I'm thinking about Dial D for Demons on today's sale page.

Unfortunately, VS does themselves a great disservice with this blurb from the release page:



Man, if there's ever an example of "ya had me then ya lost me", there it is.

Did VS change the code so you can't see inventory anymore, I can't seem to find it when inspecting page elements.

Added a few more today

Dog Tags
Witch Story
Drift

I was hoping we would get a deal on Fatal Games!

Coma
Arnold
Bloodline

That's all I got.

Had to mention Coma, didn't ya? I was just gonna get one, Bloodline (which still seems too highbrow for VS, but what the hey), then I read the description of Coma and before I knew it, it was in my cart.

Arnold looked ok, but more of a guaranteed one-time-only watch, so I passed. Considered Fatal Games, but I saw part of it on Shudder and decided to pass as well. Although the phrase "gratuitous nudity" in the description got me considering it...

After some drinks on Saturday night, I pulled the trigger on Fatal Games.

Yesterday just got
An Eternal Combat
Out of Time: The Material Issue Story

nothing for today though, I'm done. 8 titles picked up overall, not a bad little spree.

You know at the time it didn't seem like I was spending that much...

Vinegar Syndrome Subscriber Week (Jul 2-7th, 2025)

• Mac And Me 4K - ($41.99)
• The Horrible Dr. Hitchcock 4K - ($21.89)
• Piotr Szulkin's Apocalypse Tetralogy -($17.19)
• Dial D For Demons - ($17.99)
• Red Sun Rising - ($17.99)
• Lost City 2024 Enamel Pin - ($3.00)
• Grave Robbers - ($11.99)
• Dog Tags - ($17.99)
• Drop Dead Fred - ($13.99)
• Fatal Games - ($17.19)
• Infernal Rapist - ($17.19)
• An Eternal Combat - ($17.99)
• Lady Reporter - ($17.99)
• Phase IV 4K - ($25.19)
• Shanghai Triad - ($16.79)
• Night Screams - ($17.99)
• Frostbiter - ($17.19)
• A Man Called Hero - ($17.99)
• Cinematographer Sticker - ($3.00)
• (-$25 Rewards Redemption)
• (+ $6.00 Shipping & Handling)

Total: $313.53

Already got my shipping notice. That’s bonkers for a non-sub.

Yeah, me too. I ordered 8 titles in the deals this time our.

Me three. They must have really upped their shipping process.

Late reply here, but I wondered about this when even my order to Canada shipped at the same time as other folks’ orders here, last Thursday, and got here on Sunday, and as per usual with VS orders, no ‘export fees’ (like Amazon so helpfully attaches to orders outside the U.S.), tariffs, etc. Normally my VS orders seem to ship dead last, long after the sales end, and I’m cool with that because I have more than enough to watch already, but when this order processed so quickly I figured they either stepped up their shipping game, or perhaps this sale wasnt as popular as previous ones. After all, a lot of folks, myself included, have massive portions of the VS catalog at this point, so sometimes a new sale doesn’t yield enough to buy in. And it seems a lot of their new releases are becoming more hit-and-miss, which might lead to lighter orders down the road.

Anyway, my batch this time, mostly stuff that will probably be sold onward:

BLOODLINE (I’ve read a lot of humorous pieces about this dud over the years, and missed getting the R2 DVD back in the day)
THE TAKING
HOMEGROWN HORRORS VOL. 2 (box set)
REDNECK ZOMBIES (already watched the Troma SE I got from Hamilton for around $5, so this one is largely for the supplements and will be flipped)
APOCALYPSE TETRALOGY
INTERROGATION
FATAL GAMES (already had this, and actually kept it for now, so this one’s to flip)
BLOOD CULT (almost bought this at the VS store here in their previous sale, but it was cheaper to hold off, even shipped across the border)
WITCH STORY (I had zero interest in this from day one, but padded the order with it. I’m fairly certain I’ll regret that. )
NIGHT
SHANKS (I’ve been curious about this since I was a kid and first read about it in the Maltin guide. I’m not fond of the over-packaging of these Cinematographe releases, but figured I might as well get it out of the way as I already have the only other two titles that interest me from that label).
THESE FISTS BREAK BRICKS (I skimmed this in a bookstore a couple of years back and knew I had to have it as a martial arts movie fan. The price on it at Amazon never dropped, and I never spotted remaindered copies in the wild, so the VS deal wasn’t much of a bargain, tbh. There’s also a ‘revised and expanded’ edition that came out last week with a horrible new cover, reduced dimensions, and fifty fewer pages, which made
me more than a little skeptical. The book itself is then definitive tome on the ‘martial arts film invasion’ into the west from the 60’s to the late 80’s, and it’s loaded with posters, lobbies, stills, ad art, etc. I’d love to find a cheap second copy to snip out some pages to frame).

I watched that last week. Man, what a piece of crap. I guess I should have learned my lesson on buying titles after a few drinks.

Anyway, at this sale I got Some Call it Loving, something I've wanted for a long time. Another dramatic Richard Pryor role. And also Iron Angels I-III, with the "dashed" slipcover.

Two days before the sale, the Vinegar Syndrome store here posted a pic on Instagram of a stack of discs on their checkout counter. I didn’t log in (I try to avoid that on all social media) so I couldn’t see whatever descriptive text they wrote. So I pinch zoom, look through all the titles and assumed they were either the previous batch of new releases I was forgetting or maybe some new arrivals of old stuff for the used shelf. In actuality, they were all the new releases for September, already in stock, only I was too clueless to realize it until the sale went live tonight! That’s what happens when you buy waaaay to much stuff from these boutiques - new stuff and old stuff begins to blur.

Not much in the OOP section that I didn’t already have previously, and purchased at sale prices to boot. For resale, though, I picked up MOTHER’S DAY, EXPECT NO MERCY (both seen decades ago in the VHS era and . . . meh), and DRACULA THE DIRTY OLD MAN (long curious about it; doubt I’ll keep it), and BIO-ZOMBIE, which I already have in the “sold-out” slip edition, but figured I can flip that one and replace it with the ‘case’ version. Weird that they magically found sooo many copies of that one in a warehouse move or whatever.

Still contemplating a bunch of things from the discounted tiers but many of them have so many copies remaining I’m tempted to wait for steeper discounts down the road. None are must-have titles for me, so there’s time to think about them.

- - - - - - - - -

I see that they quietly slipped a standard edition set of the out-of-print BLACK CAT 1 & 2 collection into their ‘Media Club’ section where they sell all the slipcovers. It’s the only actual disc set in there, and they note that it’s not for sale, and only redeemable for 3000 points. So $30, which isn’t too bad for those who missed it earlier. Based on that, though, the fact that they’re asking 1500 points (so $15, essentially) for any of those slipcovers is absurd. I could see 500 points, maybe, but wow.

https://vinegarsyndrome.com/collecti...roducts?page=1

I kept telling myself I wasn't going to buy this over priced copy of Dirty Work and then I saw it OOP and under 100 left and I caved. Didn't cave on BioZombie though. Love the art but without the Dub Track it just isn't nearly as good.

Also I notice my Vice-Academy 1-3 set is essentially worthless. Wish they had released 4-6 as a separate release for customers who had the previous one.

^ Obviously I’ll (politely!! ) disagree about BIO-ZOMBIE. I never liked that dub track and was glad they left it off, even though I’m often a completist for extra stuff like that. However, I can imagine thoughts on the matter depend partially on which track one was exposed to first, and the fact that VS had to address it in the product description proves a lot of people expected it.

Frankly, I was more surprised about how many copies of BIO-ZOMBIE (well over 600) were just magically discovered a warehouse move. In fact, the high quantities on a lot of these ‘OOP’ titles seemed fishy to me. You’d think a company that specializes in cataloging and storing rare film elements (as seen in their videos) wouldn’t lose track of what in some cases appear be multiple boxes full of certain disc releases in their own warehouse. Can’t help but wonder if a lot of stuff is deliberately held back for later full-price ‘sales’ like this one, or perhaps convention tables (where social media pics sometimes show supposedly OOP stock).

In the ‘cult deals’ thread where the sale was also mentioned, I suspected VICE ACADEMY was a new title based on the sale artwork, but was kinda surprised that it wasn’t just 4-6. I misjudged how quickly that first set would sell and never got a copy, so this new one helps, but it definitely seems like a slap. I saw comments elsewhere claiming 4-6 were with another boutique, but clearly that wasn’t the case. Are there any extras on the 1-3 set that make it unique perhaps? It never made sense to me that they didn’t just hold off and do a complete set in the first place, and the least they could’ve done here was make a separate 4-6 set for folks who made the first one a fast seller. Weird.

Or make just 1500 and offer them directly to the customers that bought the original, that would have been super cool.

Biozombie I watched on VHS in high school with a group of friends and for whatever reason that Bill & Ted dub on it rocked the room. Would I hold the same opinion if I watched it for the first time now that I am older I don't know. Honestly me now would probably not even dane to listen to a dubb when original audio is available. This is a title that holds a special caveat though.

Thanks for the point out on the Black Cat, I recon that by the end of the sale I should have enough to snag it.

Anything would make Biozombie better, even a dub.

I think the reason for the "discovery" of so many titles is as Brian points out, convention sales. There's also several discs put aside for reviews, although yeah, SIX HUNDRED seems like an awful lot. At the same time, I can't imagine they thought Biozombie would be such a hit that people would be clamoring for "found" copies of it like say, RAD, or Thriller.

I'll keep up with the OOP stuff, there's still 2 or 3 titles I've been wanting for a while, and if nothing else comes up, I might just get Corpse Mania at 60% off, I gotta imagine that will last the weekend with still over 1000 copies available.

Bah, it’s fine as is. And a typical Hong Kong horror comedy, few of which in my experience please everyone (and I have tons of them here that would attest to that). It didn’t need hacks trying to make it something it wasn’t and pissing on it in the process. But I still would’ve bought it even if they did include that track, just to upgrade the old import.

Reminds me of the even worse “rappers are funny!” dub track that was done for the DVD of the otherwise excellent Korean comic-action movie VOLCANO HIGH a million years ago. I’ll admit that compared to that, the BIO-ZOMBIE dub was bearable (so there ya go ). Gawd forbid home video execs back then think that people might actually be ok with a simple choice of original Korean or a respectful English dub. I’m sure if VH ever gets dug up by a boutique, though, they’ll have to include that track for posterity or face the music.

And hey, at least they got BZ down to 400-ish copies. What on earth is the story with both of those FREEWAY movies? I recall them being more highly coveted than a comparative unknown like BZ when they came out, and yet both still sit around 900 “OOP” copies even a day later. Seems like an awfully big box to lose track of in a warehouse. I recall there being a double-feature set of those available, and many folks scrambling ‘day one’ for it, but those singles must now be the record-holder for VS overestimating a demand. Are those possibly from ‘discovered’ boxed sets and they just decided to sell them separately?

THE LAMP seems to be another one with excessive stock. Seems like all four of these titles might become the new LAST GASP for them, turning up in sale after sale.

I noticed at the ‘other’ forum that there seems to be a lot of folks calling Vinegar Syndrome’s practices into question, and sometimes one does wonder. Of all the labels, they seem the furthest from cut-and-dried when it comes to their inventory.

Oh, you bring up something else, B. Freeway. Or more specifically, Freeway II. Is it worth it? I've never seen it. I couldn't imagine it being any good without Reese Witherspoon and Keifer Sutherland, so I never bothered. I also have an overall disdain for sequels in general, but obviously, there are some that hit the mark or even exceed it.

^ I’ve only seen the first one myself, back in the VHS era. Thought it was ok (mostly due to the cast) but not enough to own it. And yeah, without real ‘name’ stars like the first one, I’ve never been curious about the second one, although it seems to have its fans. Certainly the director’s career went nowhere after them (I did get the VS edition of his later TED BUNDY cheap and, uhh, meh). One the plus side, it seems likely they’ll have copies of FREEWAY II for a long time to come, so you could probably snag it cheaper in a future sale. I’d maybe take a chance on it if it was, say, $15 or less some day – just to see it and flip it – but the current price is too steep for me.

Nope, didn't buy anything at all this time. Nothing I wanted or needed. Not even on Melusine.

I'll keep my eyes peeled the nest few days for the announcements.

Almost had a Cannibal The Musical but it sold out in my cart. Perhaps for the best, do I really need to upgrade my Troma release?

I ended up getting The Grave today. The last time it went on sale last year it sold out quick

And…Last Gasp is back again. As of this post, only 54 copies left!

I'm struggling to come up with some titles. Nothing is really jumping out at me. I'm considering using points on some Cinematographe titles, but I might just wait until Black Friday and see if we get some better prices. At this point of the year, anything that isn't horror isn't likely to get watched until after October anyway.