely different side of the filmmaker. At this point, Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, Vixen and Supervixen had been unleashed onto the general public. Meyer was a known figure in genre film and decided to make a full-blown softcore pornography film, packed with comedy, absurd nudity and one Adolf Hitle- I mean, Adolf Schwartz.
To say that Up! was a shock to me would be quite the understatement. While Meyer’s films are typically packed with his trademark nudity and sexual content, Up! probably pushes it as far as I’ve seen Meyer go before. The opening credits contain sequences from the film involving characters having sex in a variety of absurd locations, and its opening 15 minutes feature some of the most ludicrous scenes I’ve witnessed in film history.
To fully describe what occurs in those opening fifteen minutes would make me sound crazy, but let me try. Adolf Hitler is hiding in an underground bunker with numerous ladies of different ethnicities and a man who bears a striking resemblance to Clint Eastwood’s The Man with No Name, mixed with Indiana Jones. In this bunker, Adolf gets his friends to massage him, provide sexual pleasure and more. It’s extremely, extremely bizarre but is played entirely for laughs and depending on who you are, you’ll find it hilarious or extremely tasteless. Not even five minutes after being sodomised, Adolf is taking a bath before a piranha kills him. This doesn’t even sound like a real movie, does it?
After this, we follow a series of exploits amongst some local townsfolk who engage in lots and lots of sex. If you’ve ever wanted to see a police officer abuse his authority for sexual favours, this is the film for you. The entire picture has random narration from a large chested woman, who explains everything that’s happened in the film, if the Nolan-esque narrative was too abstract to comprehend, adding to the hilarity.
Up! is strange. While it’s undeniably hilarious in places, there’s a lot of sex that goes on for what feels like an eternity, which might not be an issue to some people but softcore films aren’t really my jam. No shade to those who enjoy adult cinema, as there’s merit to many adult films and they deserve to be preserved as much as The Godfather, but I found myself quite unengaged by the constant adult content that it made seeing the nudity boring, however silly that sounds!
The film’s well-made and decently acted, save from the Indiana Jones fella who can’t deliver a line of dialogue to save his life. There’s humorous editing, the framing of specific sexual encounters is played for laughs and it feels a hell of a lot more confident than Meyer’s earlier ventures did.
Up! is another case of a film that I didn’t quite love, but had fun with when it was engaging enough. I’d say Motorpsycho worked for me a little more, but there’s an argument to be made that Up! outdoes it on a filmmaking level. Again, this is a softcore film and those who don’t seem thrilled at the concept of watching a film where a solid third of the runtime is comprised of sex probably won’t enjoy it. As it stands, it’s admirable, it’s trashy, it’s absurd. Basically, It’s a Russ Meyer film.
Film:
Motorpsycho & Up! released on 4K UHD and Blu-ray 28th April via Severin Films. I viewed the UHD versions of each film for review purposes, and checked out the Blu-rays for the bonus features. Both films look absolutely fantastic, and if you picked up the prior Russ Meyer Severin discs, you’ll have a general idea on what to expect picture quality wise. The transfers are a big jump up from the previous DVD releases, the HDR10 grade for each film improves the colour range (even in Motorpsycho which is black and white, the blacks look fantastic!) and on a visual level, they’re as fantastic as you’d hope for. Audio wise, both films contain English DTS-HD MA 2.0 mono mixes, with optional English subtitles and they sound great too. I can only imagine these sound as authentic to the original theatrical experience as possible, and I had no problems with either track on my end. Great audio and video from Severin here! The following extras are included:
Motorpsycho
Audio Commentary With Film Historian Elizabeth Purchell And Filmmaker Zach Clark
Desert Rats On Hondas – Interview With Actors Haji And Alex Rocco
Trailer
Up!
Audio Commentary With Film Historian Elizabeth Purchell
No Fairy Tale…This! – Interview With Actress Raven De La Croix
Radio Spot
The solo new bonus feature to Severin’s release of Motorpsycho is an audio commentary with Elizabeth Purchell and filmmaker Zach Clark (Little Sister, The Becomers) and the pair have a blast as they dive into Motorpsycho, the production of the film, their experiences discovering Russ Meyer and more. It’s an engaging, analytical and relaxed listen that’s easily worth your time.
Desert Rats on Hondas is a pair of archival interviews with Haji and Alex Rocco, running for 21 minutes. They’re ported over from the old Arrow Video DVD and they’re good watches. Presented in standard definition, the interviews detail the pair’s experiences with Meyer, how they became attached to Motorpsycho and feature some fun anecdotes about the production. A fun set of interviews!
A trailer for Motorpsycho is included.
Following on from the light bonus features for Motorpsycho, we’re also treated to a brand new audio commentary by film historian Elizabeth Purchell on Up!’s Blu-ray disc and it’s another winner in my eyes. Like the track for Motorpsycho, Purchell is both extremely knowledgeable about Meyer’s catalogue, the production of Up! and her thoughts on the film as a whole. It’s a great listen that I’d highly recommend.
No Fairy Tale… This! is an archival interview with Raven De La Croix that runs for 18 minutes. It’s ported over from the old Arrow Video DVD and it’s a decent watch. Presented in standard definition, Raven recalls how she met Russ Meyer, her time working on Up! and Meyer’s interesting direction. It’s a fun watch, although I would have liked to see a new interview with her for this release.
A radio spot for Up! is included.
Severin’s releases for these two Russ Meyer films are solid, although I found myself a little disappointed by the extras this time around. After the Vixen trilogy came out of the gates with great legacy features, alongside some fantastic newly commissioned extras, there’s a lack of supplemental content on these discs that may let down fans. Still, the new commentaries are great listens, and the films have never looked or sounded better. If you’re a fan of Meyer, sleazy genre cinema or (in the case of Up!) erotic cinema, give these ones a shot. Recommended.
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