Vinegar Syndrome has announced its April batch of 4K Blu-ray and Blu-ray releases. They are: Murder Rock (1984), The Nesting (1981), Devil Doll/Curse of the Voodoo (1964-1965), and Igor and the Lunatics (1985).
Candice Norman operates the hottest dance academy in town, with hoards of hopefuls dying to be admitted, maybe literally. Shortly after a trio of new students are accepted into Candice's tutelage, a young female pupil is found murdered on campus, stabbed through the heart with a long pin. With the backbiting staff and students alike all rendered possible suspects, Candice is also plagued by haunting dreams involving a sinister man. When Candice spots this man's face on a billboard, she decides to track him down, while yet another rising dance starlet winds up with a punctured heart. Is this handsome stranger as dangerous as the man in her dreams? Could a bloodthirsty maniac from outside the school be preying upon the dancers? Or has the intense competition between dancers and staff turned one of them into a depraved killer? And how does Candice herself factor into this shocking mystery?
Director Lucio Fulci's (City of the Living Dead, The Beyond) final giallo and also his final film set in New York City, MURDEROCK (Murderock - Uccide a passo di danza), is amongst the maestro's last truly lavish productions, boasting stylized dance numbers (scored by legendary musician Keith Emerson) and surreal dream sequences between its labyrinthine mystery and gruesome killings. Starring Olga Karlatos (Zombie), Ray Lovelock (Autopsy), Claudio Cassinelli (Slave of the Cannibal God), Cosimo Cinieri (The New York Ripper), and featuring a guest appearance from Silvia Collatina (The House by the Cemetery), Vinegar Syndrome proudly brings this late period giallo classic to 4K Blu-ray and Blu-ray, exclusively restored from its 35mm camera negative and boasting an unparalleled selection of new and archival extras, including the first-ever interview with co-writer Gianfranco Clerici (Cannibal Holocaust), amongst many others.
Special Features and Technical Specs:
COMBO PACK
NEW 4K RESTORATION OF THE FILM
DOLBY VISION/HDR PRESENTATION OF THE FILM
Presented in its original English language theatrical stereo soundtrack as well as its Italian language dub with newly translated English subtitles
Commentary track with film historian Troy Howarth
"Ballet in Blood" (28 min) - an interview with actor Robert Gligorov
"Hellfant Prodige" (10 min) - an interview with actress Silvia Collatina
"Lucio's Pet" (13 min) - an interview with actor Al Cliver
"Lightning Murder" (27 min) - an interview with cinematographer Giuseppe Pinori
"A Pen in the Dark" (14 min) - an audio interview with co-writer Gianfranco Clerici
"Augusto's Empire" (32 min) - an interview with film historian Eugenio Ercolani
"The Murder Instigator" (17 min) - interviews with producer Augusto Caminito and film historian Eugenio Ercolani
"Murder Prog" (32 min) - an interview with music historian Pierpaolo De Sanctis
"A Pin in the Heart" (8 min) - an interview with make-up artist Franco Casagni
"Child's Play" (24 min) - an interview with actress Silvia Collatina
Audio interview with director Lucio Fulci (16 min)
Interview with actress Geretta Geretta (25 min)
Original video trailer
40-page perfect bound book with essays by Stephen Thrower, Amanda Reyes, Al Cliver
With the impending release of her new book, "The Nesting," agoraphobic New York-based writer Lauren Cochran decides to spend some time outside the city to find inspiration for her next novel. Arriving in the small town of Dover Falls, she happens across an isolated and dilapidated mansion that bears an uncanny resemblance to the one depicted on the cover of her latest work. Feeling a strange pull to the place, Lauren decides to rent the property and quickly gets herself set up and into writing mode. But it's not long before she starts experiencing bizarre, vivid dreams and seeing ghostly apparitions. Soon enough, those around her start dying in strange and gruesome ways. What could all this have to do with the house's murky history and a tragedy that occurred there decades before?
The only mainstream feature directed by prolific illustrator and erotic filmmaker Armand Weston (Defiance, Take Off), THE NESTING - which was originally filmed as Phobia and subsequently re-released in 1983 as Massacre Mansion - is a stylish supernatural slasher expertly photographed by Joćo Fernandes (Children of the Corn, Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter), and featuring Academy Award-winning actress Gloria Grahame (The Bad and the Beautiful) in her final screen role. Now newly restored in 4K from its original 35mm camera negative, Vinegar Syndrome is proud to unveil THE NESTING in its UHD world premiere, presented in its longer Phobia cut for the first time on home video, alongside a host of new bonus features and a wealth of archival material.
Special Features and Technical Specs:
COMBO PACK
NEW 4K RESTORATION OF THE FILM FROM THE ORIGINAL CAMERA NEGATIVE
DOLBY VISION/HDR PRESENTATION OF THE FILM
Commentary track with writer and critic Andy Marshall-Roberts
"Acting is Being Brave" (21 min) - an interview with actress Robin Groves
"The Outlaw Poet" (21 min) - an interview with actor Michael David Lally
"Low Budget Miracle" (30 min) - an interview with associate producer / production manager Don Walters
"The Sating of Desire" (29 min) - an interview with Nightmare USA author Stephen Thrower
Audio interview with co-writer Daria Price, conducted by extras producer Ewan Cant (57 min)
"The Nesting Outtakes: Preserving Armand Weston's Gothic Horror" (14 min) - a featurette produced by the Vinegar Syndrome Film Archive
Few filmmakers working in British genre cinema had more memorable careers than Lindsay Shonteff. The Canadian ex-pat produced an incredibly diverse body of work during his few decades spent toiling on the fringes of England's low-budget film community. Still, few of his films have developed a wider - and more deserved - fan base than his set of 60s horror-shockers made for legendary producer Richard Gordon (Horror Hospital): DEVIL DOLL and CURSE OF THE VOODOO. Vinegar Syndrome is proud to offer both of these true cult classics, newly scanned and restored from their camera negatives in 4K and on Blu-ray for the first time.
Acclaimed magician The Great Vorelli dazzles audiences with his mastery of hypnosis while shocking them with a strange ventriloquist dummy named Hugo. Determined to uncover Vorelli's methods for making Hugo's movement and speech appear so real, reporter Mark English begins a covert investigation. However, nothing can prepare him for the strange and horrifying secret trapped inside the dummy, nor for the murderous actions it will take to be freed... Integrating the supernatural into a twist-filled story of revenge, DEVIL DOLL stars Bryant Haliday (Tower of Evil), William Sylvester (Gorgo), and Yvonne Romain (Night Creatures) and is presented in its "Continental" version, which has never before been seen complete and uncut on video!
Mike Stacey is a cold-blooded guide to novice big game hunters. While on safari in Africa, he has to clean up the mess of one of his clients, shooting a lion they wounded but couldn't kill. But no sooner than moving in to collect the body is he accosted by the local tribesmen who reveal that the lion is their deity and that any man who dares interfere will suffer unimaginable torments. Upon returning to England, Mike is besieged by unrelenting nightmares and a paranoid sense that he's being watched, chased, and hunted like the animals he preys upon. As he descends further into madness, he realizes that the only way he can break the curse is by returning to Africa and again facing the deadly tribe... A 1960s update of Jungle adventure and horror films of the 1930s and 40s, CURSE OF THE VOODOO (aka Curse of Simba) again stars Bryant Haliday, Dennis Price (The Earth Dies Screaming), and Lisa Daniely (Lili Marlene).
Special Features and Technical Specs:
NEW 4K RESTORATION FROM THE ORIGINAL CAMERA NEGATIVE
Commentary track with writers/film critics Kim Newman and Barry Forshaw (DEVIL DOLL)
Commentary track with producer Richard Gordon and film historian Tom Weaver (DEVIL DOLL)
Commentary track with film historians Rod Barnett and Adrian Smith (CURSE OF THE VOODOO)
"Time for Tommy's Tea" (20 min) - an interview with CURSE OF THE VOODOO editor Barrie Vince
"Traditions and Legacies" (23 min) - writer and film critic Kim Newman on CURSE OF THE VOODOO
"Casting a Spell" (25 min) - writer and film historian Jonathan Rigby on DEVIL DOLL
A group of cultists led by the maniacal Paul spend their days in a haze of psychedelic-fueled free love whilst their vicious leader dishes out bloody and brutal vengeance on anyone who attempts to leave the fold - aided by his crazed and thoroughly sadistic right-hand man, Igor, who has a particular fondness for carving up nubile young women with his trusty collection of sharp implements. After being incarcerated for several years for a spate of grim slayings, Paul is released back into society and, reunited with his murderous devotees, immediately sets about continuing his gruesome cult activities.
Financed by the legendary Troma Entertainment, who ended up requiring extensive reshoots in order to up the movie's gore quotient (with these additional sequences being helmed by Spookies directors Thomas Doran and Brendan Faulkner), IGOR AND THE LUNATICS is a demented, depraved, and thoroughly distasteful Manson Family-esque shocker from the studio that Toxie built. Now newly restored in 4K from its original 16mm camera negative, Vinegar Syndrome Archive is delighted to present IGOR AND THE LUNATICS in both its original release version, alongside the home video debut of its longer Bloodshed cut, as well as a brand new making-of documentary digging into the behind-the-scenes of this sickening cult favorite.
Special Features and Techcnial Specs:
NEW 4K RESOTRATION FROM THE ORIGINAL CAMERA NEGATIVE
"The Lunatics Fringe: Remembering Igor and the Lunatics" (34 min) - a making-of documentary featuring interviews with co-director Brendan Faulkner, production co-ordinator Frank Farel, cinematographer John Raugalis, and crew member / extra Cecilia Cosentini