Monday, September 12, 2016

Vinegar Syndrome Announces Its Oct. 25 Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack Release Slate


DVD & Blu-ray Release Report, Ralph Tribbey
Vinegar Syndrome announced its October release package this past week.   The street date selected for a quartet of Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack product offerings — plus the next DVD Storefront Theatre Collection — will be Oct. 25.

There are some really cool films in the mix, which are all in the “Halloween” spirit of things.   So let’s get right to it!

Leading the way is a new 2K restoration (from the original 35mm camera negative) of director Rick Sloane’s 1988 “creature feature,” Hobgoblins.   It will be available as a Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack.

With the success of Joe Dante’s Gremlins in 1984 you knew in your heart of hearts that there would be other entries into the “little” creature horror mix.   Sure enough, the summer of 1988 brought us the ACM theatrical release and a quick to market VHS edition of Hobgoblins.   By any standard it was, is and will always be cheesy … and that’s the beauty of it.

As to bonus goodies, there’s a vintage commentary track featuring writer/director Rick Sloane (a true master of cheesy films — Vice Academy 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6), the 2009 cast reunion documentary from Sloane titled Hobgoblins: The Making of a DisasterPiece, a newly-prepared featurette titled “Hobgoblins Revisited,” a newly minted video session with Kenneth J. Hall, the Hobgoblin “creature fabricator” and a vintage featurette “Hobgoblins Invade Comic-Con.”
DVD & Blu-ray Release Report, Ralph Tribbey

Next up is a Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack presentation (a new 2K restoration from the original 35mm camera negative) of director Mark Pirro’s 1988 Crown International Pictures release of Deathrow Gameshow, a black comedy homage to Schwarzenegger’s 1987 hit film, The Running Man

Bonus features include commentary featuring director Mark Pirro, who is joined by actors John McCafferty (he played the game show host, Chuck Toedan) and Robyn Blythe (she plays Toedan’s nemesis, “Gloria Sternvirgin”), the 2013 documentary from Pirro titled, Revisiting Deathrow Gameshow, and two short films from filmmaker Mark Pirro — Buns (1978) and The Spy Who Did it Better (1979).

DVD & Blu-ray Release Report, Ralph Tribbey
Rounding out the Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack presentations on Oct. 25 is a two SKU Linnea Quigley “Scream Queen” promotion — three films in all.

For genre fans the name Linnea Quigley is synonymous with horror and, as she puts it in 1995 book, “skin” flicks.   She is an honor Scream Queen, having appeared in such delights as The Return of the Living Dead, Creepozoids, Night of the Demons and A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (among others).

Vinegar Syndrome has a new 2K restoration (yes, from the original 35mm camera negative) of director David DeCoteau’s 1987 TWE theatrical release of  Nightmare Sisters, which teams Quigley with fellow Scream Queen legends Brinke Stevens and  Michelle Bauer.

There are two versions of the film — the theatrical cut and a toned-down for TV edition — commentary featuring filmmaker David DeCoteau and Linnea Quigley (they have often worked together, in addition to the aforementioned Creepozoids, they also did the classic, Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama, which also featured Brinke Stevens and Michelle Bauer), there is a blooper reel and a video session with writer/producer Kenneth J. Hall.

The other Linnea Quigley Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack in the mix is the double-feature presentation of two of director David DeCoteau’s 1989 direct-to-video thrillers, Murder Weapon (Quigley co-stars with Karen Russell) and Deadly Embrace (she’s opposite Jan-Michael Vincent).
DVD & Blu-ray Release Report, Ralph Tribbey


Bonus goodies for this Linnea Quigley double-bill include commentary with her and DeCoteau for both films and DeCoteau provides newly prepared introductions to both films … which are new 2K restorations.

Rounding out the Oct. 25 release package from Vinegar Syndrome is the second installment in the company’s Storefront Theatre Collection.   This three-disc set is packed with a dozen “adult-themed” films that includes the likes of Dr. Sexual and Mr. Hyde (1971, with Suzanne Fields), Hotter Than Hell (also from 1971 and featuring “Jane Fondler” and “Elizabeth Tail”) and The Rites of Uranus (1975, with Vivian Parks).

DVD & Blu-ray Release Report, Ralph Tribbey



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