Jack Hill is undoubtedly one of my favorite directors and with good reason. He’s played a major hand in shaping modern cinema but sadly I’m not sure he gets the proper respect he deserves, at least not on a grand scale. Sure, cinephiles and the like hold Hill in high esteem. Quentin Tarantino regularly credits Hill for greatly influencing him as a director. But the average moviegoer, I’m not so sure about.

In recent years a number of Hill’s films have made their way to Blu-ray. The most recent of those films is one of Hill’s last in Switchblade Sisters, which is out now on region free Blu-ray from Germany’s Subkultur Entertainment. Maybe I’m wrong and Hill is more appreciated than I think. Either way, these recent releases are sure to entertain most folks, especially when they’re as good as Switchblade Sisters.

After a repo man attempts to repossess her family’s television set, ultimately taking what little money her mother has, Lace (Robbie Lee) gathers her ruthless gang known as the Dagger Debs and surrounds the man in the elevator as he attempts to leave the building. They do a real number on the man roughing him up and getting the money back. The Debs then go to celebrate their successful attack at the local burger shop where they meet up with their male counterparts, the Silver Daggers.

Sitting in the burger joint is a new girl they don’t know. They try to force her out but she’s having none of it. Patch (Monica Gayle) attempts to remove the girl by force only to find out the girl is tougher than she looks. Patch, who is named so because she wears an eye patch on one eye, ends up taking a shot to her good eye from the girl. This new girl is named Maggie (Joanne Nail) and Lace takes a liking to her. Before we know it, Maggie is rolling with the Dagger Debs.

From this point on the story actually gets a little complicated because there’s a lot going on. The Silver Daggers rule their high school, but they get wind of a rival gang led by a fellow named Crabs (Chase Newhart) who will be joining the school with plans of splitting control. The Silver Daggers will have none of that noise and plan to stop Crabs before he even gets started.

At the same time as the rivalry with Crabs is getting underway, Dominic (Asher Brauner), the leader of the Silver Daggers and boyfriend to Lace begins hitting on Maggie. Maggie tries to resist by the two eventually hook up. Patch, who already hates Maggie for threatening her position as Lace’s number two, finds out about this and uses it to turn Lace against Maggie. This all leads to one final showdown between all parties involved.

Switchblade Sisters is a pretty classic exploitation flick. It’s gritty, raw and certainly played a huge role in paving the way for the likes of Quentin Tarantino. It’s sort of like The Warriors but female-centric, although that’s probably a too simplified description of the movie. I mentioned the story being complicated and in that regard I mean more in terms of trying to explain it. When watching the film I don’t think you get confused, but rather watch a layered story of deception unfold.

This was the second to last film Jack Hill ever directed and that’s pretty crazy. Switchblade Sisters hit when Hill was at his peak. From 1971 up until this release in 1975 Hill delivered on what is arguably his best work. During that time he released The Big Doll House, The Big Bird Cage, Coffy, Foxy Brown and finally Switchblade Sisters. That’s a stretch of 5 movies in 5 years, each with a strong feminist message. That’s kind of a big deal. Hill delivered strong female characters in an exploitation landscape that was largely dominated by males. Not saying Hill was the first or only director to do this, but he was surely one of the most impactful. So it’s kind of amazing that after this he just sort of stopped.

The majority of the characters in the film are complex and deal with real emotions but none more so than Lace, Maggie and Patch. Those are three wonderfully written characters, each one worthy of carrying their own film. They all feel very much authentic, which Hill attributes to interviewing real members of female gangs before filming the movie.

The final battle scenes of the film are pretty spectacular. Hill was working on a shoestring budget but he managed to make these scenes feel big. I think the locations really help sell this. The film uses these locations that appear to be run down and decimated by gang violence and poverty.

Subkultur Entertainment did a tremendous job with this release. The picture quality is pristine. I still can’t get over the fact that we get exploitation movies looking this good these days. Blows my mind. The special features are stuffed with goodness. The audio commentary with Tarantino and Hill from the US DVD release is ported over along with an old interview with Hill, Robbie Lee and Joanne Nail. There are also some new features including a making of and an on location featurette with Hill and Elijah Drenner. Great stuff all around that will teach you everything you could ever want to know about the Switchblade Sisters.

If you like Jack Hill or the Switchblade Sisters do you a favor and get this release from Subkultur Entertainment. I’m confident in saying you won’t be disappointed.

Switchblade Sisters is out now on Blu-ray from Subkultur Entertainment.