February titles:

Vinegar Syndrome bought Eibon Press and is starting their own publishing line too.

And while no UHD releases were revealed today, we'll be seeing one next week:

I have never heard of any of the February releases but I'm looking forward to next week's sale.

BIO-ZOMBIE is an excellent Hong Kong picture, and it's mostly universally funny (something a lot of HK comedies are not), with a great setting, one of those multi-story, maze-like glass cubicle shopping arcades so ubiquitous in that city at the time, and a colourful bunch of characters you'd expect to find (trapped) within one. It wasn't Wilson Yip's first picture, but I'm pretty certain it was the one that bumped his career into a higher level that eventually led all the collaborations with Donnie Yen. Longtime character actor Wayne Lai steals the show as the heroes' scuzzy boss – I still think it's one of his best roles, among many.

The whole movie is on YouTube in a pretty decent print, on TVB's own 'crime' channel. Chinese subs only, sadly, but a quick skim through it might give you an idea of what it's like (minus the understanding of the humour, of course, which ads a lot)

The "Contaminated Lucozade" mentioned as part of the video essay was an interesting real-life scare in HK around the time the movie came out (if I recall correctly), but I think it's been erroneously linked to the movie from time to time since then.

Tokyo Shock released this a million years ago on DVD with an added English dub that does get some decent nods online, but I'm kinda glad VS left it off. I've had my original, non-anamorphic Hong Kong DVD this entire time, so it will be nice to get rid of that finally.

VS has clarified that it's an upgrade of an exploitation title from their first year as a label. Massage Parlor Murders seems to be the favorite guess.

I’m getting it on your recommend. Better be good! 😜

Well, if you pay full price (instead of waiting for a sale) and don't like it, I'd be happy to take it off your hands for, oh, say, about 25% of your purchase price.

Also, as I mentioned, folks can skim through the film on YouTube to get a feel for it (minus English subs). Still nice to discover it the first time with some translation, though. Keep in mind it's more of a sardonic horror/comedy than an straight-faced gore-fest.

I'm not buying any more VS titles unless I've already seen it and liked it, or have been given a recommendation from someone that I trust. I have a box stashed in my living room that smells like farts on something covered with nice looking slipcovers. I do appreciate the work they have put into releases like Roadhouse, Texas Chainsaw 2, Amityville Horror, Beastmaster, and even Ticks. I blind bought Champagne and Bullets based off of some recommendations and I had to choose between losing what is left of my will to live or turning it off halfway through.

Champagne and Bullets? You were supposed to get Champagne for Breakfast.

I was going to get that until I had my wife watch the first half of that movie with me. Those plans were ejected about as fast as the disc from the player.

nah, I saw the trailer. Looked really good. Gave me a Shaun of the Dead vibe.

That's not a bad comparison, actually. The humour in BIO-ZOMBIE is pretty sharp, and – outside of the whole 'bio-weapon drink' stuff – grounded in characters and situations that local audiences would have instantly recognized at the time. It's not quite as broad and clownish as a lot of Hong Kong "horror" comedies of the era (even some of the MR. VAMPIRE films) but it still goes there on occasion. Still, I have to confess my massive bias in favour of all Hong Kong cinema, so other folks might prefer to wait for a sale. At 6000 copies, I'm sure it'll last until fall or whenever.

Incidentally, the director made kind of a spiritual cousin to this this film called THE MUMMY, AGED 19 a few years later. Doubt VS would do anything with it, but who knows. It's a lot sillier, even moreso than the trailer suggests, but it has its moments.

anyone know when Bio Zombie is supposed to come out? i looked on VS site, but found nothing. thanks.

Later this month.

ty, AT

The Valentine's sale ends tonight. I have couple of movies I'm considering but haven't placed an order yet. For anyone interested Vinegar Syndrome did send out an email to regular customers with a $5 coupon code good through the end of sale.

The From Beyond 4k edition with the Slipcover is about to sellout. I haven't seen the movie and its been out since January but damn that was fast.

The FOMO crowd really spun themselves into a frenzy over it.

Ever since I've gotten into collecting more VS movies it feels like FOMO really happens a lot among VS collectors. I'm in a few collectors groups on Facebook and it's kind of ridiculous.

The crazy part is that it never went on sale. Folks were like, "yeah, I'm gonna wait until May for the halfway to BF sale." Look what happened now.

I was waiting until March so I'd have something to amortize the shipping with, but oh well. I went for it, even though I don't really care about those slipcovers. (It's at least not strictly FOMO for me; I genuinely love the movie and always intended to buy it, and I would've placed an order sooner if I had something else to go with it.)

But yeah, it is funny seeing how a title will sell at a steady, relatively modest clip, but once the numbers hit a certain point, it's this exponential cycle where some people bite before it sells out, which makes more people bite before it sells out, which makes even more people bite before it sells out... It took nearly 2 months to move 6,200 copies but sold through nearly 800 copies in, like, 7 hours.

40+ copies left now.

14 new partner label titles. I'm betting the Shaolin Invincibles + Seven to One double feature will be of interest to plenty here.

Yeah, placed my order for a few:

Freeway II 4K
Babe BD
Gina BD
Mexican Gothic BD set

The flash preorder for the halfway to Black Friday releases in May starts next weekend.