Vinegar Syndrome et al.

Vinegar Syndrome, Deaf Crocodile, Imprint, Cinema Guild, and more.
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Glowingwabbit
Joined: Wed May 01, 2013 1:27 pm

Re: Vinegar Syndrome et al.

#726 Post by Glowingwabbit » Fri May 27, 2022 10:07 am

yoloswegmaster wrote:
Fri May 27, 2022 9:57 am
Glad to see a Region A release of 'Righting Wrongs', as well as confirmation of more Hong Kong titles (including a ultra-gory film that has never been released on Blu)/.
It doesn't sound like the VS release is identical to the 88 one that's forthcoming in case people were curious. Based on Dylan Cheung's tweet earlier today, he's just working on subs for the 88 films release, so no doubt the VS subtitles won't be as good. VS has other strengths so this will likely be one to double dip on.

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therewillbeblus
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Re: Vinegar Syndrome et al.

#727 Post by therewillbeblus » Fri May 27, 2022 10:10 am

Good point, I guess we'll have to wait to compare this version of Righting Wrongs with the 88 Films one to see what's preferable in terms of extras as well. Which is the "ultra-gory" HK film? Kinda curious about this Bigfoot horror too

Glowingwabbit
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Re: Vinegar Syndrome et al.

#728 Post by Glowingwabbit » Fri May 27, 2022 10:22 am

therewillbeblus wrote:
Fri May 27, 2022 10:10 am
Good point, I guess we'll have to wait to compare this version of Righting Wrongs with the 88 Films one to see what's preferable in terms of extras as well. Which is the "ultra-gory" HK film? Kinda curious about this Bigfoot horror too
As someone else pointed out on twitter, VS does better audio/sound mixing than 88 films. I did the subscription this year so I'm automatically getting the VS version. I might wait and just get the standard 88 release at a cheaper price to supplement it.

I have no idea what the "ultra-gory" HK film is as I'm still too new to HK cinema. I don't know if it could be something like Devil Fetus (1983) which doesn't have a blu-ray yet (of course I know nothing licenses when it comes to some of these)

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therewillbeblus
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Re: Vinegar Syndrome et al.

#729 Post by therewillbeblus » Fri May 27, 2022 11:29 am

Yakushima wrote:
Fri May 27, 2022 12:11 am
I highly recommend Grandmother's House.
What do you like about it?

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therewillbeblus
Joined: Tue Dec 22, 2015 3:40 pm

Re: Vinegar Syndrome et al.

#730 Post by therewillbeblus » Fri May 27, 2022 12:19 pm

Regarding the VG repress system, are there any copies that are exclusives to their site? I know often these films become available and discounted at a later date on retailers like DD. Basically, I don't want to shell out $56 for Thriller- A Cruel Picture, but I also want it, so I don't know what to do

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dwk
Joined: Sat Jun 12, 2010 6:10 pm

Re: Vinegar Syndrome et al.

#731 Post by dwk » Fri May 27, 2022 12:33 pm

Thriller will be getting a standard UHD release, but it will not have the They Call Her One Eye cut on UHD (I'm not 100% sure if it will retain the Blu-ray of that cut or not, but the special features are on that disc, so I assume it will.)

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criterionsnob
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Re: Vinegar Syndrome et al.

#732 Post by criterionsnob » Fri May 27, 2022 12:47 pm

Just thought I’d point this out since it seems a bit hidden on the VS site under Staff Picks/Mondo Vision. They have a bunch of what I thought were out of print Zulawski DVDs, including: Szamanka, L'Amour Braque, L'important C'est D'aimer, Possession. Plus the Blu-ray of La Note Bleue. I had them all except Szamanka, but I snapped that up with my sale order. I hadn’t noticed these on the VS site prior to the sale, but I might've just missed them.

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therewillbeblus
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Re: Vinegar Syndrome et al.

#733 Post by therewillbeblus » Fri May 27, 2022 12:52 pm

dwk wrote:
Fri May 27, 2022 12:33 pm
Thriller will be getting a standard UHD release, but it will not have the They Call Her One Eye cut on UHD (I'm not 100% sure if it will retain the Blu-ray of that cut or not, but the special features are on that disc, so I assume it will.)
Is that cut superior or different enough where it's worth shelling out the big bucks for? I've only seen the longer cut (as of this morning)

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dwk
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Re: Vinegar Syndrome et al.

#734 Post by dwk » Fri May 27, 2022 12:56 pm

I haven't seen the They Call Her One Eye cut, but I think the difference is mostly the removal of the hardcore inserts and the eye gouging.

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therewillbeblus
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Re: Vinegar Syndrome et al.

#735 Post by therewillbeblus » Fri May 27, 2022 7:21 pm

Cool, well just to record some thoughts on Thriller- A Cruel Picture, I absolutely loved it. This is maybe the best rape revenge movie I've ever seen, yet not for reasons typically fawned over in the subgenre. For instance, I don't think any of the actual 'revenge' portions are particularly well orchestrated or cathartic- the slow-motion is overdone and takes away from the brutality. Though this adds to the vibe of the film and complements why I think it's so wonderful. It's such a deliberately paced, fearless piece of music- a silent movie where words mean nothing and action means everything; the main character doesn't speak, her abusers hardly do either, and communication written in letter form carries more devastating consequences than anything verbalized aloud. There is a meditation on powerlessness through these actions- she has no ability to alleviate trauma or correct the words of the letter with a release of speech, or any influence on her life.

And action cannot be undone, so when the vengeance fails to stimulate us the way the relentlessly-detailed and attentive rendition of her torturous life has, it's completely in step with the film's ethos: That brutality is not sexy. It's a thing that a person does to another person, and as an appropriate pathology of a person living with trauma, it's sensible that Christina Lindberg would be conditioned to do that. There's no emotion in her actions' executions, just a girl who's doing to others what's been done to her. The film could even be viewed as a coming-of-age movie where a traumatized woman senses that she's growing up and engages with the adults in her life who raised her based on how she's been taught to show love! The filmmaker has the audacity to portray her intentions and affect with the same vast distance she feels from her own sense of self- and yet, conversely, dutifully pulls us painfully close to show us this isolation, again- though by a different metric- forcibly containing us at the same non-distance she's allowed to get from the savagery intruding on her existence.

Although I stated that the first two thirds of this film have been "stimulating," I should clarify that I'm not suggesting this has been pornographically arousing, but -like the best thrillers- a completely dedicated combed-through beat-by-beat engulfment into the protagonist's experience without ever 'knowing' her. The banal process she engages in is like the noir principals who have a singular existential purpose except this character isn't even a character; isn't even a person. Those men may have felt a lack of identity, but she really has none- any opportunity at developing one has been taken from her, as we've witnessed time and time again. The film is incredibly tragic but it's so shamelessly perceptive to physicality that we maintain an invested envelopment rather than repulsive desertion from such tragic stimuli. The wind blowing that precedes the final confrontation, the rote process of acquiring artillery, the suffocating echoes of moans and screams swirled up in her breath accelerating... it's hauntingly captivating as a thriller, even if the content is a cruel picture.

This is a living, breathing machine of a movie, an exploitation film on alienation, Wes Craven leaning into Antonioni. It's a meditative inversion on genre where corporeal cruelty and ethereal observations merge in their compromised form to quietly wail at empty space for the irrevocable horrors permeating innocent lives for no discernible spiritual reason. It's a Polanski-quality economically-paced thriller, a respectfully alert social horror, a profoundly anti-psychological ballad of the miserable trapped in philosophical wastelands, and a reflexively engaging character study that subverts this very idea in devotion to its protagonist's level. Few films meet their vehicles where they're at, and when they do to such tremendously layered degrees as this does, they deserve to be celebrated.

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dwk
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Re: Vinegar Syndrome et al.

#736 Post by dwk » Fri May 27, 2022 8:39 pm

They have a listing up for the standard UHD release of Thriller and it does include both the Blu-rays from the limited edition set (so the only thing missing is the UHD version of the They Call Her One Eye cut and the fancy packaging) and is $20 cheaper (MSRP is actually $30 less than the limited edition.)

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Yakushima
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Re: Vinegar Syndrome et al.

#737 Post by Yakushima » Fri May 27, 2022 8:52 pm

therewillbeblus wrote:
Fri May 27, 2022 11:29 am
Yakushima wrote:
Fri May 27, 2022 12:11 am
I highly recommend Grandmother's House.
What do you like about it?
Everything! It's very atmospheric, the characters are engaging, and Len Lesser (of Seinfeld's fame) is always a joy to watch.

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therewillbeblus
Joined: Tue Dec 22, 2015 3:40 pm

Re: Vinegar Syndrome et al.

#738 Post by therewillbeblus » Fri May 27, 2022 9:23 pm

dwk wrote:
Fri May 27, 2022 8:39 pm
They have a listing up for the standard UHD release of Thriller and it does include both the Blu-rays from the limited edition set (so the only thing missing is the UHD version of the They Call Her One Eye cut and the fancy packaging) and is $20 cheaper (MSRP is actually $30 less than the limited edition.)
Awesome, this looks about as cheap as these films get on DD et al. too, so probably worth picking up now. As is obvious from my above rave, I can't recommend this release highly enough- though more as an evocative mood piece than a cathartic revenge one!

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swo17
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Re: Vinegar Syndrome et al.

#739 Post by swo17 » Sat May 28, 2022 2:36 pm

dwk wrote:
Fri May 27, 2022 8:39 pm
They have a listing up for the standard UHD release of Thriller and it does include both the Blu-rays from the limited edition set (so the only thing missing is the UHD version of the They Call Her One Eye cut and the fancy packaging) and is $20 cheaper (MSRP is actually $30 less than the limited edition.)
It's a moot point deciding between the two versions, because the limited edition of 10,000 is apparently already sold out

black&huge
Joined: Tue Dec 26, 2017 5:35 am

Re: Vinegar Syndrome et al.

#740 Post by black&huge » Sat May 28, 2022 2:39 pm

The listing for the LE now says that select retailers will have the LE in stock by next week which I kinda already knew. I actually did the flash preorder back in March but had it cancelled via email earlier this week because I can have it sooner being a non subber and I don't mind paying $5 or $10 more to get it from Orbit

I did the same thing last year with flesh for frankenstein and indeed got it sooner than if I had kept my order directly with VS

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swo17
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Re: Vinegar Syndrome et al.

#741 Post by swo17 » Sat May 28, 2022 5:26 pm

The Elegant Dandy Fop wrote:
Thu May 26, 2022 2:32 pm
Altered Innocence's adult film releases have been phenomenal so far. I knew nothing about Arthur J. Bressan, but decided to take a risk when I saw the Ask Any Buddy crew and specifically Elizabeth Purcell, who ianthemovie just mentioned, produced the special features. I was shocked at sort of how poetic and beautiful both films were, in particular Forbidden Letters, and their clever navigating at an incredibly limited budget.
VS also previously released his film Buddies which is not an adult film, and is a rather poignant AIDS drama.

I never thought I'd be a guy who collects gay porn, but I like that these (including the Halsted) are historically significant works with an artistic bent, and that owning them doesn't make me feel like part of the raincoat brigade. Which is very weird, considering that they certainly wouldn't have screened originally with a special section in the audience for those only observing for anthropological purposes

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senseabove
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Re: Vinegar Syndrome et al.

#742 Post by senseabove » Sat May 28, 2022 6:44 pm

On that note, now that the market for historically significant gay and queer hardcore is growing, I really hope AI or VS rescue the extremely limited BD-R Wakefield Poole collection from obscurity, as it includes Boys in the Sand, sort of the gay Deep Throat, in the sense that it was something of a mainstream crossover success at the time, though it was before Deep Throat and is considerably more "artistic," with a classical score and pillow shots of Fire Island's natural surroundings chaining its three set-ups together; Bijou, which you might call 1972: A Gay Odyssey, involving a hallucinatory sexual tour through a surreal landscape of special effects, trick shots, and experimental editing; and Bible!, Poole's attempt at another crossover success by catering to straight audiences with Bible-themed softcore. I snagged what turned out to be the last of its 75 copies after hemming and hawing over it for the better part of a year, and I'd be delighted to not have something so precious. Boys... is even a newer restoration that isn't available anywhere else, including the in-print VS DVD. (For now, the whole set is available on back channels, should the above pique anyone's curiosity—in which case you're welcome :-$ )

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dekadetia
was Born Innocent
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Re: Vinegar Syndrome et al.

#743 Post by dekadetia » Sat May 28, 2022 8:36 pm

senseabove wrote:
Sat May 28, 2022 6:44 pm
On that note, now that the market for historically significant gay and queer hardcore is growing, I really hope AI or VS rescue the extremely limited BD-R Wakefield Poole collection from obscurity, as it includes Boys in the Sand, sort of the gay Deep Throat, in the sense that it was something of a mainstream crossover success at the time, though it was before Deep Throat and is considerably more "artistic," with a classical score and pillow shots of Fire Island's natural surroundings chaining its three set-ups together; Bijou, which you might call 1972: A Gay Odyssey, involving a hallucinatory sexual tour through a surreal landscape of special effects, trick shots, and experimental editing; and Bible!, Poole's attempt at another crossover success by catering to straight audiences with Bible-themed softcore. I snagged what turned out to be the last of its 75 copies after hemming and hawing over it for the better part of a year, and I'd be delighted to not have something so precious. Boys... is even a newer restoration that isn't available anywhere else, including the in-print VS DVD. (For now, the whole set is available on back channels, should the above pique anyone's curiosity—in which case you're welcome :-$ )
An excellent appreciation, senseabove. Indeed, these films deserve a larger audience. Bijou is particularly marvelous.

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swo17
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Re: Vinegar Syndrome et al.

#744 Post by swo17 » Sun May 29, 2022 12:35 am

I was wondering why some of that sounded familiar, and it's because the making and screening of Boys in the Sand was a plot point in Season 1 of The Deuce

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therewillbeblus
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Re: Vinegar Syndrome et al.

#745 Post by therewillbeblus » Mon May 30, 2022 12:42 am

So outside of Buster Keaton Rides Again, are there any notable titles that are on alert to grab now, at risk of going OOP? There are a few I’d like to wait on and pick up down the line on retail sites, but I also don’t want another Rad situation and I’m generally unaware of how this label works regarding print runs

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swo17
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Re: Vinegar Syndrome et al.

#746 Post by swo17 » Mon May 30, 2022 1:19 am

Who knows? It helps that they have a stock counter, but even then, a limited edition of 5,000 that's been out for a month will show the same "more than 1,000" whether it's 5% or 75% through its run

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criterionsnob
Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 1:23 am
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Re: Vinegar Syndrome et al.

#747 Post by criterionsnob » Mon May 30, 2022 1:35 am

Ilya Muromets is sold out of the LE and down to 345 of standard edition.

Some others appear to be getting low:
The Islands of Yann Gonzalez / You and the Night (LE: 70 / SE: 198)
Rebels of the Neon God (LE: 147 / SE: 240)

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therewillbeblus
Joined: Tue Dec 22, 2015 3:40 pm

Re: Vinegar Syndrome et al.

#748 Post by therewillbeblus » Mon May 30, 2022 1:39 am

Right, I guess I’m thinking about something like Miami Connection compared to Thriller - A Cruel Picture, the latter of which had a special LE box, now an LE slipcover edition, and I imagine eventually a standard edition like Flesh for Frankenstein (three editions?) whereas Miami Connection and Cloak and Dagger seem to only have this print run- and maybe one more once this sells out? I guess I’m just confused about how the big stuff sells. The smaller releases are pretty simply an LE slipcover run then a SE run sans slipcover. I’m also unsure which ones are VG exclusives - some aren’t up on DD but aren’t listed as exclusives..

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pianocrash
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Re: Vinegar Syndrome et al.

#749 Post by pianocrash » Mon May 30, 2022 2:43 am

therewillbeblus wrote:
Mon May 30, 2022 1:39 am
Right, I guess I’m thinking about something like Miami Connection compared to Thriller - A Cruel Picture, the latter of which had a special LE box, now an LE slipcover edition, and I imagine eventually a standard edition like Flesh for Frankenstein (three editions?) whereas Miami Connection and Cloak and Dagger seem to only have this print run- and maybe one more once this sells out? I guess I’m just confused about how the big stuff sells. The smaller releases are pretty simply an LE slipcover run then a SE run sans slipcover. I’m also unsure which ones are VG exclusives - some aren’t up on DD but aren’t listed as exclusives..
I don't have much faith that any of the newer releases with low numbers will disappear for more than a short time to restock or possibly repress, save slipcovers (which are almost like printing money), but we all know that physical releases are beholden to contracts with numbers that we'll never be privvy to, so.....

Like anything else, if you want it now, go ahead and get it, or else wait six more months until the 50% off Black Friday sale, & maybe get it for a little less (if it's still in print!).

Additionally: a majority of the VS OOP page is mostly Vinegar Syndrome Archive releases, with the oldest after that series premiered regular banner VS title being 3 years old & higher. Otherwise, the AGFA releases (a majority of which are being reissued within the next year, some with upgrades), and the Music Box Selects label are right behind them (again, must be a contractual thing), not to mention the completely scrubbed from the site titles that are not mentioned for whatever reason (Memories Within Miss Aggie, Jack Frost, John From, most of the older AGFA releases, others?).

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EddieLarkin
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Re: Vinegar Syndrome et al.

#750 Post by EddieLarkin » Mon May 30, 2022 6:00 am

pianocrash wrote:
Mon May 30, 2022 2:43 am
Otherwise, the AGFA releases (a majority of which are being reissued within the next year, some with upgrades)
Do we have any details about this? It's the first I'm hearing of it.

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