Vinegar Syndrome has announced its March batch of 4K Blu-ray and Blu-ray releases. They are:
Brimstone & Treacle (1982), Devil Fetus/Her Vengeance (1983-1988), Forgotten Gialli: Volume 8 (1975-1978), The Belly of an Architect (1987), Last of the Red Hot Lovers (1972), and 38 Especial (1992).
Young con man Martin Taylor is out grifting on the streets of London when he happens across Tom Bates, a middle-class family man who, Martin quickly learns, has a disabled daughter at home who's been left brain-damaged by a hit-and-run accident. Pretending to be an old love interest of the girl, Pattie, Martin soon tricks his way into the family's countryside home, where he promptly charms mother Norma and convinces her to let him stay for a few days to be close to and care for Pattie - much to the wariness of Tom, who questions Martin's intentions. As the young man ingratiates himself more and more into their family life, it soon becomes clear that he harbors a much more sinister purpose.
Originally written for British television by legendary dramatist Dennis Potter, the resulting 1976 BBC TV play was deemed so controversial that it was pulled prior to airing and not broadcast until 1987. The 1982 film version of BRIMSTONE & TREACLE, adapted for the big screen by Potter and with director Richard Loncraine (The Haunting of Julia, Richard III) at the helm, is a haunting and deeply disturbing slice of modern British gothic with an electrifying central performance by Sting in the role of Martin Taylor, alongside celebrated actors Denholm Elliott and Joan Plowright. Accompanied by a pulsing score from The Police, BRIMSTONE & TREACLE, at last, arrives on 4K Blu-ray with a brand new 4K restoration from the original negative supervised by Richard Loncraine and cinematographer Peter Hannan, together with a host of revelatory new bonus features.
Special Features and Technical Specs:
4K BLU-RAY/BLU-RAY COMBO PACK
NEW 4K RESTORATION FROM THE ORIGINAL CAMERA NEGATIVE
DOLBY VISION/HDR PRESENTATION OF THE FILM
Newly recorded select-scene audio commentary with lead actor Sting and director Richard Loncraine (41 min)
"Trouble Brewing" (26 min) - an interview with director Richard Loncraine
"A House for the Devil" (16 min) - an interview with production designer Milly Burns
"Big Visions and Small Screens: Dennis Potter on Film" (23 min) - film historians Jon Dear and John Williams on the big screen adaptations of Dennis Potter
A young woman purchases a suspiciously phallic-looking antique vase from a street auction only to soon become the target of a lustful demonic spirit. When her husband discovers her fornicating with the evil entity, he destroys the vase, leading to his and his wife's grotesque deaths. Fearing that the entity may have impregnated the recently deceased woman with a demonic fetus, a priest seals off the evil spirit in the woman's bedroom so as not to be disturbed. However, several years later, the young woman's family accidentally breaks the seal, unleashing a supernatural force upon their household. As the family attempts to battle this malicious entity, they must find the priest who originally trapped the demon in order for him to return and finish the job once and for all.
Given a "Category III" rating upon its initial release, thanks to its unrelenting feast of on-screen grotesqueries, DEVIL FETUS' home video history has been marred by releases that were either cropped from its original scope framing or heavily censored. Jumping from a stylish Hong Kong supernatural thriller to an over-the-top gore and action spectacle featuring intricate wire-work, astonishing visual effects, maggot-covered corpses, sexually perverse creatures, and a multitude of inventive death sequences, Vinegar Syndrome is proud to present this unforgettable Hong Kong horror on Blu-ray for the first time, completely uncut and in its original aspect ratio, unseen since its theatrical release!
HER VENGEANCE
Ying is a mild-mannered hostess at a local nightclub where, one night, she accidentally insults a group of drunken thugs. While returning home later that night, Ying is attacked by the drunkards and is viciously beaten and assaulted. Seeking retribution, Ying enlists the help of a former Triad member who is now confined to a wheelchair. Although reluctant to help in her pursuit of vengeance, he offers Ying a job at his bar to help her get a fresh start. However, soon after, she encounters one of her attackers and, seizing the moment, kills him. With blood now on her hands, Ying is set on a path of violence that she can no longer walk away from, leaving those in her life caught up in the bloodshed.
With its feet planted firmly in the world of exploitation cinema, HER VENGEANCE plays as an even more extreme version of I Spit on Your Grave, filtered through an action movie structure. Directed by one of Hong Kong's most notorious filmmakers, Ngai Choi Lam (Riki-Oh: Story of Ricky, The Seventh Curse), HER VENGEANCE is a brutal and unflinching study of a woman hell-bent on revenge. Initially released with a "Category III" rating due to its shocking depictions of violence and assault, the film was subsequently re-edited into a less graphic "Category IIb" version intended for a wider release. Vinegar Syndrome is proud to present this unflinching thriller in two of its most complete versions: the original CAT III version, featuring all of its shocking sex and violence, as well as the more commonly seen CAT IIb version, which tames the brutality while adding more story and character development not present in the CAT III version.
Special Features and Techncial Specs:
TWO-DISC SET
Newly color-graded and restored by VS from studio-supplied masters
Commentary track for HER VENGEANCE with Bruce Holecheck (Cinema Arcana), Art Ettinger (Ultra Violent Magazine), and Ryan Smith (Dreamhaven Books)
Commentary track for DEVIL FETUS with film writer Travis Woods
"Eagle Blood & Pig Intestines" (12 min) - an interview with actor Hsu Meng-Kuang on DEVIL FETUS
"Her Vengeance in Four Cuts" (7 min) - a video essay written and narrated by John Charles
"Her Vengeance and Category-III Rape Revenge Films" (11 min) - a video essay by author and film historian Samm Deighan
Original trailers for both films
Promotional image gallery for DEVIL FETUS (courtesy of Ryan Smith)
Alternate "crime doesn't pay" ending for Her Vengeance
Hard-boiled Inspector Gianni Di Salvo has been brought in to solve the murder of a schoolgirl, found nude and savagely tortured. As he looks into the girl's life, hoping to find a clue as to why someone sought to snuff her out, his investigation takes him to an exclusive, all-girl prep school which the teenage victim attended. After becoming aware of her involvement with a trio of pupils who call themselves "The Inseparables," Di Salvo is convinced that the group is aware of some secret that led to their friend's killing. But when more victims are found slaughtered, the detective is in a race against time to unmask the murderer before it's too late.
Expertly blending an in-your-face trashiness with a stylish and well-developed murder mystery, prolific TV director Alberto Negrin's RINGS OF FEAR (Enigma Rosso) is often considered a spiritual sequel to the earlier giallo classic, What Have You Done to Solange? by again casting Italian heavy Fabio Testi (The Heroin Busters) at the center of a series of schoolgirl killings. Co-starring Christine Kaufmann (Murders in the Rue Morgue), Ivan Desny (The Marriage of Maria Braun), along with Jack Taylor (Pieces), and Helga Liné (Horror Express), Vinegar Syndrome presents this deliriously perverse fan favorite on Blu-ray, exclusively scanned and restored in 2K from the best-surviving film elements and featuring an exclusive array of new interviews with cast and crew.
Special Features and Technical Specs:
NEW 2K RESTORATION from its 35mm blow-up CRI
Commentary track with film historians Eugenio Ercolani, Troy Howarth, and Nathaniel Thompson
"From Big Screen Scares to Small Screen Epics" (23 min) - an interview with director/co-writer Alberto Negrin
"Deep Red Rings" (26 min) - an interview with co-writer Franco Ferrini
"The Red Thread" (25 min) - an interview with actor Fabio Testi
"Cecil B. Negrin" (14 min) - Alberto Negrin on his television career
Inside sleeve artwork
Newly translated English SDH subtitles
REGION-FREE
REFLECTIONS IN BLACK
Countess Orselmo hides her lust for women from most of those closest to her, but that does not stop her from taking a bevy of beautiful female companions to her bed. But when some of her favorite conquests are discovered dead, slashed to ribbons with a razor, the Countess finds herself embroiled in a sinister mystery of which her illicit affairs are at the very center. Will she be next on the killer's target list, or does the assailant have another and even more shocking motive for the violence?
Amongst the more obscure efforts to emerge from the genre's mid-70s sex and prostitute-themed narrative trend, character-actor turned-director Tano Cimarosa's sole giallo, REFLECTIONS IN BLACK (Il vizio ha le calze nere) offers twist-heavy plotting and a cast of major names in Italian genre cinema, including John Richardson (Black Sunday), Dagmar Lassander (Hatchet for the Honeymoon), and Giacomo Rossi Stuart (The Bloodsucker Leads the Dance). Virtually unseen since the video era, Vinegar Syndrome is proud to bring the original Italian theatrical cut of this genre rarity to Blu-ray, newly restored in 2K from the only known film elements and presented in ITS original scope framing, alongside brand new bonus features.
Special Features and Technical Specs:
NEW 2K RESTORATION from a 35mm Italian copyright deposit print
Commentary track with film historian and critic Rachael Nisbet
"Reflections on Cimarosa" (29 min) - an interview with Domenico Monetti, biographer of director/actor Tano Cimarosa
Alternate and additional footage unique to the export version of Reflections in Black (8 min)
Inside sleeve artwork
Newly translated English SDH subtitles
REGION-FREE
A.A.A. MASSEUSE, GOOD-LOOKING, OFFERS HER SERVICES
Christina cannot stand her overbearing and oppressive home life. After deciding she needs to make it on her own, she rents an apartment but quickly discovers that to enjoy her freedom and independence, she'll need to earn a steady income. Taking advantage of her voluptuous body, she begins working as a call girl under the "protection" of a rough pimp named Oskar. But when some of her clients start turning up dead with their throats slashed, Christina realizes that a madman is on the loose and is following her carnal activities in order to find a victim pool.
An early example of a giallo that leaned as heavily on sex and nudity as it did on more traditional "whodunit" plotting, prolific Western director Demofilo Fidani's (Django and Sartana Are Coming... It's the End) A.A.A. MASSEUSE, GOOD-LOOKING, OFFERS HER SERVICES (A.A.A. Massaggiatrice bella presenza offresi...) personifies the direction the genre would soon head, emphasizing the casting of beautiful female leads willing to do plentiful nude scenes, here including Paola Senatore (Images in a Convent) and Simonetta Vitelli (Frankenstein's Castle of Freaks). Never released in any territory outside of Italy and never dubbed into English, Vinegar Syndrome is pleased to present this underseen shocker on Blu-ray, newly restored in 2K from its camera negative and offering an extensive array of new interviews with cast and crew.
Special Features and Technical Specs:
NEW 2K RESTORATION from its 35mm original camera negative
Commentary track with film historians Eugenio Ercolani and Troy Howarth
"Gentlemen Prefer Blondell" (38 min) - an interview with actress Simonetta Vitelli aka Simone Blondell
"Photo Story Hero" (16 min) - an interview with actor Renato Rossini aka Howard Ross
"Remembering the Medium" (14 min) - an interview with film historian Luca Rea
"A.A.A. Looking for Paola" (20 min) - an interview with film historian Eugenio Ercolani
Lauded American architect Stourley Kracklite has been invited to Rome to supervise the construction of a new building being modeled after the work of famed 18th-century builder Etienne-Louis Boullée, whose structures have served as Kracklite's primary source of creative inspiration. Accompanied on his trip by his newly pregnant wife Louisa, Kracklite soon begins suffering from stomach pains, being constantly undermined by his subordinates, a possible affair blossoming between his wife and a work rival, and an obsession with the stomach of Caesar Augustus. His life continues down a path of obsession and self-destruction while wandering through the beautiful architecture and atmosphere of both ancient and modern Rome.
Starring acclaimed six-time Emmy® nominee Brian Dennehy (First Blood, Looking for Mr. Goodbar) in one of his most celebrated performances, filmmaker Peter Greenaway's (Drowning by Numbers) 1987 Cannes Film Festival Palme d'Or nominated THE BELLY OF AN ARCHITECT is an intense study of self-destruction brought to a fever pitch. Co-starring Chloe Webb (Sid & Nancy), Lambert Wilson (La Femme Publique), and Stefania Casini (Suspiria), this strikingly beautiful and unflinching drama, filmed against the majesty of Rome by master lensman Sacha Vierny (Belle du Jour) comes to Blu-ray from Vinegar Syndrome Labs, newly restored in 2K.
Special Features and Technical Specs:
NEW 2K RESTORATION FROM THE ORIGINAL CAMERA NEGATIVE
Commentary track with film historians Eugenio Ercolani and Tony Strauss
"Stately Progress" (18 min) - editor John Wilson on Peter Greenaway and The Belly of an Architect
"Caput Mundi" (28 min) - an interview with architect Gianpaolo Ercolani
Barney Cashman (Alan Arkin, The In-Laws), a middle-aged seafood restaurant owner in an unhappy marriage, realizes that his mother's apartment will be vacant one afternoon each week, spurring numerous raucous attempts at seduction. In his consistently comedic quest to be a "red hot lover", Cashman makes various discoveries about himself and, subsequently, the woman he pledged fidelity to.
Based on revered American playwright Neil Simon's (The Odd Couple, Barefoot In the Park) play of the same name, LAST OF THE RED HOT LOVERS was adapted for the screen by Simon himself and directed by frequent stage and screen collaborator Gene Saks (The Odd Couple, play and film). Featuring a delightfully manic lead performance by Arkin and a gifted ensemble cast including Sally Kellerman (M*A*S*H), Paula Prentiss (The Stepford Wives) and Renée Taylor (A New Leaf), Cinématographe is proud to present this often overlooked entry in the careers of Neil Simon, Gene Saks and Alan Arkin in a new 4K restoration from its original camera negative, making its world blu-ray debut!
Special Features and Tehcncial Specs:
NEW 4K RESTORATION FROM THE ORIGINAL CAMERA NEGATIVE
New audio commentary with film historians Nathaniel Thompson and Howard S. Berger
The Look - a new video interview with actress Renee Taylor
Beyond the Staged Play: Gene Saks' Direction of Last of the Red Hot Lovers - a new video essay by film critic Matthew Zoller Seitz
New text essays by film critics Drew McWeeny, Chris Shields and Justine Smith
On the gritty streets of Mexico City, Commander Quiroga (Fernando Almada, Grave Robbers) and his partner Miranda (Julio Rasec, Mark of the Killer) more than have their hands full. Between firefights with drug traffickers and the chronic minibus stickups that the public is usually too afraid to report, there's now a demented rapist/murderer, Raúl (Ángel Sancho), who uses an unusual jeweler's tool to stab his random victims. A local radio show host (Nora Terrero, Don't Panic) is eager to criticize the police's ineffective actions against crime and coaxes Quiroga onto her show for a chance to defend the police. As the police and other criminals close in on Raúl, he begins to unravel and turn his focus onto the people who are hunting him down.
Mexsploitation stalwart Fernando Almada stars in this harsh urban cop action/slasher, shot on film and finished on videotape, an early entry in the incredibly prolific Mexican "videohome" phenomenon. With a bleak tone influenced by Clint Eastwood's Dirty Harry films and a twisted killer obsessed with sin and the Bible (played by the director under his Sancho pseudonym), Degausser Video is proud to present 38 ESPECIAL, an incredibly unique offering from Mexican crime cinema, newly transferred and restored from its original master tape.
Special Features and Tecncial Specs:
Newly transferred and restored from the best surviving tape master
Commentary track with film critic and historian Pedro Paunero González
"The Mexican King of Home Video" (10 min) - an interview with director Miguel Angel Martinez