Up! was the twenty-second feature-length film from large-breast-obsessed Auteur Russ Meyer.  The late 1970s movie stands as one of the director's more scatterbrained, wacky, at times playful stream of consciousness-bound creations. The small lumber town based feature blends elements of soft-core sex comedy, murder mystery, and nazi parody/ send up- with lots of out in nature bonking and playful perverse narration/ Greek chorus from a nude Kitten Natividad- all topped with moments of violence and splatter. Here from Severin, as part of their series of reissues of the Meyers work, is a new release of the film, taking in a wonderfully new bold ‘n’ bright print, a new commentary track, and an archive interview.

Up! was released in the year 1976. It was filmed in the lush evergreen forests and rushing rivers of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, which is sold as northern California. 

The film opens high up in the pines and mountains at a Bavarian-style castle, where hiding out is Adolf Schwartz, aka Adolf Hitler. We meet him in his sex dungeon, wearing furry chaps- his head is pressed between two large breasts, as he’s whipped by a man dressed as one of the founding fathers. He has a few more encounters, including cheek wobbling face sitting and a vigorous back beating via large breasts. After this, he decides to go for a foamy bath soak- but just as he’s relaxing, a black gloved figure drops a large piranha fish in his tub.

As we get into the film, we meet our sassy, large-breasted, big-haired brunette lead, Margo Winchester( Raven De La Croix), who is jogging the mountain roads in a flared jumpsuit. And pretty soon, we get to meet the town's square-jawed/ randy Sheriff Homer(Monty Bane), the bright ‘n’ bubbly café owner Alice( Janet) and her bearded husband Paul(Robert McLane). With a blond-haired mountain of a man lumberjack appearing in the last quarter, to cause some chaos/ add another plot wrinkle.

The picture runs at one hour and twenty minutes mark, and along the way, we get plenty of out in the woods, up on rocks & in the rushing water shagging- with large bouncing breast and large flapping fake phallus'.  There’s another murder, a few sexual assaults, character flashbacks, bloody axe hacking/chainsawing whizzing action, and our murderer is revealed.

Up! was my first experience with Mr Meyers' distinctly wacky and big bobbed-lined cinematic universe. So as a result, I do have somewhat of a soft spot for the film- still finding it a wacky and entertaining 1970’s romp.  Though I can’t deny there are issues- the plot is somewhat loose/ rather thin. There is way too much bonking in nature footage, and the narration/ Greek chorus element shifts between cheekily amusing and slightly smug/ contrived.

As with all of this series of Meyer reissues from Severin, the 4k print looks lovely, with real depth, detail, and clarity of colours/ skin tones throughout. Truly, I don’t think it could look any better.

On the extra side, we get one new thing- commentary with film historian Elizabeth Purchell, this is a very well-researched and passionate track. She moves from quoting from a Meyer interview, where he says he wasn’t wholly satisfied with Up!.  She talks about how the picture is the most beautiful shot of the director's films- been cleverly edited, with a great use of framing- apparently the film features an impressive 2000 cuts. She talks about the comic book feel of the picture, and how the sexualized violence is treated in the film.  We find out Meyer had real issues trying to find someone to play Adolf Schwartz- the actor used was a part-time golf caddy in real life.  We get a selection of great quotes from the film's press book, and more interview quotes from the director regarding Up!. Later on, we get bios of the film's actors, its many tag lines, and talk about the three-month US publicity tour Meyer did across the US.

Lastly, ported over from the Arrow DVD release of the film from some years back, we have No Fairy Tale...This! – Interview With Actress Raven De La Croix(18.05). And a radio spot.

I’m glad to see that Severin is carrying on with their Meyer reissue series, and Up! is very typical of his 70s output. It features a lovely 4k scan, and a few worthy extras.