Camp, Carnality, and Controlled Chaos

Read Time:5 Minute, 51 Second

MOVIE REVIEW
Russ Meyer's Up! [2-Disc 4K UHD w/Slipcover]
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Genre: Dark Comedy, Parody, Mystery, Thriller
Year Released: 1976, Severin Films 4K 2025
Runtime: 1h 20m
Director(s): Russ Meyer
Writer(s): Russ Meyer, Anthony-James Ryan, Roger Ebert
Cast: Raven De La Croix, Robert McLane, Janet Wood, Candy Samples, Su Ling, Elaine Collins, Linda Sue Ragsdale, Harry, Edward Schaaf, Monty Bane, Marianne Marks, Larry Dean
Where to Watch: Available April 29, 2025, pre-order your copy here: www.severinfilms.com

RAVING REVIEW: You won’t find a gradual build-up here—this is a film that bursts through the screen already in fifth gear. What follows is less a plot than a freewheeling eruption of sex, flamboyant visuals, and satirical jabs aimed in every direction. UP! isn’t designed for neat interpretation or classic structure; it moves more like an exaggerated fever dream than a traditionally constructed film. You either go along for the ride or get left behind by its chaos.

Instead of guiding the audience through a coherent storyline, the movie introduces a murder—one so ridiculous that it nearly gets overshadowed by everything that follows—and uses it as a framing device for a patchwork of outrageous scenarios. What might initially seem like the inciting incident becomes more of an excuse to explore a bizarre rural community teeming with lust, power struggles, and absurd melodrama. The crime itself is a throwaway beat in a movie that cares far more about provocation than resolution.

At the center of the mayhem is Margo Winchester, portrayed by Raven De La Croix with a deliberate mix of comedy and hypersexual charm. Her character doesn’t exist to anchor the story as much as she exists to shake it up, shifting from seductress to investigator to physical force in the blink of an eye. She’s not navigating this town so much as conquering it, and her presence turns an already unhinged setting into a stage for performance-driven chaos.

The film plays with archetypes rather than developing characters. We meet a cop who treats his uniform like a dating app, a business owner juggling domestic issues and flirtation with regular customers, and other townspeople who act as if they're performing for an invisible audience. Everyone is dialed up to eleven, embodying extremes of repression and indulgence, turning the town into a caricature of social dysfunction. These characters aren’t real people—they’re exaggerated stand-ins for cultural contradictions (or MAGA), and they function like pieces in a surrealist satire.

Threading through the madness is Kitten Natividad in full-on mythological mischief mode. She floats in and out, almost always nude, offering reflections on the story that are part poetry, part exposition, and part absurdist theater. Her monologues don’t clarify so much as confuse, but their presence enhances the feeling that this is a movie unconcerned with convention. Her narration serves less as direction and more as decorative chaos, emphasizing the dreamlike, disjointed quality that the film leans into so heavily.

What makes this worth discussing, despite its narrative fragmentation, is its ability to use that mess to deliver jabs at hypocrisy and power. The film delves into the grotesque, particularly in its portrayal of figures of authority and power. Instead of wielding their power effectively, these figures are exposed, humiliated, and fetishized in scenes that walk the line between erotic and cartoonish. It’s not subtle commentary, but it’s purposeful in its ridicule. Even its loudest, most offensive sequences point toward a critique of those who hide behind moral superiority.

Where the film thrives most is in its presentation. Visually, it feels like a barrage—jumpy cuts, split screens, intentionally garish framing. The camera careens through wide outdoor shots one minute and plunges into intimate angles the next, often settling on bodies with gleeful abandon. It’s sensory overload by design. In the 4K release, this visual chaos receives an upgrade. The added clarity sharpens every outlandish detail, from elaborate costumes to exaggerated facial expressions, heightening the cartoonish tone.

Performance-wise, this is more about presence than nuance. De La Croix commands attention with her delivery, Natividad brings chaotic charisma, and everyone else leans into the absurdity of their roles. It’s less about acting than it is about embracing the spectacle. Characters don’t grow, they loop—repeating gestures, reactions, and behaviors in an endless cycle of exaggerated camp. The result is a cast that never feels grounded, but then again, nothing in the movie is trying to be.

Even with its unevenness, the film succeeds in carving out its own distinct identity. It rejects logic, shuns subtlety, and treats narrative structure like a suggestion. It’s easy to criticize it for lacking cohesion, but harder to ignore its audacity. This isn’t a movie made to be consumed passively; it demands attention even as it flings one chaotic scene after another. For those who embrace its energy, that unpredictability might be exactly what keeps it interesting.

But for all its disorder, there’s something kind of admirable in how unapologetic it is. It doesn’t bend toward audience expectations, and it certainly doesn’t tone itself down. That brazenness is part of its appeal. Whether it’s mocking power structures, showcasing bodies with gleeful irreverence, or blowing up conventional plot lines with dynamite, it holds nothing back. It’s not trying to win you over—it’s trying to punch through the screen and grab your attention. And on that front, it succeeds.

Disc 1: 4K UHD (Film + Special Features)
Audio Commentary With Film Historian Elizabeth Purchell

Disc 2: Blu-ray (Film + Special Features)
Audio Commentary With Film Historian Elizabeth Purchell
No Fairy Tale…This! – Interview With Actress Raven De La Croix
Radio Spot

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[photo courtesy of SEVERIN FILMS]

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