Alan Smithee

Spookies was one of the first laserdiscs I ever bought, $6.88 at Camelot Music. Knowing it was 2 unfinished films cut together, it made a lot more sense.

Paff

I just wanted to alert the Vinegar Syndrome aficianados here that a few of my favorite releases of theirs are on the "going out of print" section and down to double digits on copies remaining; Snapshot, Sudden Fury, and Malibu High. These were all excellent films, and I don't know if another label will be releasing them after VS runs out. They're unfortunately not on sale at the moment, next sale being Black Friday, they'll definitely be gone after that weekend. Snapshot is great Oz-ploitation, you really get invested in the characters and story though. Sudden Fury is mid-70s Canadian, and one of those infuriating (in a good way) films where the good guy in the story keeps thinking he's found help only for it to just get worse. I loved it. And finally, Malibu High might be my all-time favorite discovery from VS. The cover art (and the trailer especially...seriously, check it out) makes it look like a Porky's-type sex comedy, but it's really about a high school girl going into prostitution and eventually murder-for-hire. Extremely dark subject matter and compelling story.

Believe me when I say you want these movies in your collection. Do not let them slip away.

davidlynchfan

^^ me had 'em long time. But yeah, great stuff for sure.

Brian T

Late reply here, but if “going out of print” also meant “low-priced blowout”, I’d recommend the WELCOME HOME BROTHER CHARLES / EMMA MAE double feature. CHARLES is a bit rough around the edges from a technical standpoint (I recall it was started as Jamaa Fanaka’s student project, and one of the bonus interviews goes into great detail about its place in something called the ‘L.A. Rebellion’) while EMMA MAE is much more professionally shot, but both carry some pretty fierce social commentary about black life in 1970’s America. Neither are classics, but they’re definitely about something. The secret weapon in BROTHER CHARLES is also quite a jaw-dropper.

Paff

Yeah, I got that Blaxploitation double feature a few sales ago. Welcome Home was pretty good, I haven't gotten around to Emma Mae yet, but I do know that TCM showed it a few months ago so that's something.

Bluelitespecial

I never saw a comment from Spiderbite but did you finally get to watch Spookies?

Spiderbite

Ha. Actually, I did! I can't say that I liked it because it was just everywhere and made zero sense. I will say I was pretty impressed by the obviously cheap but still well-done special effects. I looked forward to visiting both documentaries on the release to maybe clear up all the confusion.

Bluelitespecial

I'll never get in the beginning how the kid got buried by the wolfman and he acted like he just gave up. You just assume he got buried alive it makes no sense. I think Spookies is notable for the creature effects and I always laugh at the farting zombies. Speaking of new releases I just got Undefeatable yesterday. I've only seen a few Cynthia Rothrock movies and enjoyed it a lot. I hope they continue to release more Martial Arts movies.

Adam Tyner

The two secret titles are eXistenZ (UHD) and The Black Room. New sub label Degausser Video is kicking off with Redneck Zombies, along with a RAD reissue on VHS.

dex14

I definitely want eXistenZ. 10,000 units on the slip version... that won't be 50% off until May, right?

asianxcore

I really want to pick-up eXistenZ (1999) but for $35?

With all the sales going right now, I might wait

Brian T

Nice to see UNTOLD STORY 2 in there as well, even if it’s pretty barebones (not even the original trailer!). And at that price, I can wait. This is one of the several dark films that made no bones about playing up on what Hong Kongers of that era rightly suspected about mainland China as a whole, albeit via a single character. You can read it as a straight horror film as well, but the subtext is hard to miss. And if definitely earns the Category III rating. It’s probably a pretty safe bet that VS has UNTOLD STORY III in the wings, but it’s not very good, and probably would’ve been better suited as a bonus film with this one. The listing says there’s a new subtitle translation, but I hope they keep Anthony Wong’s character name as ‘Officer Lazyboots’ from the original subs!

Adam Tyner

This is from a different label altogether (though one with a VS connection!), but Terror Vision put up Game of Killers a few hours ago, and that seems like something you’d be interested in, Brian. Probably more in the “that is interesting!” sense as opposed to “well, there goes $24.99”, but still…!

dex14

$45 with the full package!

Why So Blu?

It's $45 with the fancy slipcase.

Why So Blu?

And for the erotica enthusiasts over at Melusine, it's Deep Inside Annie Sprinkle, which is a big let down since they had the DVD for sale not that long ago. Feels like too soon and all that.

dex14

Caught up on stuff I've been wanting to get:
Undeclared War
Bio Zombie
Sidekicks
Sick of Myself

I was almost going to order the Angel films from Movies Unlimited with their 25% off deal... but I dig those new slips, so I picked those up as well.

I had $25 in rewards and moved up to the 16mm tier.

I'll have to think about getting eXistenZ now or waiting...

Brian T

That is interesting! But not for $24.99.

Still, this and the two Dark Force martial arts titles, and even a couple of new ones by Canada's Gold Ninja Video (PHANTOM KUNG-FU, announced ages ago but finally out now apparently, and GOLDEN TRIANGLE, a Taiwanese-Filipino coproduction starring Yasuaki Kurata that was announced just today, for a February release), it's nice to know a lot of companies see some value in sliding a few rungs down the Hong Kong / Taiwan ladder! But these prices – ouch! This is the kind of stuff that would've been released in series or multipacks – in about the same rough quality from rare exhumed prints – for comparative peanuts back in the DVD era. I think we're paying more for the supplementarians to have full time jobs than for the actual films or their transfers.

I guess if GAME OF KILLERS lasts until a future sale at $14.99 (which sounds more like what it's probably worth), I'll bite. Some interesting stuff in their sale. Thought they were a new label, yet they have stuff to mark down already? Or was this stuff previously available at VS?

Brian T

In for these on the first order. A little house-cleaning like Dex, I suspect. I should probably stop putting my 'needs' in my cart before every sale. The f'ers just empty it out every time:

The Cat Creeps
Flesh and Fantasy
Curucu, Beast of the Amazon
Undeclared War
Bio Zombie
Ninja in the Claws of the CIA

Not sure if FLESH AND FANTASY is on anybody's to-get list, but it's down to about 6 copies as I type this (slipcover only). It was at 27 when I put it in the cart. Regular edition has been sold out a while, I think.

Now to spend some time talking myself out of buying that damned Lost Picture Show box. Resist . . . resist . . .

Dan

I redeemed some points and combined shipping with a previous pre-order to make eXistenZ a bit less of a hit to the wallet. Can’t wait for this one… my Canadian Blu-ray copy is encoded at 30fps and looks like trash.

Adam Tyner

It might not be 50% off until next November! The Halfway titles from May aren’t 50% off right now, anyway.

I think 6 months is the cutoff, where anything more than 6 months old is included, but anything from exactly 6 months ago isn’t.

Paff

I mentioned over in the Sale forum that I limited my purchase to Death Promise and Undeclared War. Death Promise was cheaper at one of the 10 year sales they did earlier in the year, but it was for the non-slip version and I'm a sucker for VS slips. So I waited till now and there were still plenty of copies left.

I did notice the going-out-of-print Snapshot is down to 41 copies, it'll probably be gone before Friday is over. Last chance to jump on this one if you don't have it already.

Brian T

Welp, my conscience is a complete pussy and I beat him into submission and bought the LOST PICTURE SHOW box. Sigh. I know I’ll kick myself later when it gets a deeper discount, but I can’t resist that old obscure stuff.

Also grabbed some partner label stuff:

SAMPO - standard edition copies are low-ish, but I’m not sure if it will last until a cheaper sale
DORIS WISHMAN - MOONLIGHT YEARS (standard)
DORIS WISHMAN - DAYLIGHT YEARS (standard)

Had about eight other partner titles in my cart, but just couldn’t shake the feeling that there will be another one (or more) of those $10 sales or the like in 2024. So I just picked up the two that were likewise getting a bit low on standard editions.

HEROIC TIMES (standard)
VISITORS FROM THE ARKANA GALAXY (standard)

The slip versions of these will probably last long enough to be in one of those cheap sales, which wouldn’t surprise me now that I’ve bought the regular versions, but I could always grab extras then for resale.

- - - - -

On a related note, in poking around the site after spending way too much money, I noticed that VS’s list of physical locations no longer shows their Toronto location as ‘coming soon’. Found out it opened here about two weeks ago, and contrary to my speculation in this thread months ago, it’s a brand new store that doesn’t just have all the VS and partner titles, but also Severin, Arrow and apparently many of the others, plus used discs, vinyl, and even VHS in the basement. They’re having a Black Friday sale, too. For those in the GTA who might see this, they’re in the Roncesvalles neighbourhood, and apparently right across the street from the popular rep cinema there - very smart move. They’re a bit out of my way, but I’m seriously considering a drive down there today, traffic be damned, to see if their pricing is comparable to what I’ve paid on the site so far, including the $10 shipping to Canada. It would be weird if my order ships from their store, but I’m pretty sure VS ships from the U.S. now.

I try to get out to that area once or twice a year, usually in the warmer weather when I just pick neighbourhoods to wander around off the subway or streetcar routes, and to check out record and bookstores or try new foods, but this place might give me a reason to visit more often, even in the cold weather, possibly just to touch stuff before buying it online.

Some pics here:
https://torontoscoop.ca/2023/11/19/n...-roncesvalles/

So that gives us three video stores in Toronto now, in addition to Bay Street Video (upscale, stocks everything) and Eyesore Cinema (downscale and smaller but more cult-focused). Those two seem to be doing ok, so hopefully their combined existence serve to remind unaware folks that physical media is still around, and retro cool and all that shit.

Bluelitespecial

It seems odd and really funny they are doing a reissue of Rad on VHS. Fans complained for years why hasn't Rad been release on dvd and then VS released their 4k/blu-ray edition. I guess I don't understand the idea of going backwards with collecting Physical media.

asianxcore

I won't lie, that's the one I would probably get.