Vinegar Syndrome has announced its October batch of releases. They are: Tromeo and Juliet (1996), Ruby (1977), The Man Who Could Cheat Death (1959), Sleepless (2001), Men From the Gutter (1983), and King of the Gypsies (1978).
The Ques and the Capulets have been engaged in a years-long rivalry, which has fostered such a vicious feud that they've each forbidden their children from having any contact with those of the other. When lovable and smut-obsessed slacker Tromeo Que and his friends decide to sneak into a lavish party being hosted by the chaste and proper Juliet Capulet, the two fall in love at first sight. Realizing that they must keep their passion for each other secret, especially as Juliet's father has pledged her as a bride to a meat-obsessed business associate, their forbidden love threatens not only to destroy their families but also begins causing mayhem and bloodshed all around them.
The first of director Lloyd Kaufman's (The Toxic Avenger) official adaptations of William Shakespeare, TROMEO & JULIET is a wild, punk reimagining of The Bard's eternal doomed romance, only with non-stop gore, nudity, and giant mutant genitals! Set amongst the denizens and outcasts of squalid New Jersey, standing in for a modern vision of Verona, and featuring a screenplay co-written by soon-to-be major director in his own right, James Gunn (Slither, Guardians of the Galaxy) TROMEO features scream queen Debbie Rochon (Cyber Vengeance), Sean Gunn (Super, Superman) in his on-screen debut, music superstar Lemmy (Motörhead), and Will Keenan as Tromeo. Vinegar Syndrome is proud to bring this funny, gross, altogether unpredictable, and incredibly moving love story for the ages to 4K Blu-ray and Blu-ray, exclusively restored in 4K from its original camera negative and presented in its director's cut, along with hours of new and archival extras.
Special Features and Technical Specs:
TWO-DISC COMBO PACK (4K BLU-RAY/BLU-RAY) RELEASE
NEW 4K RESTORATION FROM THE CAMERA NEGATIVE
DOLBY VISION/HDR PRESENTATION OF THE FILM
Commentary track with director Lloyd Kaufman
Commentary track with writer James Gunn and actor Sean Gunn
Commentary track with James Gunn and Lloyd Kaufman
Commentary track with editor Frank Reynolds and Poultrygeist editor Gabriel Friedman
"The Bard of Barf" (15 min) - a brand new conversation with Lloyd Kaufman and film programmer Jesse Berberich
"The Lasting Love of Tromeo & Juliet" (17 min) - a brand new featurette with lead actors Will Keenan and Jane Jensen
"A Punk Rock Chorus" (20 min) - a brand new featurette with Debbie Rochon, Tiffany Shepis, and Valentine Miele: the supporting cast of Tromeo & Juliet
"The Tromatic Experience" (15 min) - a brand new featurette with producers Franny Baldwin and Andrew Weiner
Archival interviews with: actor Stephen Blackehart; actor Sean Gunn; actress Tiffany Shepis; actress Debbie Rochon; actress Wendy Adams; actress Lisbeth Kaufman; narrator Lemmy; actors Joe Lynch and Stephen Blackehart; composer Willie Wisely; associate producer Andrew Weiner; unit production manager Franny Baldwin; stunt nipple Sandee Brockwell; grip, driver, and production assistant Dylan Forer; production assistant Daniel Epstein
Original video trailer
DVD and Laserdisc introductions
Deleted scenes with commentary by Lloyd Kaufman and James Gunn
Lloyd interviews the Penis Monster
Rehearsal footage with actresses Jane Jensen and Debbie Rochon
Interview with James Gunn and Stephen Blackehart
The making of Lloyd Kaufman and James Gunn's commentary track recording
"Tales from the Crapper" with Lloyd Kaufman and James Gunn
James Gunn and Lloyd Kaufman visit Eli Roth's birthday party
Lloyd Kaufman's video diary from the set of James Gunn's Slither
Fan reenactments of classic Tromeo & Juliet scenes
40-page perfect-bound book with essays by: Heather Drain, Bill Bria, and Jesse Berberich
In 1930s Florida, mobster Nicky Rocco is gunned down by his own gang in front of his mistress, Ruby Claire, who turns out to be carrying his child. Almost two decades later, Ruby - once a songstress with dreams of stardom - is living out a quiet existence with her daughter Leslie, now a mute 16-year-old, in a large house adjoining a drive-in, which she runs alongside Nicky's old gang members. When, one by one, the former mobsters start winding up dead in various bizarre and gruesome ways, a parapsychologist, Dr. Paul Keller, arrives on the scene to investigate. Upon witnessing a series of unsettling supernatural occurrences, he begins to suspect that Nicky is meting out revenge from beyond the grave against those who betrayed him while using his own teenage daughter as the conduit…
A commercial high point in the career of prolific director - and devout genre fan - Curtis Harrington (Night Tide, The Killing Kind), 1977's RUBY sought to capitalize on the then-popular trend of possession movies which came in the wake of The Exorcist, while amping up old Hollywood nostalgia and unexpected gore amongst plentiful scenes of supernatural mayhem. Starring Piper Laurie in the titular role, fresh from her Academy Award-nominated turn in Carrie, alongside Stuart Whitman (The Comancheros, The Mark) and Roger Davis (TV's Alias Smith and Jones), RUBY at long last arrives in its 4K Blu-ray world premiere courtesy of the drive-in deviants at Vinegar Syndrome, restored in 4K from its 35mm interpositive and loaded with a wealth of new and archival bonus features.
Special Features and Technical Specs:
TWO-DISC COMBO PACK (4K BLU-RAY/BLU-RAY) RELEASE
NEW 4K RESTORATION FROM AN INTERPOSITIVE
DOLBY VISION/HDR PRESENTATION OF THE FILM
Brand new commentary track with journalist and film historian David Del Valle and filmmaker David DeCoteau
Archival commentary track with director Curtis Harrington and actress Piper Laurie
Archival commentary track with David Del Valle and film historian Nathaniel Bell
"Keeping It Natural" (11 min) - a new interview with actor Roger Davis
A Cinematic Summoning" (23 min) - a new interview with critic and author Kim Newman
Alternate TV Version of Ruby sourced from video (95 min)
2001 video interview with director Curtis Harrington, conducted by journalist and film historian David Del Valle (59 min)
Two Sinister Image episodes with Curtis Harrington hosted by David Del Valle (57 min)
In late nineteenth-century Paris, esteemed surgeon and talented sculptor Dr. Georges Bonnet is hiding an extraordinary secret - many years ago, he discovered the key to eternal life. Despite being 104 years old, he has the appearance of a man in his mid-30s. However, this incredible feat comes at a terrible cost, for every 10 years, Bonnet must undergo a surgery which requires the parathyroid gland of a living victim. When it becomes clear that his old friend and collaborator Professor Ludwig Weiss is no longer capable of conducting the surgery as he had previously, Bonnet kidnaps his old flame Janine Dubois in an attempt to coerce her new love interest Dr. Pierre Gerrard into taking up the task.
A joint venture between Paramount Pictures and Britain's legendary Hammer Film Productions, who had just scored massive international hits with The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) and Dracula (1958), 1959's THE MAN WHO COULD CHEAT DEATH saw director Terence Fisher return to the helm alongside writer Jimmy Sangster. With performances from Hammer stalwart Christopher Lee and Hazel Court (The Curse of Frankenstein) - whose topless scene fell foul of the UK censors, alongside a few seconds of the film's fiery climax - Vinegar Syndrome is thrilled to present THE MAN WHO COULD CHEAT DEATH fully uncut for the first time on home video, newly restored in 4K for its world 4K Blu-ray premiere and stacked with new bonus features.
Special Features and Technical Specs:
TWO-DISC COMBO PACK (4K BLU-RAY/BLU-RAY) RELEASE
NEW 4K RESTORATION FROM THE CAMERA NEGATIVE
DOLBY VISION/HDR PRESENTATION OF THE FILM
Presented in two viewing options on both the 4K Blu-ray and BD:
The uncut, pre-censorship "clothed" version
The alternate "nude" continental version
Brand new commentary track with critics and authors Stephen Jones and Kim Newman
"A Hideous Concoction" (26 min) - film historian Jonathan Rigby on The Man Who Could Cheat Death
"The Man Who Could Direct Death" (24 min) - film historian Vic Pratt on director Terence Fisher
"Court in Session" (17 min) - film historian Melanie Williams on actress Hazel Court
"The Man Who Can Chat Death" (7 min) - an interview with uncredited third assistant director Hugh Harlow
Alternate censored ending
40-page perfect-bound book with essays by: Adrian Smith, Jon Dear, and Kieran Foster
A series of grisly murders are taking place across the Italian city of Turin, prompting the authorities to fear that a copycat killer is on the loose and emulating a gruesome spree that occurred seventeen years prior. Those murders were pinned on a writer with dwarfism by the name of Vincenzo de Fabritiis, who subsequently passed away, effectively closing the case. Now, Detective Ulisse Moretti, who led the original investigation, finds himself drawn out of retirement, and, together with the young Giacomo Gallo - whose mother was a victim of the supposed "Dwarf Killer" - attempts to unravel the mystery of these new slayings as the mutilated corpses continue to pile up.
Returning to the atmosphere and themes of his landmark giallo Deep Red (1975), 2001's SLEEPLESS saw the welcome return of horror maestro Dario Argento (Suspiria, The Bird with the Crystal Plumage) to the subgenre with which he had made his name. Starring Max von Sydow (The Exorcist) and featuring a host of splatterific, Grand Guignol set pieces courtesy of practical FX wizard Sergio Stivaletti, together with a pulse-pounding score by Argento regulars Goblin - who reunited especially for this movie - Vinegar Syndrome is thrilled to bring SLEEPLESS to 4K Blu-ray for the very first time, restored in 4K from the original camera negative and accompanied by a host of both new and archival bonus features.
Special Features and Technical Specs:
TWO-DISC COMBO PACK (4K BLU-RAY/BLU-RAY) RELEASE
NEW 4K RESTORATION FROM THE CAMERA NEGATIVE
DOLBY VISION/HDR PRESENTATION OF THE FILM
Commentary track with film historians Nathaniel Thompson and Troy Howarth
"Still Awake" (15 min) - an interview with actress Chiara Caselli
"The One Who Saw" (10 min) - an interview with actor Stefano Dionisi
"Behind the Smile" (17 min) - an interview with actor Roberto Zibetti
"The Invisible Work" (25 min) - an interview with editor Anna Napoli
"One Last Score" (22 min) - an interview with composer Claudio Simonetti
"Bloodwork" (20 min) - an interview with special effects artist Sergio Stivaletti
"He Never Sleeps" (18 min) - an archival interview with co-writer/director Dario Argento
"Don't Go to Sleep" (17 min) - an archival interview with actor Paolo Maria Scalondro
"The Cop and the Parrot" (11 min) - an archival interview with co-writer Franco Ferrini
"Blood on the Tracks" (16 min) - an archival interview with production designer Antonello Geleng
"Killed Three Times" (12 min) - an archival interview with actor Gabriele Lavia
On the grimy streets of working-class Hong Kong, some merely scheme to get out, and someone has returned to exact savage vengeance. After a cop is killed in cold blood, detectives Qui and Zhou begin tracking a trio of lowly ex-cons plotting a jewel heist. The hoods hope to land a score that'll finally allow them to leave town, while the cops are chasing a corporate kingpin active in the heroin trade. Meanwhile, a steely yet inconspicuous hitman has arrived from Thailand, eager to take out that same kingpin for having crossed him. While chasing down leads from gun dealers and drug pushers, the police repeatedly encounter these various criminals as the desperation mounts. In a race across smoky gambling dens, cheap love hotels, seedy bars, and dingy warehouses, who will make it out of town alive?
Combining elements of gritty Eurocrime with a jolt of Michael Mann style, MEN FROM THE GUTTER is a crime thriller bursting with powerfully realistic violence. Only the second film directed by Ngai Choi Lam (Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky), it exhibits astonishingly sharp technique in a riveting story that never lets up. This sorely overlooked entry from the Shaw Brothers' waning years relies on cleverly alternating plotlines to showcase a wide variety of brutal action, all to a throbbing synth-heavy score. Starring Michael Miu Kiu Wai (The Legend of the Condor Heroes), Lo Meng (Five Deadly Venoms), Parkman Wong (The Killer), and a jaw-dropping, stunt-heavy performance by Jason Pai Piao (The Chinese Boxer), Vinegar Syndrome Archive is proud to bring to the surface this raw, sunken gem, newly restored from its original camera negative.
Special Features and Technical Specs:
NEW 2K RESTORATION FROM THE CAMERA NEGATIVE
Brand new commentary track with film historian & author Samm Deighan
"From the Gutter to the Theater" (27 min) - a brand new making-of documentary featuring interviews with writer Tony Leung Hung-Wah, actor Jason Pai Piao, and actor Yuen Bun
"Jason Pai Piao: Hong Kong Cinema's Chameleonic Tough Guy" (13 min) - a video essay by film historian Erica Shultz
40-page perfect-bound book with essays by: Walter Chaw, Ariel Esteban Cayer, and Keith Allison
An arranged marriage between gypsy clans goes awry when Spiro (Michael V. Gazzo, The Godfather Part II) refuses to sell his daughter to the self-proclaimed King of the Gypsies, King Zharko Stephanowicz (Sterling Hayden, The Long Goodbye), ending in a hail of bullets and a kidnapped daughter. In the following decade, Rose (Susan Sarandon, Thelma & Louise), kidnapped daughter, and her husband Groffo (Judd Hirsch, Ordinary People) have a young adult son named Dave (Eric Robers, Star 80) who has rejected the gypsy ways of his family, despite his grandfather, King Zharko, passing his leadership onto the unwilling scion. Dave's refusal sparks a turbulent war within his own family and the larger gypsy community in 1960s New York City.
Written for the screen and directed by Academy Award Winning screenwriter Frank Pierson (Dog Day Afternoon), King of the Gypsies is adapted from the novel of the same name, written by Peter Maas (biographer of Frank Serpico and author of The Valachi Papers). Featuring stunning, on location, photography by noted Swedish cinematographer and Ingmar Bergman collaborator Sven Nykvist (Persona, The Tenant) as well as in incredible ensemble cast, including the screen debut of Eric Roberts, King of the Gypsies is a long overlooked entry in the cinema of New York City in the 1970s. Cinématographe is proud to present the world 4K Blu-ray debut of Frank Pierson's somber urban drama in a new restoration from its original camera negative.
Special Features and Technical Specs:
TWO-DISC COMBO PACK (4K BLU-RAY/BLU-RAY) RELEASE
NEW 4K RESTORATION FROM THE CAMERA NEGATIVE
DOLBY VISION/HDR PRESENTATION OF THE FILM
New audio commentary with film historian Adrian Martin
Keep Surprising Me — a new video interview with actor Eric Roberts
Prison of Roots: Sven Nykvist Arrives in America — a new video essay by film historian Daniel Kremer
The Writer Speaks: Frank Pierson — a two hour long archival interview with writer/director Frank Pierson, recorded by the Writers Guild Foundation in 2001
Archival interview with editor Paul Hirsch
Trailers from Hell — Michael Schlesinger on King of the Gypsies
New text essays by film critic Jason Bailey, author of Fun City Cinema: New York City and the Movies That Made It; film critic Caden Mark Gardner; film critic and lecturer Adam Nayman; and filmmaker and writer Chris Shields