Vinegar Syndrome et al.

[therewillbeblus]

I've been preordering a lot of their/partners' new releases' standard editions for ~$20/a little more, but that's about what they'll be with tax, etc. during a direct sale anyways

[swo17]

I just compared The Hourglass Sanatorium to the Polish Blu-ray from the Scorsese set. To my eyes, they're from about the same source but the old Polish Blu-ray has visibly better compression

I've now also compared the two discs for The Saragossa Manuscript. In this case, I can't really tell a difference between the two transfers

[Rayon Vert]

This is a bit confusing regarding the Szulkin release. If I understand, it was sold out as soon as announced and that's why it's not listed on the site? I guess I'll trust a post on the blu-ray.com forum that says it'll be back on July 1st.

[CSM126]

Wrong thread, but VS is only displaying partner label releases this month. Mainline products will be back next month.

[Rayon Vert]

Thanks. Sorry about the wrong thread, I don't quite know how that happened.

[SeizureMilk]

And yeah Deaf Crocodile are interesting, when will they get their own thread? What would people say is the best film they’ve released?

Asked the mods about a Deaf Crocodile thread but they said to just keep discussion of that kind here, sorry. Also ZeroGrad is my favorite of all of them.

[therewillbeblus]

Another poster started the same conversation in this thread on the last page, and nobody said anything to deter the convo here, so you’re apparently following up in the right place. Either way, that’s how/why that happened

[Matt]

Asked the mods about a Deaf Crocodile thread but they said to just keep discussion of that kind here, sorry.

Booo, mods But fair, seeing as how DC still have less than a dozen releases. They do seem to be carving out something of a niche for themselves, though.

I will admit, I’m still very confused about the Szulkin set. Are the Vinegar Syndrome Labs releases limited to an overall number despite having “limited” and “standard” editions? The “standard” edition was sold out (not just out of stock) by the end of the recent sale, but there still seemed to be hundreds of copies of the “limited” edition for sale just before the site went dark for Partners Month. I assume both will be available again in July and that maybe VS only pressed enough of the “standard” edition that they could reasonably ship during June, but I’ve got nothing on which to base this assumption. Maybe I’ll have more luck and clarity when the Radiance set gets fully detailed.

[swo17]

Did the SE of the Szulkin set sell out its initial allotment, or were they trying to push the LE by not even making the SE available yet? I feel like the first time I noticed it was "sold out" was very close to the start of the sale. Some things do sell out fast, but not that fast. Did anyone here actually order the SE or see it in stock at some point? Either way, I really wouldn't worry about the SE being gone for good

[brundlefly]

Is the booklet exclusive to the LE? If so, since it's more than a slipcover, maybe they went the route of other labels and are going to SE only after the LE sells out. All of which would have been nice to know upfront of course.

[pianocrash]

Asked the mods about a Deaf Crocodile thread but they said to just keep discussion of that kind here, sorry.

Booo, mods But fair, seeing as how DC still have less than a dozen releases. They do seem to be carving out something of a niche for themselves, though.

I will admit, I’m still very confused about the Szulkin set. Are the Vinegar Syndrome Labs releases limited to an overall number despite having “limited” and “standard” editions? The “standard” edition was sold out (not just out of stock) by the end of the recent sale, but there still seemed to be hundreds of copies of the “limited” edition for sale just before the site went dark for Partners Month. I assume both will be available again in July and that maybe VS only pressed enough of the “standard” edition that they could reasonably ship during June, but I’ve got nothing on which to base this assumption. Maybe I’ll have more luck and clarity when the Radiance set gets fully detailed.

The VS numbers game only really matters if they specifically state at the top of any title's listing (seen on most of the OOP titles page, like this one for Heavy Metal Parking Lot, which was capped at 2,500 total, forever). I don't recall seeing that on the Szulkin page, but since it was only live for a weekend, no cache to be had. However, I do remember that the Standard Edition did sell out, which seemed totally at odds with their overall slipcover ethos (go figure), but it also was $7 less than the Limited Edition, during a site-wide sale where things like that cause people to cave into better/worse fiscal choices (YMMV!).

Anyway, VS has had a habit of goosing the numbers for whatever reason (seems to be a physical numbers-on-hand for most titles, apart from the zany numerical wilderness of their higher profile pre-orders), as they can vary wildly, especially during sales, with some numbers getting refreshed when the numbers dwindle.

As for the booklet, it might not be included on the standard edition, if Cloak & Dagger is any indication, but other, let's say, leaflets?, were usually included in the past. But that was also before this new era of 4K hardbound deluxe magnetic snapping cases, so......

[dekadetia]

And yeah Deaf Crocodile are interesting, when will they get their own thread? What would people say is the best film they’ve released?

There's no disc yet, only streaming, but I'm thankful to them for bringing Achal Mishra's Dhuin (2022) to the U.S., a beautiful little 50-minute character study of an aspiring actor in Mumbai.

[What A Disgrace]

I'm hoping their next boxed set is dedicated to the contemporary South Asian films in their collection. The Village House was one of the first films they announced, and has yet to manifest on disc - hopefully because such a collection is in the works.

[SeizureMilk]

Did the SE of the Szulkin set sell out its initial allotment, or were they trying to push the LE by not even making the SE available yet? I feel like the first time I noticed it was "sold out" was very close to the start of the sale. Some things do sell out fast, but not that fast. Did anyone here actually order the SE or see it in stock at some point? Either way, I really wouldn't worry about the SE being gone for good

I know I’m a bit late to this post but I see 2 main options:
1.) They were testing the waters to see how well it would perform as confirmed by the clues saying that it’s prep for further releases
Or
2.) A little bit more far fetched but perhaps because this was such a big event (literally every channel moderately interested in Syndrome was live streaming their reactions) and one of only 2 big sales, then most likely since standard are released in sets of I believe 1,000 or less and how many people were interested in Piotr Sulkin’s set, it’s no surprise it sold out so quick (see also Prague Nights, a similar Eastern European horror-esque release that grabbed people’s attention and after less than 2 weeks has sold over half it’s copies, or the Has films as an example of another Polish quick seller)

[Finch]

Deaf Crocodile to release Heroic Times!

[therewillbeblus]

Cue disappointed post that it's not Heroic trio

[SeizureMilk]

Cue disappointed post that it's not Heroic trio

Not that I don't understand why, but honestly I'm more interested in this as an animation fan and as a Soviet descendant.

[Finch]

Heroic Times trailer

[therewillbeblus]

I'm a big fan of Tilman Singer's Luz, available via Altered Innocence. For those who like inherently re-watchable pile-ons/have several souls.

I rewatched this recently and appreciated it a whole lot more this time around knowing what I was getting into. I picked up the Altered Innocence disc (not sure if it's actually going OOP, but you can get it cheap on DD and my backordered copy didn't take long to ship), and The Tilman Singer shorts are terrific extras that thrive on atmosphere, particularly The Events at Mr. Yamamoto’s Alpine Residence. The one caveat is it doesn't have SDH/English subs, and the dictation from the computer voice before the final lines was indiscernible no matter how loud I turned my volume - a bit frustrating since I'm pretty sure whatever is being said is supposed to add to the punchline of emotion before the credits. Still a great short - I'd love to see that concept stretched a bit longer, even if played in some kind of layered recycled fashion like the main feature!

[brundlefly]

I rewatched this recently and appreciated it a whole lot more this time around knowing what I was getting into. I picked up the Altered Innocence disc (not sure if it's actually going OOP, but you can get it cheap on DD and my backordered copy didn't take long to ship), and The Tilman Singer shorts are terrific extras that thrive on atmosphere, particularly The Events at Mr. Yamamoto’s Alpine Residence. The one caveat is it doesn't have SDH/English subs, and the dictation from the computer voice before the final lines was indiscernible no matter how loud I turned my volume - a bit frustrating since I'm pretty sure whatever is being said is supposed to add to the punchline of emotion before the credits. Still a great short - I'd love to see that concept stretched a bit longer, even if played in some kind of layered recycled fashion like the main feature!

I may be missing something, but the last lines I heard from the computer in that short before the man's question were

SpoilerShow

An error message, "Out of memory, x-o-c underscore (etc.)" and then "Deviation in physique," which was just another step in the slow recognition (iris texture, height) the computer was making that they had abducted the wrong person. Such elaborate effort thrown off by refusing to consider that someone might open someone else's package.

If there was something after that, I didn't hear it. But not being able to hear and understand everything may be one of Singer's calling cards/concerns; it fits well with the hesitant, untranslated Japanese at the start and of course all the delighted confusion in Luz. I liked that short as well. Striking shots fragmenting the actor. Extra fun for Prisoner fans. I will admit to not being able to stay awake through "El Fin Del Mundo" on my one attempt at that.

[SeizureMilk]

(not sure if it's actually going OOP, but you can get it cheap on DD and my backordered copy didn't take long to ship)

It's not mentioned in the list of OOP titles:
https://vinegarsyndrome.com/collections ... f-print-pl

[therewillbeblus]

It was during the sale, but not at sale price

[What A Disgrace]

My Sale order has not shipped yet, but I did get a shipping confirmation for their June titles.

[SeizureMilk]

My Sale order has not shipped yet, but I did get a shipping confirmation for their June titles.

The reason your Sale order hasn’t shipped is because it goes Subscribers first, Flash Pre-Order next, and then non subscribers in order to productively work through orders. As for the June titles since you preordered the Partner Labels they’ll be shipped out faster and since they’re independent contractors they don’t have to worry about the Halfway to BF sale.

[What A Disgrace]

Right, I just thought it was kind of amusing that I might get my June pre-orders before the flash sale ships.