Vinegar Syndrome has announced its August batch of 4K Blu-ray and Blu-ray releases. They are:
Tough Guys Don't Dance (1987),
Terminal Island (1973),
Auntie Lee's Meat Pies (1992),
Girls School Screamers (1984),
Whatever It Takes (1998), and
Fantasm/Fantasm Comes Again (1976-1977).
Tough Guys Don't Dance
Description: After a two week bender, Tim Madden awakens one morning from his drunken state, only to discover everything in his life seems amiss. There's a fresh tattoo on his arm, his car is covered in blood, his girlfriend is in bed with the town sheriff, but worst of all, there's a woman's severed head in his weed stash. Sensing a setup and in desperate need to clear his name, Tim begins an investigation, with the help of his dying father, that soon begins to expose an ever stranger web of corruption, greed, blackmail, and violence woven into every aspect of the small coastal community of Provincetown.
The last feature film directed by Pulitzer Prize winning novelist Norman Mailer, TOUGH GUYS DON'T DANCE is a wild, labyrinthian, neo-noir black comedy starring Ryan O'Neal (Love Story) alongside acclaimed actors Isabella Rossellini (Blue Velvet), Wings Hauser (Vice Squad), Lawrence Tierney (Reservoir Dogs), and more. Equal parts brutally violent, suspenseful, and blisteringly funny, Vinegar Syndrome is proud to present the long overdue Blu-ray debut of TOUGH GUYS DON'T DANCE, newly restored in 2K from its 35mm interpositive, and featuring revealing new interviews with its cast and crew.
Special Features and Technical Specs:
- NEW 2K RESTORATION OF THE FILM FROM AN INTERPOSITIVE
- "You Don't Have to Make Me Any Nuttier" - brand new interview with actor Wings Hauser
- "Shooting In Helltown" - brand new interview with cinematographer John Bailey
- "My Dad In Motion" - an interview with Michael Mailer, son of director Norman Mailer
- "A Crazy, Wild, Spooky Movie" - Brand new interview with J. Michael Lennon, Norman Mailer's archivist and biographer
- "Archival Featurette: Norman Mailer in Provincetown"
- Theatrical trailer
- Reversible cover artwork
- English SDH subtitles
- REGION-A "LOCKED"
STREET DATE: AUGUST 31.
Terminal Island 4K Blu-ray
Description: Carmen Simms has just been sentenced to death; that is, life imprisonment on Terminal Island - an island located miles off the mainland of California, which was created to house murderers and vicious criminals in the wake of prison overcrowding. With no guards, no cells, and no laws, Terminal Island has morphed into a defacto society, whose self-appointed leader, the tyrannical Bobby, rules with an iron first, using other inmates - particularly women - for his own brutal pleasures. As tension and violence mounts, Carmen finds her place as the unlikely leader of the island's underground resistance, which is planning to overthrow Bobby's reign of terror.
A cult movie masterpiece from acclaimed filmmaker Stephanie Rothman (The Working Girls, The Velvet Vampire), TERMINAL ISLAND wryly blends a violent action and survival film plot structure with commentary on the American justice system. Starring Phyllis Davis (Sweet Sugar), veteran TV actor Don Marshall (The Thing With Two Heads), and Emmy winner Tom Selleck (TV's Magnum, P.I.) in one of his earliest roles, Vinegar Syndrome is proud to bring TERMINAL ISLAND to 4K Blu-ray and Blu-ray, in its first ever authorized disc release, newly restored in 4K from its 35mm original camera negative.
Special Features and Technical Specs:
- NEW 4K RESTORATION OF THE FILM FROM THE ORIGINAL CAMERA NEGATIVE
- HDR PRESENTATION OF THE FILM
- "Why Be A Man, When You Can Be A Rothman?" - brand new extended interview with co-writer/director Stephanie Rothman
- "From Hartman to Carmen" - brand new interview with lead actress Ena Hartman
- "Crash Landing On Terminal Island" - brand new featurette with actress Marta Kristen and actor Sean Kenney
- "The Rothmanaissance: Rediscovering The Work Of Stephanie Rothman" - brand new critical featurette with film historian Dr. Alicia Kozma and film author/journalist/programmer Heidi Honeycutt
- Stills gallery
- Theatrical trailer
- Reversible cover artwork
- English SDH subtitles
- REGION-FREE 4K BLU-RAY/BLU-RAY COMBO RELEASE
STREET DATE: AUGUST 31.
Auntie Lee's Meat Pies
Description: Auntie Lee and her quartet of voluptuous "nieces" are known for making the tastiest meat pies around, all from Auntie's top secret recipe which calls for a most unusual type of meat: human. In order to acquire the juiciest flesh, the girls employ their lusty charms; luring unsuspecting male strangers into a carnal - and deadly - trap, in which they're chopped, quartered, and minced. Everything is going just peachy for Auntie's little family, despite the occasional misbehavings of Larry, their "simple" helper, but when the girls lure a freaked out rock group over to have for dinner, things run the risk of getting out of control. And what about the perpetually snooping Police Chief Koal?
Taking a simple premise and turning it into an increasingly hallucinogenic nightmare, culminating in a surreal and bloody final act, Joseph F. Robertson's (The Crawling Hand) AUNTIE LEE'S MEAT PIES heaps on gruesome kills with a healthy side of pitch black humor. Graced with a cast as strange as the film itself, among them Pat Morita (The Karate Kid), Michael Berryman (The Hills Have Eyes), erotic film superstar Teri Weigel, Eurosleaze stalwart Werner Pochath (Terror Express), and starring Karen Black (Trilogy of Terror, House of 1000 Corpses) as Auntie Lee, Vinegar Syndrome is proud to bring this would be midnight movie to Blu-ray for the first time, newly restored in 4K from its 35mm original camera negative.
Special Features and Technical Specs:
- NEW 4K RESTORATION OF THE FILM FROM THE ORIGINAL CAMERA NEGATIVE
- "Express with Less" - an interview with actor Michael Berryman
- "Blood in the Pool" - an interview with makeup effects artist Roy Knyrim
- "So Bad it's Good" - an interview with actor Richard Vidan
- "Say Yes" - an interview with actor Grant Cramer
- "Recipe for Auntie Lee's Meat Pies" - by The Homicidal Homemaker
- Reversible cover artwork
- English SDH subtitles
- REGION-FREE
STREET DATE: AUGUST 31.
Girls School Screamers
Description: At an exclusive all-girls college, a group of chronically misbehaving students are "rewarded" for their bad behavior by being assigned with the task of cleaning a magnificent old mansion (with a deadly past) in preparation for its grand re-opening by the school. But when the girls discover - and use - a dusty old Ouija board, they accidentally revive a terrifying evil spirit, which begins dispatching them by cleaver, hook, car, and more. Can they put an end to the carnage before none are left alive?
Independently produced in Philadelphia by first time director John P. Finegan (Blades) under the title The Portrait, its post production was undertaken by Troma, which immediately transformed the film into a late period grindhouse classic, re-christening it GIRLS SCHOOL SCREAMERS. With its effective mix of haunted house horror and gruesome, slasher structured kills, Vinegar Syndrome is delighted to offer GIRLS SCHOOL SCREAMERS on Blu-ray, for the first time, freshly restored from its original negative and jam packed with extras.
Special Features and Technical Specs:
- NEW 2K RESTORATION OF THE FILM FROM THE ORIGINAL CAMERA NEGATIVE
- "28 Seconds of Violence" - an extended making-of documentary featuring interviews with writer/director/producer John P. Finegan, editor/assistant director Tom Rondinella, second assistant camera/second assistant director Bill Pace, actor Peter Cosimano and sound designer John Hodian
- Commentary track with writer/director/producer John P. Finegan
- Commentary track with editor/assistant director Tom Rondinella and second assistant camera/second assistant director Bill Pace
- Reversible cover artwork
- English SDH subtitles
- REGION-FREE
STREET DATE: AUGUST 31.
Whatever It Takes
Description: Neil is a DEA agent on the brink of suicide after a mistake while undercover leads to the accidental death of a young girl. In order to help Neil, his partner Dave agrees for the two of them to go back undercover on a federal case involving the distribution of a new highly addictive steroid that is having grave consequences for its users. Once undercover, Neil finds himself immersed in the body building culture and soon falls for his new personal trainer, Marla. The stakes get higher as Neil moves deeper undercover and sets his sights on taking down the leader of the drug dealing ring, the charismatic and ruthless Paulie Salano.
A perfect example of the type of action movies that lined the video store shelves back in the 90s, WHATEVER IT TAKES, is an exceptional shoot 'em up, complete with fistfights, explosions, and beautiful women. Starring kickboxing champion Don "The Dragon" Wilson (Bloodfist) in one of his best roles, and co-starring comedian turned actor Andrew "Dice" Clay (Brain Smasher...A Love Story), Michael Bailey Smith (2006's The Hills Have Eyes), and the always entertaining Fred "The Hammer" Williamson (Vigilante, From Dusk Till Dawn) in one of his more villainous roles. Vinegar Syndrome Archive is proud to present the Blu-ray debut of WHATEVER IT TAKES newly restored in 4K from its original 35mm camera negative.
Special Features and Technical Specs:
- NEW 4K RESTORATION OF THE FILM FROM THE ORIGINAL CAMERA NEGATIVE
- Newly scanned & restored in 4k from its 35mm original camera negative
- "Going For Control" - brand new interview with actor Don "The Dragon" Wilson
- "I Am A Classic" - brand new interview with actor Fred Williamson
- Double-sided poster
- Limited edition of 5,000
- Reversible cover artwork
- English SDH subtitles
- REGION-FREE
STREET DATE: AUGUST 31.
Fantasm/Fantasm Comes Again
Description: Before becoming the face of Australian horror, with his classics like Patrick and Turkey Shoot, Antony Ginnane, like many independent producers, decided to wet his filmmaking feet in the then lucrative sex film market and devised an ingenious plan to create sexploitation movies that would satisfy the Australian censors, while still being packed with America's biggest sex stars. The resulting works were FANTASM and FANTASM COMES AGAIN.
In FANTASM, a sexy send up of 'white coaters,' a European 'doctor' introduces a series of bawdy vignettes covering a range of shocking and deviate behaviors, including lesbianism, devil worship, and some old standbys like group-gropes. Directed by future Hollywood filmmaker Richard Franklin (Psycho II, Cloak & Dagger), FANTASM is a funny and stylish sex film that, while technically softcore, does everything in its power to push those limits as far as they can go...and sometimes beyond. Featuring Rene Bond, John Holmes, Uschi Digard, and many more!
In FANTASM COMES AGAIN, two editors for a sexual advice column read through countless letters from readers which outline their most perverse and outrageous sexual encounters, ranging from an unexpected threesome in a stalled elevator, a shocking after hours orgy, intergenerational desires, and so much more. The directorial debut of Colin Eggleston (Long Weekend), FANTASM COMES AGAIN ups the raunch-filled ante of its predecessor and stars: Serena, Bill Margold, Cheryl 'Rainbeaux' Smith, Candy Samples, and dozens more!
Special Features and Technical Specs:
- TWO-DISC BLU-RAY SET
- NEW 2K RESTORATIONS FROM THE ORIGINAL 16MM CAMERA NEGATIVES AND ADDITIONAL ELEMENTS
- "Polish it Up" - brand new interview with editor Tony Paterson
- "Blowing Up" - brand new interview with cinematographer Vincent Monton
- Brand new audio interview with actress Serena, moderated by Casey Scott
- Archival audio commentary for both films with producer and creator Antony Ginnane
- "Fantasm Penetrated" - an archival featurette (23 min)
- Interviews with cast and crew members from the documentary "Not Quite Hollywood"
- Trailers for both films
- Reversible cover artwork
- English SDH subtitles