Overview: Lace (Robbie Lee), the leader of inner city girl gang The Dagger Debs, meets her match when new girl Maggie (Joanne Nail) moves into the neighborhood.

Mistrust and conflict turn to friendship as the girls end up in Juvenile Detention together at the mercy of abusive guards.

Meanwhile, The Dagger Debs male counterparts The Silver Daggers have to contend with the arrival of a new gang, led by the villainous Crabs (Chase Newhart).

But when the girls get back on the streets, a planned retaliation strike in tandem with The Silver Daggers backfires and puts Lace in hospital.

Maggie assumes control, teaming up with Muff (Marlene Clark) and her gang of African-American militants from across town to declare all out war. But there s a traitor in their midst.

Blu-ray Verdict: The Dagger Debs, tough-talking high school broads with switchblade knives, benevolent snarls, attitude to spare, and propensity for violence, striking fear in the hearts of the citizens on the streets, are on equal footing with a the male Silver Daggers, a bossy, nasty brood whose harsh bullying ways leave the community they frequent cuckolded in a state of quivering angst.

Soon a rival gang must attend the Daggers' school due to theirs closing, and a struggle for dominance ensues. Each gang has their own turf, which the other doesn't dare cross into.

Crabs, quite old to be still in high school, has a much larger gang than his mortal enemy, Dominick, and runs high enterprise in dope-dealing through the façade of a community organizing group schmoozing with the mayor while selling drugs to the youth they're supposed to be helping.

Essentially, the film's central arch is a love triangle gone terribly wrong. Dominick(Asher Brauner), leader of the Silver Daggers, and Lace(Robbie Lee), leader of the Debs, are an item.

Enter Maggie (Joanne Nail), new to their side of the city who gets in an altercation with the Dagger Debs' Patch (Monica Gayle), showing her courage and strength, twirling a mean chain which trips her foes before assaulting them further.

Dominick is drawn to Maggie, it's a type of lust Patch recognizes, and capitalizes on when she notices this newcomer moving in on her best friend, Lace. Lace is completely obsessed with Dominick, although she's just a piece of ass to him.

When Dominick infuriates Lace after blowing up into a tirade towards her about the revelation of carrying his child, she gets even by informing Crabs of a strategic attack on them at a neutral site, a roller rink, resulting in a bloody shootout which takes out innocent bystanders, among other cataclysmic results.

With the Silver Daggers deeply wounded, the Debs must assume control, with Maggie more than willing to take the leadership position after Crabs kicked Lace in the stomach causing a miscarriage. Aligning herself with a bad ass group of sisters who follow the political teachings of Mao, led by Muff(Marlene Clark), the newly named Jezebels prepare to conquer Crabs, crushing his regime, disintegrating his stranglehold on the a specific part of the city.

But, what Maggie doesn't realize is that Patch and Lace are planning to murder her, getting rid of the one responsible for taking Dominick away from her.

Maggie wants to uncover the culprit behind informing Crabs of the proposed strike at the roller rink, not knowing that it was actually Lace. As expected, the two girls will have to duke it out for supremacy of the Jezebels.

With lots of quotable dialogue and campy performances, it's hard to resist such a film as Switchblade Sisters, certainly when you realize that the premise concerns a white girl gang who can actually cause fear in citizens.

Indeed, 'Switchblade Sisters' kind of reminds me of those '50s juvey films confronting the gang mentality and how it's controlling the school system and streets, breeding crime that's swallowing the youth, turning them into unlawful monsters.

Transplant such a genre to the '70s, add extra seediness, vulgarity, violence, and current themes of that time that were prevalent (there was a sentiment of anger towards the police and capitalist society) and it's easy to see why this would appeal to a cult audience.

And, as Jack Hill always did, inject a cast of babes in the roles of the protagonists. You gotta love the scene where Maggie knocks Don Stark (Dagger member, Hook, often slapping girls around) for a loop or Lace's psychopathy and mad ravings.

Oh, and Patch. Now this is a character that belongs in a Jack Hill gang film. 'Switchblade Sisters' is directed in such a way that you can't take it the least bit seriously, and if you accept it on it's own terms, I can't imagine an exploitation fan not enjoying it.

Robbie Lee isn't contained and lets it rip, playing her role as the confrontational Lace to the hilt, with Nail, in her short shorts, delivering her lines with gusto, staring her opposition right in the eyes, unflinchingly, ready for a fight.

Nail might be considered unacceptable in such a role in any other film, but Jack Hill made it work. Gayle is my gal, though, as Patch, a ferocious back-stabbing bitch who persuades Lace to commit unspeakable acts that cause major repercussions which change the landscape of their lives, disrupting a harmony her gang had before Maggie came along.

The juvenile prison scene, albeit brief, was a hoot as the girls lead a full on assault on the female guards who were on the verge of accosting Maggie.

The way the faculty are muzzled by the Daggers and Debs, completely overwhelmed psychologically, afraid to voice their concerns about the dissension of their students, is rather hilarious.

You actually get two great closing fights, the Jezebels and Muff's girls besieging Crab's soldiers, and the knife battle between Maggie and Lace.

And, in closing, the scene where Maggie, with a bloody face, warns the coppers that when they return, there'll be hell to pay, is just absolutely bloody priceless! This is a Widescreen Presentation (1.85:1) enhanced for 16x9 TVs and comes with the Special Features of:

High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
Original uncompressed mono audio
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
Brand new audio commentary by historians/critics Samm Deighan & Kat Ellinger
We Are The Jezebels, an archival documentary featuring director Jack Hill, producer John Prizer, casting director Geno Havans, production designer B.B. Neel, stunt coordinator Bob Minor, and stars Joanne Nail, Asher Brauner, and Chase Newhart
Gangland: The locations of Switchblade Sisters, an archival documentary in which Jack Hill and filmmaker Elijah Drenner revisit the shooting locations of Switchblade Sisters
Jack Hill and Joanne Nail at the Grindhouse Film Festival, a 2007 archival interview with the director and actor
Interview with Jack Hill, Robbie Lee, Joanne Nail, an archival 1990 s interview with the director and stars in conversation with Johnny Legend
Galleries of behind the scenes stills, international posters, video covers, and lobby cards
Theatrical trailers
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by The Twins of Evil
+ FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collectors' booklet featuring new writing by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and Heather Drain