Vinegar Syndrome has revealed twenty partner label releases. Amongst them are: The Snowtown Murders (2011), Abducted (1988), Feardotcom (2002), and Red Peony Gambler I-III (1968-1969).
Based on horrifying crimes discovered in Snowtown, Australia in 1999, THE SNOWTOWN MURDERS is a stark journey into a brutal subculture of suspicion, addiction and violence. Hoping for much-needed stability and security in their lives, embattled mother Elizabeth (Louise Harris) and her three sons take up with John, the self-appointed moral compass of a vigilante neighborhood watch group. John's charismatic nature causes 16-year-old Jamie (Lucas Pittaway) to view the older man as a role model, and the two quickly strike up a bond. But when John introduces Jamie to his disturbing ideas of administering justice, the impressionable youth is confronted with a father figure who may be the most vicious predator he's encountered yet. Winner of the Special Jury Prize at Cannes' Critics Week, Justin Kurzel's directorial debut is an uncompromising look at the alarming circumstances that led to the notorious crimes.
Special Features and Technical Specs:
New audio commentary with film critic Simon Abrams
New video essay by Samm Deighan
New booklet with writing by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas
The Boy from Gawler: An interview with director Justin Kurzel
Commentary with director Justin Kurzel
Deleted Scenes with commentary by director Justin Kurzel
Original casting footage
The Snowtown Crimes Featurette
Original theatrical trailer
English SDH subtitles
REGION-A "LOCKED"
FROM PARTNER LABEL CANADIAN INTERNATIONAL PICTURES:
During a casual run in the forest, student athlete Renee (The Dead Zone's Roberta Weiss) is unceremoniously interrupted by deranged mountain man Vern (Rolling Vengeance's Lawrence King-Phillips), who ties a rope around her neck, drags her through the woods, and brings her to an isolated cabin. As helicopters search the area, Vern torments Renee with a series of terrifying and humiliating violations, but a glimmer of hope appears when his father Joe (Elves star Dan Haggerty) arrives on the scene and pledges to set her free. But Vern is incensed by this attack on his "property," and he will stop at nothing to maintain his oppressive grip on Renee.
Written and directed by Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker co-writer Boon Collins and loosely inspired by a shocking true story, this USA Up All Night favorite takes a harrowing journey from psychosexual horror to high stakes adventure yarn with the introduction of Grizzly Adams himself Dan Haggerty. Intensely outré from beginning to end, this little-seen mindbender – shot by Robert McLachlan (Final Destination) and scored by Michel Rubini (Manhunter) – needs to be seen to be believed.
Special Features and Technical Specs:
NEW 2K RESTORATION from the 35mm blow up internegative by Canadian International Pictures
Alternate 1.33:1 presentation featuring the unmasked VHS framing of the film
New audio commentary featuring film historian/author Amanda Reyes and film critic/author J.A. Kerswell
New introduction to the film by director Boon Collins
Abducted Memories (2024, 24 min.) – New interview with Collins
Beyond Abducted (2024, 12 min.) – Collins reflects on his body of work
Shooting Abducted (2024, 13 min.) – New interview with cinematographer Robert McLachlan
Truth Crimes: The Story That Inspired Abducted (2024, 18 min.) – New video essay by filmmaker and historian Stephen Broomer
Excerpt from Abducted II: The Reunion (1995, 10 min.)
Excerpt from Collins' student film Kettle of Fish (1972, 5 min.) with optional commentary featuring Collins
Trailers for Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker (1981), Abducted (1986), and Abducted II: The Reunion (1995) with optional commentary featuring Collins
Booklet featuring a new essay by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and a new Motion Picture Purgatory comic strip by Rick Trembles
A satirical twist on the gory and sexually charged 1980's slasher genre, Dude Bro Party Massacre III is presented as the only surviving VHS copy of the reviled horror franchise's third, and final, installment.
In the wake of two back-to-back mass murders on Chico's frat row, loner Brent Chirino must infiltrate the ranks of a popular fraternity to investigate his twin brother's murder at the hands of the serial killer known as Motherface.
As they are picked off one by one, Brent and his fellow Dude Bros must face the terrifying reality that their deadly foe, believed to have been killed (twice!), has returned from the grave (again!), and is hell-bent on the destruction of the Delta Bis.
Special Features and Technical Specs:
Brand New Audio commentary with cast members
Brand New Audio commentary with directors
"It Came From The Internet: The Making of Dude Bro Party Massacre III": An all new, 4-part documentary
In this stunning horror romance, Maja, a has-been actress in Denmark, falls in love with Leah, a young Jewish academic visiting from the UK. When Leah suffers a mysterious seizure, Maja follows Leah back to London where she lives with her overbearing, secretive mother, Chana. There, Maja notices strange occurrences in the building, and begins to suspect that Chana's secrets could be much darker than first anticipated.
Special Features and Technical Specs:
New audio commentary with writer/director Gabriel Bier Gislason
New audio commentary with film critic Lindsay Traves
Booklet with new writing from film critic BJ Colangelo
The Found Footage Phenomenon tracks the untold story of the found footage film, from its origins before and within Cannibal Holocaust, The Blair Witch Project and The Last Broadcast, beyond its boom in the late noughties with Paranormal Activity, Cloverfield and REC. The documentary showcases how found footage horror became a global sensation with films such as Kōji Shiraishi's NOROI: The Curse, Shirome and Occult, The Paz Brothers' JeruZalem, André Øvredal's Trollhunter and also the differences between how the British and American film industries took to the genre respectively. Found footage spans four decades already and films such as Host, Death of a Vlogger and Spree have proven that it's not done with us yet.
Special Features and Technical Specs:
New interview with directors Sarah Appleton and Phillip Escott
Deleted Footage
Trailer
Booklet featuring new essay by film critic Sam Cohen
English subtitles
REGION-A "LOCKED"
FROM PARTNER LABEL AMERICAN GENRE FILM ARCHIVE (AGFA):
There's nothing dreamier than the moment when the lights go down and the show begins. Now imagine capturing that feeling for 77 minutes of concentrated bliss. Exploding from the vaults of the American Genre Film Archive (AGFA), THE CULT OF AGFA TRAILER SHOW is the surreal sequel to THE AGFA HORROR TRAILER SHOW. Meticulously constructed by the mad ghouls at AGFA to resemble an otherworldly night at a mall multiplex, this compilation features rare trailers, commercials, and ephemera—all of which were preserved and scanned exclusively for this project. And it's all presented via a newly struck 35mm theatrical film print of the show. Plus: the fun continues with a commentary track from the AGFA team, hallucinogenic shorts, and uncut versions of every trailer featured in the mixtape.
Special Features and Technical Specs:
THE CULT OF AGFA TRAILER SHOW (2023, 76 mins): Preserved from a newly struck 35mm theatrical print
Commentary with the AGFA team
Uncut versions of all trailers that appear in the mixtape
Short: RATED R by AGFA's Bret Berg
Short: THE DAY THE EARTH GOT FREE RICHARD PRYOR PHOTOS by AGFA's Ivan Peycheff
When four bodies are discovered among the industrial decay and urban grime of New York City, brash young detective Mike Reilly (Stephen Dorff) teams with ambitious Department of Health researcher Terry Huston (Natascha McElhone) to uncover the cause behind their violent and inexplicable deaths. The only common factor shared by the victims? Each died exactly 48 hours after logging on to feardot.com.
Special Features and Technical Specs:
NEW 2024 retrospective commentary track with director William Malone
NEW academic commentary with Nathanial Thompson and Troy Howarth
Archival commentary with director William Malone & director of photography Christian Sebaldt
NEW 'Return to the Fear' 2024 retrospective interview with director William Malone
NEW FearDotCom location scout
NEW The Making of FearDotCom
NEW Video Essay: The Horror of Technology (by Samm Deighan)
Archival featurette 'FearDotCom: Visions of Fear'
Additional Scene: The Mushroom Factory
Booklet featuring essay by film archivist Justin LaLiberty
Seventeen films. Seventeen filmmakers. One Supreme Court ruling. A countless number of women. GIVE ME AN A is an urgent & passionate response from a group of women committed to protecting or securing their right to privacy, bodily autonomy, & healthcare. From satire to horror to science fiction, these films are a unified voice that tells the world how they feel about the overturning of Roe V Wade.
directed by: Natasha Halevi, Meg Swertlow, Bonnie Discepolo, Danin Jacquay, Erica Mary Wright, Monica Moore-Suriyage, Sarah Kopkin, Caitlin Hargraves, Megan Rosati, Hannah Alline, Avital Ash, Mary C. Russell, Valerie Finkel, Kelly Nygaard, Loren Escandón, Francesca Maldonado
starring: Alyssa Milano, Virginia Madsen, Gina Torres, Milana Vayntrub, Jennifer Holland, Sean Gunn, Molly C. Quinn, Jason George, Jackie Tohn.
Special Features and Technical Specs:
GIVE ME AN A - The Women Who Brought it to Life (By Choice) Featurette
While on a solo hunting expedition, Dan (Jeff Forsyth) accidentally shoots and kills a fellow hunter. With no one in sight for miles aside from a lifeless scarecrow in a nearby field, he buries the hunter deep in the woods to conceal his misdeed. One year later, Dan returns to the cabin with his buddies for a weekend of hunting and partying. Unfortunately for his oblivious friends, an evil entity in the form of an axe-wielding scarecrow promptly returns for vengeance upon their arrival. After finding his companions dismembered, disemboweled, and displayed like hapless trophies, Dan must survive until dawn in a frantic fight for both his life and sanity.
In 1998, Syracuse, New York based filmmaker Jerry O'Sullivan combined the concepts from two of his early Super 8 shorts to create a eminently exciting and entertaining Evil Dead inspired, SOV killer scarecrow romp. Starring fellow Syracuse micro-budget filmmakers Ron Bonk (The Vicious Sweet) and Jeff Forsyth (Children of the Sky) alongside the inimitable indie legend Sasha Graham (Addicted to Murder, Polymorph), Gut Pile triumphs with its impressive practical splatter FX and mind-boggling, Raimi-inspired camera gymnastics. Saturn's Core is proud to present Gut Pile, newly restored and jam packed with a veritable trophy wall of new and archival special features including (for the first time ever) the Super 8 short films that helped inspire its creation.
Special Features and Technical Specs:
New audio commentary featuring writer / director Jerry O'Sullivan and actors Ron Bonk, Ed Mastin, and Jeff Forsyth
"Spilling Guts" -an interview with writer / director Jerry O'Sullivan
"Analog Diva" -an interview with actress Sasha Graham
"Hunting Season" -an interview with actor Jeff Forsyth
"Within the Family" -a round table chat with writer / director Jerry O'Sullivan and actors Ron Bonk & Ed Mastin moderated by actor Jeff Forsyth
"Make it Gross" -an interview with FX artist Jeff Meyer
"Gut Pile: Behind the Scenes": Archival featurette
The Axe (1979) -Jerry O'Sullivan's early Super 8 short that inspired Gut Pile
The Scarecrow (1980)-Jerry O'Sullivan's early Super 8 short that inspired Gut Pile
Trailer
Reversible sleeve with newly commissioned artwork by Don England
Two years before PARANORMAL ACTIVITY, there was IN MEMORIUM—a chilling found footage haunted house movie from filmmaker Amanda Gusack. The story follows Dennis (Erik McDowell) and his partner Lily (Johanna Watts) as they install home security cameras to document Dennis's struggles with a terminal disease. But soon, the cameras capture . . . something else. Never released on home video, IN MEMORIUM is a prescient exploration of generational trauma in the horror genre and an essential Analog Horror artifact.
A fork in the road brings Narcing (Phillip Salvador) back to his hometown of Mulawin, rumored to be located not so far from Hell. Freshly married, he arrives from Manila in the hopes of introducing his wife Puring (Cecille Castillo) to his relatives. Gusting (Vic Silayan), the family's domineering patriarch, does not welcome the couple kindly. Still scarred by the suicide of wife, Gusting immediately resents his son for what he perceives as a betrayal: the loss of land-owning heritage to the vulgarity of city women. Spite mingles with jealousy, turning to something altogether more sinister when Narcing's behavior begins mirroring that of his father who, in turn, begins noticing Puring's uncanny resemblance to his wife.
Following Brutal (1980) and Moral (1982), Marilou Diaz-Abaya closes her informal feminist trilogy with Karnal, a striking example of Filipino Gothic set in the 1930s. Inspired by a sordid true crime story, what begins as archetypal Filipino melodrama soon turns to horror: a Village of the Damned-inspired study of the places that turn people into monsters and of the cruel, feudalistic patriarchy that continues to have deadly repercussions for Philippines politics today. The latter is embodied brilliantly by Vic Silayan, on the heels of a similar, monstrous turn as a tyrannical father in Kisapmata (1981).
Plastic: Promised to a record deal that didn't work out, teenage Jun (Takuma Fujie, August My Heaven) arrives in Nagoya as a transfer student with dashed dreams. One day, his busking of songs by Exne Kedy catches the eye of fellow fan Ibuki (An Ogawa, Heaven Is Still Far Away) and the pair soon falls in love over their shared musical taste. But as adult responsibilities loom, prospects in Tokyo beckon and a global pandemic hits, they slowly drift apart… Until the legendary Exne Kedy announce a reunion tour.
Inspired by Kensuke Ide's 2021 concept album Strolling Planet '74, in which frontman Kensuke Ide transformed his band into the fictitious 70s glam rock group Exne Kedy and the Poltergeists, Daisuke Miyazaki's Plastic is a colorful, rock-inflected coming-of-age tale tracking the disilliusionment of Japanese youth. Following his breakout hip-hop drama Yamato (California) (2016, also included in this release) and the Osaka-set thriller Videophobia (2019), Miyazaki showcases a keen sensibility for epochal longing, teenage loneliness, as well as for the vanishing sounds and places of everyday Japan. Dreamy, even cosmic at times, Plastic is an atypical romance examining how love for art shapes us.
Yamato (California): Sakura (Hanae Kan, Nobody Knows), a moody teenager, lives in Yamato, Japan. A small town one hour away from Tokyo, it is unremarkable in every way except for the massive US military base that remains at its center. This closeness to American culture has also shaped Sakura's consciousness: she dreams of becoming a rapper, like the American musicians she admires. Already feeling like an outsider in her own home, her routine is further disturbed when a young Japanese-American girl, Rei (Nina Endo, Tourism), visits from the States. The daughter of an absent G.I. that her mother is dating, Rei has friendship to spare... which Sakura initially resists.
Yamato (California), Daisuke Miyazaki's sophomore film following End of Night (2011), stands out to this day as his most personal and heartfelt: a tale of growing up in Yamato (the director's own home town) at a particular nexus of postwar histories and imperialisms both large and small, cultural and otherwise. Taking the military base as his backdrop and symbolic gateway to address the long-standing influence of American culture on Japanese society, Miyazaki weaves a musical coming-of-age film affectionate of slackers yet propelled by a creative impulse to make life worth remembering.
Special Features and Technical Specs:
High Definition presentation
Interview with Daisuke Miyazaki on Yamato (California), in Yamato (2024, 23 minutes)
Plastic on Tour: extended Q&A in Sydney, Australia
Booklet with stills and new writing by film critic Alexandre Fontaine Rousseau
Annie is a rebellious ten-year-old girl. She lives on the outskirts of town with her father Marvin, who, when not herding goats, mostly sleeps the day away. Virtually devoid of parental guidance, Annie is left to fend for herself and do as she pleases. With no moral compass, she roams the neighboring lands, shoplifting and engaging in general destructive behavior. Her routine is broken one day while playing in the woods; she hears an old woman calling from deep within an abandoned well, asking for help. Scared and untrusting of the unseen stranger, Annie deliberates on her course of action.
From the skewed minds of acclaimed filmmakers David and Nathan Zellner who brought you Sasquatch Sunset and Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter.
Special Features and Technical Specs:
Behind the Scenes
Short Films:
Sasquatch Birth Journal 2 (2011)
Rummy (2003)
Quasar Hernandez (2004)
The Virile Man (2004)
Flotsam / Jestam (2005)
Foxy and the Weight of the World (2005)
Who Is On First? (2005)
Pardon My Downfall (2006)
Redemptitude (2006)
Aftermath on Meadowlark Lane (2007)
Fiddlestixx Ep 1, 2, 3 (2009)
Black Something (2016)
Music Videos:
Kid Thing Song Thing by Mauntajj (2012)
This Old World by Ola Podrida (2012)
Wet Gold by Octopus Project (2009)
Truck by Octopus Project (2007)
Nutella & Gummi Bear Sandwich by Precarious Warehaüs Dwellers (2003)
Bulbovian PSA (2002)
28 page booklet with Zellner Brothers Interview Mash Up
On Halloween Eve in Brooklyn, an average Joe loser named Chris finds an invitation to a costume party. Arriving at the "party," Chris discovers he's fallen prey to a lethal trap set by deranged artists. As the night wears on, rivalries within the group flare up. A body count accrues, and Chris must take advantage of the ensuing chaos if he's to survive the night.
Special Features and Technical Specs:
New video interview with writer/director Jeremy Saulnier
New audio commentary with film critic Simon Abrams
New 2024 Transfer and Upres of Original Tape Materials, Approved by Director Jeremy Saulnier
Audio commentary with writer/director Jeremy Saulnier and actors Chris Sharp and Macon Blair
Extreme Truth: The Making of Murder Party
Valediction in Black: Levi's Art Installation Video
How to Make Your Own Brown Knight Costume
Outtakes and Bloopers
Trailer
Booklet with new writing by film critic Kim Newman
Night lays bare the planning, botched execution and grisly aftermath of an attack on a brood of lethal vampires. Leading the deadly pack is Anthony Garring (Richard Cutler), once a rum-runner, now a crack dealing suburban bloodsucker.
Night is a super unique and fun take on the vampire genre shot exclusively in New York in the mid-90s and never officially released. Only a handful of screener VHS were ever given away and it has been impossible to see until now. With a new transfer from the original master VHSHITFEST could not be happier to awaken this lost film from its tomb.
VHSHITFEST is so happy to bring one of the best Halloween-set slashers to blu-ray for the first time with hours of new extras! Asylum of Terror is bound to become an annual viewing tradition for many every October!
Special Features and Technical Specs:
Audio Commentary with director Glenn Andreiev and actor Richard Cutler
New Interview with Glen Andreiev, New interview with Richard Cutler
This colorful documentary explores the origins and impact of He-Man, a character whose power stretched well beyond a toy line and children's TV show. Features interviews with Dolph Lundgren, Frank Langella and several creatives behind the popular cartoon series, cult classic movie, and toys.
Follow the surprising twists and turns of an unlikely, unparalleled pop culture success in this Definitive History of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe.
Special Features and Technical Specs:
Behind the Scenes Look at Making "Power of Grayskull"
Amidst a period of unprecedented world events, an eighteen-year-old girl's life is placed on hold. Isolated in her bedroom, she falls under the spell of the mysterious vlogger Patricia Coma. As time carries on, the lines between her dreams, fears, hopes, and reality begin to blur into one another.
From French master Bertrand Bonello (The Beast, Zombi Child, Nocturama), COMA is "a neo-Lynchian slow burn masterpiece" (International Cinephile Society) that creates a dream-like representation of our present. A "delirious marvel" (The Playlist) that breaks apart boundaries of genre, filmmaking, and storytelling, COMA bravely confronts the anxieties of today in order to imagine the possibilities of the future.
Produced during the heyday of ninkyo eiga (chivalrous yakuza films), the seminal Red Peony Gambler series has had a lasting influence on cult cinema. The illustrious Junko Fuji stars as the beautiful and badass Oryu, the eponymous and benevolent female gambler who uses her incredible might for right. In the series' premiere she rambles into town searching for her father's killer with a wallet left at the crime scene as her only clue. At a card game she meets a kindred spirit, the noble and handsome yakuza Katagiri (Ken Takakura) and soon they are a force to be reckoned with. Part 2 finds Oryu under the arm of the kind gang boss of a silk farming town. When ruthless loan sharks encroach and their treachery leads to murder, it is Oryu's sworn duty to exact justice. Maestro of Japanese cinema Tai Kato simultaneously satiates and transcends genre tropes in his masterful direction of the celebrated third film in the series. From its classically melodramatic opening set piece involving an oncoming train, the stage is set for a visually rich tale of good versus evil.
Special Features and Technical Specs:
THREE-DISC SET
New video essays on Red Peony 1 & 2 by TokyoScope author Patrick Macias
Video introduction to Red Peony 3 by director Alex Cox (Repo Man)
New audio commentary on Red Peony 3 by Chris Poggiali These Fist Break Bricks) and John Charles (The Hong Kong Filmography, 1977-1997)
Booklet with new essay by Mark Schilling (The Yakuza Movie Book)
Haiti, 1962. A man is brought back from the dead only to be sent to the living hell of the sugarcane fields. In Paris, 55 years later, at a prestigious all-girls boarding school, Melissa, a young Haitian teenager, confesses an old family secret to a group of new friends - never imagining that this strange tale will convince a heartbroken classmate to do the unthinkable.