Every year around this time, I get texts from friends indulging in Vinegar Syndrome’s Black Friday blowout, looking for recs of films worth picking up sight unseen. Considering I watch a ton of their releases for review here, it makes sense that they would turn to me for guidance.
So after three years of procrastinating, I am finally dealing out a list of some of my favorite releases from the label and its partners that are worth picking up for Black Friday both old, and just announced, some almost 50% off. You have until Monday at 11:59pm to take advantage of the sale here.
Ebola Syndrome 4K – UNCUT!
Ebola Syndrome is a hard core slab of Category III not for the feint of heart, and could be Anthony Wong’s most controversial film in his filmography. The film has Wong once again teaming with Untold Story’s Herman Yau, and playing Kai who contracts the virus, but to his surprise, he discovers that he’s immune. Kai then returns to Hong Kong, setting into motion a blood spewing and bodily fluids oozing nightmare as he deals out the plague to anyone that crosses his path. Not an easy title to track down in its uncut form, this Black Friday announcment has the label releasing a 4K, Uncut restoration from the original 35mm camera negative.
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Smut Without Smut: Satanic Horror Nite [AGFA + Something Weird]
AGFA’s Smut without Smut highlights something about adult films from the past we tend to forget, that they were films first and foremost. This fun series from Something Weird and AGFA highlights just that by taking out all those spicy bits and presenting it as the film it could’ve been if it played at your local drive-in. I picked up the first installment and was instantly hooked on the premise, because I couldn’t deny the ambition or the performances on screen in what really is a dead art.
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Tammy and the T-Rex
Tammy and the T-Rex surprisingly holds up relatively well on this release. It’s the kind of film that manages to deliver on the incomprehensible insanity promised, which isn’t easy in this day in age and maintain that level of on multiple viewings. This is thanks not only to a cast that is playing this straight, but a script that no doubt pushed them to their limits. For fans checking this film out for the first time, I am envious that you’re getting to see this version of Tammy first, and not to mention the great extras that manage to put this strange, wonderful piece of cinema in context as well.
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Grave Robbers
The best way to describe Grave Robbers is it’s like John Waters directed Twin Peaks. You have this ex-waitress who comes to a quirky small town after the mysterious death of local homecoming queen triggers the town’s spiral into madness. Where the John Waters bit comes into play is not only the quirky dialog but the town, which is almost completely populated by necrophiliacs and motorcycle riding zombies. Nora’s new husband just happens to be the leader of this sex cult and has a weird fixation with electrocuting already dead bodies. The bizarre series of events that is passed off as a plot is something that has to be experienced to be believed.
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Raw Force
This film has everything anyone could ever want from a film – Kung-fu AND cannibals! When a ship full of blackbelts come ashore an island run by a jade smuggling cannibal monks — who can raise the dead, it’s an all out assault on good taste as our heroes must fight their way off the island. This film is just pure adrenaline fueled madness and I can’t recommend it enough!
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Uninvited
The film focuses on two bikini-clad Valley Girl Grifters, Bobbie (Clare Carey, Waxwork) and Suzanne (Shari Shattuck, Death Spa), who are down on their luck at Spring Break with no place to stay. That is, until they run into slimy millionaire Walter Graham (Alex Cord, Airwolf), who offers the ladies a chance to accompany him on a cruise through the Caribbean on his private yacht. That setup would be good enough as is for your typical cable T&A thriller. But as the women are on their way to the boat they happen upon a stray orange tabby, which just happens to be a genetically engineered killer super cat. See, when the cat feels threatened, you get kitty Inception — a black cat will come out of the mouth of the orange cat and attack whoever stands in the animal’s way.
Uninvited is a hilariously schlocky exercise in claustrophobia as the film morphs from a run of the mill heist thriller to a surprisingly gory monster extravaganza as the hungry cat begins taking out our stranded spring breakers one by one.
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New York Ninja
New York Ninja is a bizarre mix of 80’s Troma, Akira and The Warriors all channeled through Miami Connection, in a film that’s absurdity is only matched by its sincerity. The film was completely shot and directed by Taiwanese action star John Liu (The Secret Rivals, Invincible Armor) in 1984, who after the completion of the film mysteriously retired from show business and never completed the project. Now, 37 years later Vinegar Syndrome has acquired the original unedited camera negative and director Kurtis Spieler was tasked with finishing the film and recording a new dub track to replace lost sound elements.
New York Ninja is an instant cult classic with its larger than life swings and amateur performances that sometimes manage to reach the ambitious heights of its almost otherworldly narrative.
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Hellmaster
Simply put — Hellmaster is a Cult Film From an alternate timeline. I mean, I could see, if this movie had hit at the just the right moment in the late ‘80s/early ’90s, it having a massive following today, but sadly it just missed its calling. Needless to say, I really think Hellmaster deserves a reappraisal, and it may be one of Vinegar Syndrome’s more interesting discoveries. It’s very well made, yet still has the curated ‘WTF?’ quality of some of their more low budget releases.
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Olivia
Olivia, is the story of a young girl who lived in an apartment overlooking the London Bridge where her loving mother worked nights as a prostitute. After witnessing her violent death at the hands an angry John, we then jump 15 years into the future with Olivia (Suzanna Love) trapped in a marriage with an abusive and controlling night shift factory worker. As Olivia celebrates her birthday alone she hears the voice of her mother, calling to her, urging her to go out and work under the bridge where she worked and get revenge for her. I would’ve been happy if the film was simply about Olivia out for payback, but it’s so much more!
With an insane plot that has plenty of nudity and revolves around the London Bridge(!?)Olivia is the kind of film you just have to accept on its own terms trust me on this one and let its narrative unravel before you. If you’re the kind of guy like me that goes to the Vinegar Syndrome site for exploitation off the beaten path, this is pretty damn far out there and a pretty solid watch too.
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The Beastmaster
Remember in the 80’s when HBO basically stood for “Hey Beastmaster is On”, because it was almost on non-stop repeat on the channel?
I do and when I heard Vinegar Syndrome was putting this out, on 4K no less I couldn’t buy it fast enough. Directed by Don Coscarelli, the film is an odd and charming mix of Dr. Dolittle and Conan the Barbarian, starring Marc Singer as the titular sword slinger who can talk to animals. I have a special affection for The Beastmaster and was glad to find out how well the film still held up so many years later.
Much like the film itself there’s a charm to the 4K transfer here, that is less than perfect, but definitely adds to the viewing experience for fans of this slice of 80’s cheese.
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Blood Harvest
Coming in at the tail-end of the ’80s slasher boom, the nasty no-budget Blood Harvest compensates for its late arrival with plenty of T&A and literally buckets of blood.The sleazy slasher stars Tiny Tim and follows Jill, played by Itonia Salchek in her singular acting role, who comes home from college to find her house vandalized thanks to her parents, who own the local bank. The bank has been foreclosing on farm after farm, and it has turned the entire rural community against her family, who are nowhere to be found. All that setup is kind of for naught as Jill spends the rest of the film half-heartedly searching for her parents by calling around while wearing next to nothing.
Almost anyone stupid enough to visit her is then hung upside down in her barn by a masked killer while their throat is slashed and bled like a pig. Well, everyone except for her creepy ex and his mentally disabled brother played by Tiny Tim, who is in full clown make-up as “The Marvolous Mervo.”
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Limbo
Limbo is a surreal SOV fever dream written and directed by Tina Krause, who probably starred in over a hundred W.A.V.E. films over two decades. I caught Limbo at Fantastic Fest and it left an imediate impression on me in its depiction of three days in the life of a woman named Elizabeth and her decent into madness, and possibly Hell as she ponders identity, sexism and the supernatural. Its Lynchian style is only matched by its singular voice that is a refreshing reprieve from most SOV features and make it worth seeking out.
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Censor
Censor the film however, follows Enid Baines (Niamh Algar) a female censor who is known for her dedication to her job and attention to detail. We soon discover Enid is haunted by the disappearance of her younger sister Nina who mysteriously vanished when she was a child. Being a fan of this particular genre myself, I think Bailey-Bond gets so much right as she delves into the lurid paranoia that eventually triggers Enid’s turn in the last reel as you’d expect, given some of the real films that make an appearance or inspired Censor. Gleefully gory as you’d expect Censor digs into the history and the hysteria of the Video Nasties to deliver a devilishly clever story of one woman’s descent into her guilt fueled madness.
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A Labor of Love
A Labor of Love (1974), chronicles the production of the Chicago regional indie The Last Affair. The film is the story of Debbie, who discovers she can’t get pregnant by her husband, is devastated she can’t adopt, and enlists the help of male prostitutes to help her conceive.
Things get complicated in the doc for the idealistic French director when the financiers decide to capitalize on the sexploitation craze of the time and mandate he incorporate hardcore sex scenes into his art house masterpiece to secure his funding. Strangely enough the naive cast and crew reluctantly decide to stick with the film — after all, this is the swinging 70s — and what you end up getting is one of the rawest documentaries on the filmmaking process you will probably ever witness.
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