Paff

Sorry that this is a week too late, but here's my top ten Vinegar Syndrome releases. This is based on the quality of the movie only, not the transfer or extras.

1. Deadline. The order of the movies on this list is mostly arbitrary (I.E., I don't really know if the #3 movie on the list is that much better than the #7), but this is far and away my favorite film from the label. It really is a unique horror film that breaks a lot of rules about the genre. An absolute must-have in any VS collection

2. Snapshot. A bit slower moving than a lot of VS titles, and after the photo shoot at the beginning of the film the T&A is over. But great performances from everyone involved, and one of the few VS releases I've watched several times

3. The Candy Snatchers. The only film I was familiar with before buying the VS disc, it's still a great bit of 70s exploitation cinema. Love all the plot twists.

4. Malibu High. This one was a total surprise. The cover art makes it look like a teen sex comedy when it's anything but. It's about a high school girl who first gets into prostitution, then murder, and absolutely none of it is played for glamour. A very very dark film. Whoever did the cover art (which is the original theatrical poster) totally misled the audience.

5. Terror. Takes a while to get going, but once it does it's non-stop. The murders look like they come straight out of an Argento film (and one actually pre-dates an Argento movie, and the kills are remarkably similar).

6. The Corruption of Chris Miller. I haven't been wowed by Spanish "Giallo" films (I was disappointed with the first Forgotten Gialli collection as they were all Spanish, looking forward to the more Italian #2 and #3 which I just ordered last week) but this was just fantastic. A lot of details that you'll want to keep in mind for the finale, as well as more than a few red herrings too.

7. The Human Tornado. Dolemite was ok, but the sequel knocks it out of the park. Absolutely hilarious at times ("Instant Replay"), some fantastic martial arts, and some completely terrible martial arts. And a requisite amount of Dolemite rhymes, which I think should be included in every feature film.

8. Raw Force. I have a rule: Sleaze, not cheese. I love dark exploitation flicks, but hate when someone is trying to make camp, or be intentionally over the top. Every rule has an exception though, and mine is Raw Force.

9. Her Name Was Lisa. Wanted to include one X film. This one is a real downer though, with the subject matter and the fact that most of Lisa's sex scenes are her being raped. But that's why I included it, because it's not really erotic at all, and is actually a good movie that uses the X rating to show scenes that usually have to be carefully danced around in similarly themed R films.

10. Count Dracula's Great Love. If you didn't know any better (and the film was in English) you'd swear this came from Hammer Films. Only exception is that the nudity that Hammer usually teased at, well they're not as coy here.

Honorable mentions:

Prey: A bit slow, almost stagey, but really violent at the end and there's a boffo sex scene with Glory Annen (80s late night Skinemax favorite Felicity)
Sex World: Good X film except the 30 minutes of backstory that had me whining Milhouse style, "When are they gonna get to Sex World??"
Blue Vengeance: Kinda cheesy, but great NYC scenes
Ribald Tales of Canterbury: Somewhat faithful adaptation, great job with the costumes, but everyone still has fer sher 80s hair
Dracula Sucks: Also a good attempt at a faithful adaptation as well as making a horror film with explicit sex scenes
The Muthers: Fits right in with Jack Hill's Philippines-set women in prison films.
Memories Within Miss Aggie: Another good example of melding horror and porn
Sudden Fury: One of those frustrating movies where every potential rescue of the main character only results in things getting worse for them, but I like that kind of agony

TomOpus

This makes me want to get this.

Paff

Oh, you should. It's unlike any other movie, except for maybe Ruthless People (though certainly not as funny) in which you have a kidnapped person whose family members won't pay the ransom. Any more than that is spoiling it though so I'll stop there.

dsa_shea

I have over 40 VS titles after just starting to collect them this year. I have 9 more titles coming from this recent sale.

Paff

Even though I've gotten a fair share of duds from Vinegar Syndrome (to be expected when you're pretty much blind-buying everything), they've also enabled me to uncover some hidden gems from my favorite era of film, the 70s and early 80s. Movies I've literally never heard of before they released them. Those gems more than make up for the duds.

VS duds:
Lucifer's Women
Dominique
Double Exposure
Don't Answer the Phone

I won't consider any of the X titles to be duds, because even when they're bad, they still show people getting naked and having sex, and that's really all they set out to do in the first place.

Dan

The 4K transfer on Six-string Samurai is pretty fantastic. The movie is pure camp, and I had a good time watching it, but I really wasn't expecting the transfer to be as good as it is. Big to VS on their work.

Will watch both Scanner Cop flicks later

dsa_shea

I got my recent order in yesterday.
Six-String Samurai
Scanner Cop 1&2
Murder Weapon/Deadly Embrace (With slip)
Flesh Eating Mothers (With slip)
Count Dracula's Great Love (With slip)
Alley Cat (With slip)
Champagne and Bullets (With slip)
Frightmare
Blood Games

E Unit

I have got to order Six String Samurai. It’s mind-boggling this made it on 4K.

Jay G.

It looks like it's sold out, unless I'm not looking in the right place. I guess maybe it's "Partners Only" this month, so it's not available for sale?

For these Limited Edition releases, will VS re-release them as a "standard edition", or do another run?

Adam Tyner

Correct.

There should be a standard edition. That’s been the case for Beastmaster and the first Forgotten Giallo set, at least.

DaveyJoe

I don't think the VSU edition is sold out. VS is just closing their store for the month of June so they can catch up on sale orders and let the partner labels get an opportunity for more attention. The Limited Edition should be back in stock in July.

Paff

Once they're done shipping orders from last month's sale (and they're still working on it; I just finally got my shipping notice late last night) they'll re-open the whole site and for all available titles.

It can be confusing. Sometimes the "Limited Edition" only refers to the slipcover or box set, and there are indeed plentiful copies of a standard edition available. But there's also "one and done" titles that once they're sold out, they're gone for good. I believe last year's release of RAD fell into the latter category.

Paff

Looks like Vinegar Syndrome has confirmed their November 3-D release will be Paul Morrissey's Flesh for Frankenstein.

Unfortunately I can no longer see 3-D, but I did get to watch the film twice theatrically before I lost that ability. It's certainly a fun one!

Dan

Just wanted to say I watched both Scanner Cop films and I have to say, while neither is the pinnacle of filmmaking, they're both actually quite enjoyable Scanners flicks. Like... I had a good time watching them. And the practical gore is excellent. And the 4k encodes are far better than I could have expected for these two. It was a pricey box, but I don't regret picking it up at all. Now I just need to watch the other Scanners sequels I never got around to seeing.

Adam Tyner

Ugh. Now you’re making me want to order them after all. I think I’m standing strong against Six String Samurai, though.

Dan

Wait for the next sale... But not a minute longer

Paff

"Wait for the next sale" is practically my entire Vinegar Syndrome buying strategy.

Toddarino

Does anyone have Evil Town or Savage Harbor? I missed out on those and the trailers both seem right up my alley. I’m considering plunking down the cash on Ebay.

Bluelitespecial

The Limited Edition VSU release of Beastmaster is sold out but a standard edition release will be available on Amazon and I'm sure other online retailers on July 27th.

Paff

Or get it from Vinegar Syndrome themselves, once they're done shipping items from the May sale.

That's the one I got, and even though it's not the fancy-schmancy edition, it still has a slipcover. The retailers might not.

Dan

I don't think this one's a VSU title with fancy packaging like Beastmaster and Six String Samurai, but Vinegar Syndrome is releasing Flesh for Frankenstein in 4K in November.

They've also hinted at Censor and New York Ninja, but haven't given any details on that just yet.

Adam Tyner

Censor is for sure coming:


I can't find anything indicating whether or not New York Ninja will get a UHD release, but I'd be kind of surprised if it didn't, since it's the first in-house VS production. Their Black Friday pre-orders go up on Sept. 24th, so maybe we'll find out more then...?

Dan

I would be very surprised of New York Ninja didn't make the cut to UHD. They're being pretty vague about its theatrical release, so I'm guessing it'll be one of the Secret Screenings at Fantastic Fest coming up soon, or something similar. If I remember the timeline correctly (HA! probably not!), they showed Tammy & The T-Rex at FF (not a secret screening) then announced the UHD a couple weeks later.

Dan

Ended up placing an order for Flesh for Frankenstein and Censor. I'll hold off on the 'secret' UHD title until they announce what it is, because I didn't want to commit to buying it along with an unrelated Blu-ray. Hopefully I can still combine my shipping at that point, along with any October titles (announcing next week?) that get the UHD treatment.

Adam Tyner

Yeah, you'll be fine.

The Last Matinee will be a partner release for October, so if nothing else, I'll be ordering that.