Vinegar Syndrome and Their Partner Labels

[swo17]

There is probably no rush to order any of these titles if all you want is the standard edition

[andyli]

Does the standard edition only differ in slipcover? What about booklets (if any)?

[What A Disgrace]

Booklets are only limited edition exclusive if they are specifically accommodated by the packaging.

[mfunk9786]

There is probably no rush to order any of these titles if all you want is the standard edition

The Sadness has about 100 copies left, and Mister Lonely is getting lower and lower on standard (non-slip) copies. At least you might be waiting a while for represses in some cases as some of these will be gone in the next day or two.

[swo17]

That's true

[beamish14]

I almost blind-bought The Sadness, but it’s on Hoopla for free and Lettrboxed reviews are all over the place

[criterionsnob]

Kani teaser for Lino Brocka's Bona.

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

The Sadness is god awful so I wouldn't feel any FOMO about it.

Hopefully the Icarus relationship will extend to the dGenerate catalog. A lot of it consists of pre-HD digital films that aren't exactly crying out for Blu-ray releases, but I'd love to see BD editions of some of their Wang Bing and Pema Tseden titles, Winter Vacation, etc. etc.

[beamish14]

The Sadness is god awful so I wouldn't feel any FOMO about it.

Hopefully the Icarus relationship will extend to the dGenerate catalog. A lot of it consists of pre-HD digital films that aren't exactly crying out for Blu-ray releases, but I'd love to see BD editions of some of their Wang Bing and Pema Tseden titles, Winter Vacation, etc. etc.

Same here. I really love Tseden’s work

[criterionsnob]

Seems they have 2 more copies of the LE Mister Lonely back in stock.

[dwk]

Today's VS announcements:
Reptilicus UHD
A Chinese torture Chamber Story 1 &2
Intrépidos Punks / Vengeance of the Punks

and Partner Labels announcements:
Amanda and the Alien
Way Bad Stone
The Bitter Ash
Night Caller
Nuts!
Mami Wata
Nintendo Quest: The Most Unofficial and Unauthorized Documentary Ever
Go Down Death
Marcel Pagnol: My Father's Glory, My Mother's Castle
Bastards
Living a Zombie Dream/Kitty Killers
Femme
Lost Prophet
She's Allergic to Cats

And a tease of the plans for the rest of this year's VS releases:
August 2024:
3 VS releases totaling $144.94 (MSRP)
Includes: HELL’S TRAP (BD), 4K UHD debut of 70s drive-in horror classic, BD debut of British Vincent Price starring rarity

September 2024:
3 VS releases totaling $169.94 (MSRP)
Includes: 4K UHD debut of gory 80s studio horror, 4K UHD debut of star studded 80s giallo, 3-BD set of British murder thrillers featuring CRAZE

October 2024:
4 VS releases totaling $249.92 (MSRP)
Includes: 4K UHD debut of CORPSE MANIA, FORGOTTEN GIALLI Vol. 7 feat. 3 never on Blu 80s gialli, 4K UHD debut of 70s masterpiece, BD debut of never-on-disc early 80s slasher.

November 2024:
4 VS releases totaling $234.92 (MSRP)
Includes: 2x 4K UHD debuts of never-on-disc films, 1x UHD debut (and “unrated” version BD/UHD debut), one BD debut of highly demanded horror.

[swo17]

Mami Wata

This has gotten recommendations here from both zedz and Mr Sausage

[Cash Flagg]

The write-up for ‘Lost Prophet’ sounds intriguing, does anyone have an opinion on the film?

[domino harvey]

The Pagnol-scripted double feature will apparently be more than just a new slipcover, as the original release used the wrong files provided by Gaumont

[andyli]

The Pagnol-scripted double feature will apparently be more than just a new slipcover, as the original release used the wrong files provided by Gaumont

Hope Center Stage receives the same treatment when the time comes.

[The Elegant Dandy Fop]

A Chinese Torture Story is one of the good Wong Jing productions. Ludicrously over-the-top idea of what sex is. Sort of feels like the overflowing id of a teenage boy who's never had sex imagining the boundaries of sex. Not far off from perverted doodles. Makes sense that this would come from Vinegar Syndrome seeing as any other label would perceive this film as tasteless. A bit of silly fun depending on how much bodily fluid gags you can handle and so grotesque that it can never be perceived as remotely sexy.

[Mr Sausage]

I found A Chinese Torture Chamber Story surprisingly fun and inventive, certainly one of the most watchable of the Category III films I’ve seen. Here’s my write up from elsewhere.

An erotic comedy that sometimes throws in scenes of torture, I guess to distinguish itself? Cash in on the more extreme end of CAT III popularity? Nothing too explicit, tho’. For the most part the film is merely kinky, luxuriating in the extravagances of Ming Dynasty sexuality among the nobility. It’s the story of a young maid and her former master who are accused of poisoning the maid’s husband, Ol’ Donkey Dick Got, with an aphrodisiac that made his penis explode, told in retrospect at the trial. There are few things that interest me less than sexploitation and Chinese comedy, so imagine my surprise at how enjoyable this was. I’m sure it’s partly the effect of having seen so many grim, rape obsessed CAT IIIs that it was a welcome relief to have things be consensual. But mostly the film is just so spirited. It whizzes by with such style and energy, and the juvenile sex comedy, surprising to say, is actually charming. But the best scene in the movie is a non-sequitur, a random wuxia parody where an acrobatic sword fight between a man and a woman turns into a flying, spinning, digging(!) sex battle, as the combatants furiously try to outdo each other in sexual prowess while soaring through the trees and even burrowing under the ground to the strains of the Once Upon a Time in China theme. It’s goofy, bizarre, and irrepressibly fun. Much like the movie as a whole, actually, except for the torture in the last third, although at least the methods have some, er, historical creativity and fantastical exaggeration, and are presented as tragic and evidence of a corrupt system rather than a grimy, horrid pleasure for the audience as in, say, Emanuelle in America, another sexploitation film infamous for torture scenes. So, yeah, one of the better CAT III films I’ve seen and a rare HK comedy I didn’t find intolerable. What an unexpected pleasure. Makes me wonder if the other CAT III sex comedies like Erotic Ghost Story and Sex and Zen are worth checking out.

[dwk]

New Cinématographe release is Last Embrace on UHD

[therewillbeblus]

Woof, this label's backstepping is causing whiplash. My thoughts from the Demme thread:

If I don’t recall Last Embrace it’s either because I never saw it or blocked out the experience. This is Demme’s worst film by a mile, also the one early work that feels completely void of his humanist energy. The film starts off simmering just fine, with Scheider playing an incarnation of walking trauma, prone to aggressive impulses which are fun to watch as we try to align with such an abrasive person. The mystery with semetic codes in notes even keeps the engine going, until he meets the man who has the key to the answers, we are presented with the pathetic twist, and everything crumbles in an exasperating final act that makes one forget the fine foundation this built.

[domino harvey]

Yeah, not a good choice. My write up from the Faith List Project

Last Embrace (Jonathan Demme 1979) Wah-wah. Roy Scheider is a recovering special operative who is kicked out of the spy service, is almost assassinated by his own, and then halfway through the film the narrative moves to this other group of people who are trying to kill him because of his genetic ties to a Jewish syndicate's brothel. The era of post-Nixon thrillers was certainly dying with this death-rattle, and frankly no one involved here even tried to make a compelling conspiracy pic. There is at least the Jeffrey Wells angle of praise in that the film does offer several opportunities to see Janet Margolin topless, so I guess there's that. Oh, I didn't mention the limp Hitchcock references, inserted with the sole cynical purpose of being mentioned in reviews. So, there's my due diligence.

[beamish14]

I remember how Last Embrace was publicized with a photo of Roy Schneider seemingly about to chop someone martial arts-style. Sadly, the most exciting part of that film is him being able to get to a bus on time

[ryannichols7]

love how this was hyped up as being the more serious, exciting arm of Vinegar Syndrome but it really feels like more of the same. I maintain my "this is how to put out titles and not include them in the subscription because you love money" position here

[therewillbeblus]

Yeah that's spot on, though I do hope the ("sub")label keeps releasing rarities, just better ones

[jazzo]

Especially considering, if they decided to go with any Demme picture, Citizen’s Band hasn’t had a physical release since VHS days, and Melvin and Howard could certainly use a more robust edition than Twilight Time’s BR from a few years ago.

Add in Who Am I This Time? and A Family Tree to either and you’d have an incredible set.

[beamish14]

Especially considering, if they decided to go with any Demme picture, Citizen’s Band hasn’t had a physical release since VHS days, and Melvin and Howard could certainly use a more robust edition than Twilight Time’s BR from a few years ago.

Add in Who Am I This Time? and A Family Tree to either and you’d have an incredible set.

I’d love his documentaries on Haiti and Cousin Bobby. Is PVS willing to license stuff like “A Family Tree”?