Monday, August 19, 2019

Vinegar Syndrome Announces It Sept. 24 Film Restoration Selections Destined For Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack Release


DVD & Blu-ray Release Report, Ralph Tribbey
As the clock ticks down to Halloween, genre fans each year are rewarded with home entertainment treasures that make their way to market in late September and throughout October on the lead-up to the big night.   

It’s like a ghoul’s paradise of guilty treasures — this new Blu-ray and that new DVD, oh that one too — and none better this Halloween-season, with their new slate of film restorations, than Vinegar Syndrome.

Genre fans are you ready?   Not one, or two, or even three, but five new horror treats that will be ready as Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack product offerings on Sept. 24.   All new film restorations … like we said, “it’s a ghoul’s paradise!”

Where does one begin?   Let’s start with the new 2K restoration (from the original 35mm negative elements) of the late director Jim McCullough’s (senior, that is … not to be confused with f/x whiz Jim McCullough, Jr., who teamed with his father here with his screenplay) 1986 horror tale, Mountaintop Motel Massacre.   The alliteration just rolls off your tongue … mountaintop (suggesting isolation), motel (a place where something might happen, like “Bates Motel”), massacre (need we say more).

Mountaintop Motel Massacre was released as part of Vinegar Syndrome’s mid-year “surprise package” promotion at the end of May and will now be available for the general public on Sept. 24.

DVD & Blu-ray Release Report, Ralph TribbeyThis gem of a film was “in the can” (so to speak) in 1983 and was self-distributed in Louisiana and Mississippi and titled variously Mountaintop Motel and Horror at Mountaintop Motel (which was not uncommon) and then along game New World Pictures, which picked it up on the condition that the McCulloughs rework the ending.

The film, if just judging from the title, would seem to be your typical haunted house slasher film complete with a self-service victim pool (guests randomly checking in), but this little gem offers all sorts of twists and turns.   

Topping the list of “twists and turns” is the recently returned proprietor, Evelyn (Anna Chappell), who has been spending time at the local nut house.   Upon her return she gets into an altercation with her daughter Lorie (Jill King) and one thing leads to another and before you know it we have one dead daughter, which is passed off to the local police as an “accident.”   Really?

DVD & Blu-ray Release Report, Ralph TribbeyWell, once you get going there’s no end to it … and Evelyn picks one particularly gruesome night (it was a dark and rainy night, as horror stories go) and goes off the deep end.   

The “victim pool” is a treasure chest of odds and ends, which makes it fun, and this little roadside rest stop has hidden passages and a tunnel complex (don’t ask), which gives the crazed killer access to the rooms … first for tricks and mischief and then for whack, whack, whack!!

Bonus goodies include an interview session with David Akin, the assistant cameraman, which is titled “Under the Influence,” and a second video session with production designer Drew Edward Hunter that is titled “Mountaintop Motel Memories.”

DVD & Blu-ray Release Report, Ralph TribbeyWOW!   That is just one of five genre gem from Vinegar Syndrome on Sept. 24!

In no particular order, there will be a new 2K restoration of cult filmmaker Herb Freed’s 1980 ghostly aberration thriller, Beyond Evil, starring John Saxon and Lynda Day George as newly weds who end up staying in a haunted mansion that has been abandoned for roughly 100 years.    Can anything possibly go wrong with that?

Of course, plenty can go wrong … that’s the correct answer.   Janice Lynde (long-time soap star) plays Alma, the ghost possesses Lynda Day George and tries to kill John Saxon.   

Bonus features include a newly-prepared video session with filmmaker Herb Freed (titled: “Origins of Evil”) and a second newly-minted session with producer David Baughn (who teamed with Freed the following year, 1981, for Graduation Day) … this session is titled “Evil in Paradise.”

Next is writer/director and star James Hong’s 1989 “wine-making” chiller, The Vineyard.   A new 4K restoration from the film’s 35mm original camera negative is in store for fans with this first-time Blu-ray release.

DVD & Blu-ray Release Report, Ralph TribbeyDr. Po (James Hong) is a world-renown winemaker, with a secret.   He is actually centuries-old and has accomplished this with a “magic potion,” but something is amiss of late.   But, being a resourceful fellow, he thinks he might be onto a new formula … his prized wines mixed with youthful blood!!!

In a clever “victim pool” arrangement, Dr. Po recruits young actors to work on his winemaking film, which of course is nothing but a ruse to get a ready supply of young blood!

Bonus goodies are toplined by a new video session with James Hong and producer/actor Harry Mok (as “Warrior”), which is titled “Welcome to the Vineyard,” plus there are video sessions with co-director William Rice (titled: “Zombies from San Jose”) and cinematographer John Dirlam (titled: “Sacred Earth and Restless Souls”).

Not done yet.   Getting a new 2k restoration from its 35mm original camera negative is prolific director Paul Ziller’s 1990 debut film, Pledge Night.   

DVD & Blu-ray Release Report, Ralph TribbeyNew pledges to Phi Epsilon Gnu are the “victim pool” as the “ghost” of a long-dead pledge (played by Joey Belladonna in a flashback sequence) — who was boiled alive in a vat of acid (a prank gone wrong) — comes back for revenge (with a twist ending).   

We have four new interview sessions variously titled “Hell Weeks” (with director Paul Ziller), “Graduating to Horror” (with writer/producer Joyce Synder), “Hazing from Hell” (with actor Robert Lentini … as Silvera) and “The Bad Man” (with actor Arthur Lundquist … as Dan) and a locations featurette.

Rounding out the Sept. 24 Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack horror parade from Vinegar Syndrome is a new 2k restoration from its 35mm original camera negative of Spanish filmmaker Ignacio F. Iquino’s (aka: Steve McCoy) 1982 horror tale Secta Siniestra.   This is a rare one that Vinegar Syndrome has unearthed … and for many it will be a first time to see it come Sept. 24 (rumors of VHS copies floating around).

Secta Siniestra is presented in Spanish with English subtitles and comes with commentary from film historian and author Kat Ellinger.

DVD & Blu-ray Release Report, Ralph Tribbey


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