Vinegar Syndrome and Their Partner Labels

[Thornycroft]

Although I daresay The Curse of Snake Valley has potential there too, but the symbol doesn’t fit in the same way. It’s also decidedly not a masterpiece, unless “masterpiece” is synonymous with “gave its name to the Snakes, the Polish equivalent of the Razzies”.

I watched The Curse of Snake Valley earlier this year having been impressed with Piestrak's Wilczyca and this piece of trivia is both very funny and entirely unsurprising given the quality of that film.

[MichaelB]

For another bit of trivia, that's one of the only two Polish films that my wife has seen - she just happened to be in the living room when I was reviewing it for Sight & Sound, and was mesmerised by how terrible it was.

The other one is Andrzej Wajda's Wałęsa: Man of Hope (or Lech The Movie, as she calls it) on its original cinema release, as she was interested in the subject matter, having a vivid recall of the time when Poland led news bulletins on a regular basis in 1980-81.

Oh, and having mentioned my S&S review, it's only fair to reproduce it - it was part of a review of Telewizja Polska's sci-fi DVD box set that came out a dozen years ago:

Offsetting the other films’ philosophical seriousness, The Curse of Snake Valley is an absolute hoot. A would-be Polish Indiana Jones travels to Vietnam at the behest of a mercenary with the intriguingly Sierra Madre-ish name of Bernard Traven, while a female journalist tags along to supply screaming and gratuitous nudity, usually when encountering venomous snakes that appear whenever an ancient manuscript is unfurled. Lacking a decent literary source this time, director Piestrak blithely tosses in saffron-robed Buddhists, statues with deadly laser eyes, liquids triggering hideous mutations, and a papier-mâché giant serpent that would have disgraced even a 1950s Corman cheapie.

The "decent literary source" that Piestrak had worked with before was the Stanisław Lem adaptation Pirx's Test Flight (1979), which I really do unreservedly recommend.

Superior in every way [to the dreary Signals - An Adventure in Space] bar production values (unashamedly Blake’s Seven level), Pirx’s Test Flight adapts Lem’s ‘The Inquest’, which anticipated both Alien and Blade Runner in its scenario of a space mission crewed by humans and uncannily lifelike androids. Commander Pirx (Sergiusz Desnitsky) is aware of this, but not of individual colleagues’ origins, and cannot predict how they’ll respond in a crisis. Aleksandr Kaidanovsky, Tarkovsky’s Stalker, is his most enigmatically intense colleague, while Arvo Pärt’s score fuses generic sci-fi cliché with the tintinnabular style that he was developing at the time.

Just to keep this vaguely on topic, I can envisage both getting VS releases (they'd fit right in), although I'm not aware of any concrete plans.

[TechnicolorAcid]

Perhaps Curse of the Snake Valley or Pirx’s Test Flight could sorta fit in with Terror Vision’s output considering you’ve listed a collaboration with them for some Polish film, implying they are interested in them. Or perhaps even a Deaf Crocodile release maybe. Though I’m just guessing here.

[MichaelB]

The Terror Vision project is something totally different (decade, genre). But it would certainly fit their catalogue, and of course Deaf Crocodile's.

In fact, given that there's a restoration of Pirx's Test Flight out there (and, I believe, a German Blu-ray), it wouldn't surprise me at all if it came out sooner rather than later - it must be a rather easier sell than quite a few other eastern European genre films. (The original Arvo Pärt score is a marketing hook on its own!)

[TechnicolorAcid]

Well in any case I will be supporting the TV release purely out of my fondness for Polish genre cinema and Michael B. commentaries.

[dwk]

Altered Innocence posted that the two titles announced tomorrow will be their last two with Vinegar Syndrome/OCN Distribution.

[Matt]

I wonder what is leading these partner labels to jump ship. It is breadth of distribution? The percentage of sales taken? Lack of publicity?

[TechnicolorAcid]

I wonder what is leading these partner labels to jump ship. It is breadth of distribution? The percentage of sales taken? Lack of publicity?

This is just my idea but with something like TerrorVision I imagine it's so they branch out of one title per month and with Altered Innocence gaining a lot of recognition under their OCN partnership, they probably feel it's best that they should start releasing more titles now that they feel they have enough publicity to allow them to, after all they were one of the first Partner Labels under OCN so I'm just surprised they decided to do it now rather than earlier. I hope that kinda makes sense.

[What A Disgrace]

Pretty sure The Bloodstained Shadow isn't really a "forgotten giallo".

[ryannichols7]

love how they cornered Diabolik and Orbit to not carry the Radiance edition of The Horrible Dr. Hichcock and then charged $10 more for their own edition. predatory!

also I don't know why Film Movement is now a partner label but naturally they continue this bizarre migration of labels coming under one roof. The Early Films of Asghar Farhadi is their first release

[Finch]

Maybe I'm not looking in the right place but I don't see a dropdown option to choose the standard edition of the Southern Comfort 4k. The month's other title that I want, the BD of The Tune, has it. Are they not offering regular editions on their 4ks now until after the slips sell out?

Edit: I think I have my answer. Southern Comfort and Daryl are sold from VS Ultra in magnet books. Anyone know if standards will follow?

[What A Disgrace]

Stephen Broomer, founder of Black Zero, is contributing a commentary track for Canadian International Pictures' release of Robin Spry's One Man, so that's a keeper. I haven't had reason to associate Broomer with anything other than jewels after last year. And Deaf Crocodile's The Tune continues the trend of packing their animated films releases with an insane amount of supplements, including a new restoration of Windsor McCay's The Flying House: Dream of a Rarebit Fiend, so hopefully this is the start of a beautiful relationship between Deaf Crocodile, Bill Plynpton, and McCay, because they've a fair bit of ground to cover on all fronts (and this being Plympton's first feature - I have a good feeling).

[Finch]

Re Film Movement joining can only be a good thing in that it hopefully allows them to release a greater number of titles a year.

EDIT: Justin LaLiberty confirmed on BR that the number of releases will increase and that Film Movement will now have the option to release in 4k as well. Dare I dream of a Farewell My Concubine UHD?

[What A Disgrace]

In February, Vinegar Syndrome will release a 4K Blu-ray of Saul Bass's Phase IV.

[TVC15]

love how they cornered Diabolik and Orbit to not carry the Radiance edition of The Horrible Dr. Hichcock and then charged $10 more for their own edition. predatory!

The Radiance edition isn't 4K UHD

[Glowingwabbit]

love how they cornered Diabolik and Orbit to not carry the Radiance edition of The Horrible Dr. Hichcock and then charged $10 more for their own edition. predatory!

It's UHD. Of course it would cost more.

[beamish14]

In February, Vinegar Syndrome will release a 4K Blu-ray of Saul Bass's Phase IV.

I have the R2 release that includes his essential shorts like Quest and Why Man Creates. I’ll consider it if they FINALLY release it with the intended ending attached to the feature instead of as a supplement

[Finch]

They do mention multiple cuts for Phase IV.

[Blip Martindale]

In February, Vinegar Syndrome will release a 4K Blu-ray of Saul Bass's Phase IV.

YES!

Also:

love how they cornered Diabolik and Orbit to not carry the Radiance edition of The Horrible Dr. Hichcock and then charged $10 more for their own edition. predatory!

The evolution of VS has been very fascinating, is there any article or interviews (who runs the company? two or three dudes, right?) that detail their ambitions and choices? I could (can and do) see accusations of careerism and indeed "predatory" behaviour lobbed their way, and it's possible their influence has spread to other labels like Severin. But the film preservation, the sub-label diaspora, the retail stores, the move into licensing major studio films... all very important and yet peculiar. A great label in general. I just hope they don't go the way of Alamo Drafthouse, but then Alamo was never anty sort of deep or real alternative to the mouthbreathers, and they would never have a "Hardcore Fuckfest" night once a week, ha.

[beamish14]

I hope Phase IV and D.A.R.Y.L. are the start of a large number of Paramount acquisitions

[cdnchris]

I hope Phase IV and D.A.R.Y.L. are the start of a large number of Paramount acquisitions

The Miramax titles (Prophecy trilogy and eXistenZ) are from Paramount as well, so it looks like they got a good thing going with them.

[beamish14]

I hope Phase IV and D.A.R.Y.L. are the start of a large number of Paramount acquisitions

The Miramax titles (Prophecy trilogy and eXistenZ) are from Paramount as well, so it looks like they got a good thing going with them.

That’s right. I thought Existenz might have been held by it’s Canadian producers

[dwk]

Maybe I'm not looking in the right place but I don't see a dropdown option to choose the standard edition of the Southern Comfort 4k. The month's other title that I want, the BD of The Tune, has it. Are they not offering regular editions on their 4ks
now until after the slips sell out?

Edit: I think I have my answer. Southern Comfort and Daryl are sold from VS Ultra in magnet books. Anyone know if standards will follow?

Some of the VSU titles have gotten standard editions after the box versions sold out, (Road House, Showgirls, Cloak & Dagger, Beastmaster) so I assume these two will as well, but who knows.

The evolution of VS has been very fascinating, is there any article or interviews (who runs the company? two or three dudes, right?) that detail their ambitions and choices? I could (can and do) see accusations of careerism and indeed "predatory" behaviour lobbed their way, and it's possible their influence has spread to other labels like Severin. But the film preservation, the sub-label diaspora, the retail stores, the move into licensing major studio films... all very important and yet peculiar. A great label in general. I just hope they don't go the way of Alamo Drafthouse, but then Alamo was never anty sort of deep or real alternative to the mouthbreathers, and they would never have a "Hardcore Fuckfest" night once a week, ha.

Some of the guys behind VS have been on Colors of the Dark podcast (episode 27) and its previous incarnation Shock Waves (episodes 121, 141, 188.) The only thing I can recall from any of these episodes, is that one of the guys behind the company doesn't collect physical media.

[Finch]

Thanks dwk! Here's hoping.

[cdnchris]

Even though a lot of their stuff doesn't appeal to me, I'm actually considering their subscriber package since I did buy quite a bit from them last year. As I understand it, I get 50% off on the other non-mainline VS titles and partners on top of the mainline ones sent directly each month? Also, how's the resale on the ones that just don't do much for me?

Also... does the 50% off only apply to 2024 titles, or would it apply to titles from 2023 as well?