Vinegar Syndrome Announces Oct. 29 Film Restoration Calendar For Release On Blu-ray

Vinegar Syndrome teased it nicely.   The October film restoration package would be announced on, appropriately enough, Friday the thirteenth … the clock ticked down and sure enough Vinegar Syndrome’s web site came alive with four new Blu-ray releases that will hit retail outlets on Oct. 29 (just in time for Halloween screenings).

Leading the parade of 2K and 4K genre-themed film restorations is the four-film collection titled Amityville: The Cursed Collection (all four films are new 4K restorations from their respective 35mm original camera negatives).  

In the summer of 1979 director Stuart Rosenberg’s The Amityville Horror burst upon the scene and proved to be a blockbuster release.   So much so that it launched a forty-year long film love affair with Amityville-themed films that have been released theatrically, made for TV or direct to video.

To celebrate the 40^th Anniversary of this venerable horror franchise, Vinegar Syndrome will be delivering four in the series, beginning with the number four entry in the series, the 10^th Anniversary all-star television event production of writer/director Sandor Stern’s Amityville: The Evil Escapes, starring the late Patty Duke, Jane Wyatt, Aron Eisenberg (of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine fame), Norman Lloyd, Fredric Lehne and Brandy Gold and Zoe Trilling (aka: Geri Betzler) as the Evans sisters tormented by the demonic force.

Bonus features included with Amityville: The Evil Escapes include newly-prepared video sessions with filmmaker Sandor Stern (who adapted the Jay Anson novel for the first film, The Amityville Horror, in 1979) and cinematographer Tom Richmond.

Next up in the series is director Tony Randel’s 1992 direct-to-video release of Amityville: It's About Time (the sixth film in the series, chronologically speaking).   

Here, architect Jacob Sterling (Stephen Macht — Galaxina, The Choirboys, Graveyard Shift) returns home from a routine business trip with a prize find, a clock that in discovered in the debris of an old house.   It is possessed and he puts his girlfriend Andrea (Shawn Weatherly — J.J. Starbuck, Baywatch) and his two teenage kids, Lisa (Megan Ward — Encino Man) and Rusty (Damon Martin) in danger of being taken over by the clock’s demonic forces.

Bonus features are two new video sessions with director Tony Randel (Hellbound: Hellraiser II, The Double Born) and producer Chris DeFaria (Mad Max: Fury Road, Gravity, Amityville: A New Generation).

Next up in the Amityville: The Cursed Collection from Vinegar Syndrome on Oct. 29 is director John Murlowski’s 1993 direct to video release of Amityville: A New Generation … it is seventh in the series and also produced by Chris DeFaria.

This tale spins around a mirror from the original Amityville house that comes into the possession of photographer Keyes Terry (Ross Partridge), who soon discovers that those — mainly his unsuspecting friends — who gaze into the mirror see a future that does not bode well for them.   

Bonus goodies include commentary by director John Murlowski who is joined by producer/director Elijah Drenner (That Guy Dick Miller), plus there are two featurettes — “Through the Looking Glass” and “Malevolent Reflections,”

Rounding out this genre-fan collection is director Steve White’s 1996 direct-to-video chiller, Amityville Dollhouse — the eighth film in the original cycle and the last one before director Andrew Douglas’ 2005 re-boot of the series.

Bill (Robin Thomas — The Contender) and Claire Martin (Starr Andreeff — Ghoulies II) find a dollhouse in a shed on their new property that is an exact replica of the original Amityville house on 112 Ocean Avenue in Amityville, New York.    They give it to their young daughter and all hell breaks loose!!!

Bonus nuggets include video sessions with producer/director Steve White (he also produced Amityville: The Evil Escapes), cinematographer Tom Callaway and special effects artist Roy Knyrim.

Also on the film restoration calendar from Vinegar Syndrome and slated for delivery on Oct. 29 are three new Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack releases.   These are: Director Jefferson Richard’s 1987 film release of Berserker (bonuses include newly-prepared video sessions with director Jefferson Richard and actors Joseph Alan Johnson, Shannon Engemann and Mike Riley), director Jeff Kwitny’s 1989 horror tale, Beyond the Door III (includes featurettes titled “Running Amok” and “A Long Walk to Yugoslavia”) and director Anders Palm’s 1989 serial killer “comedy,” Unmasked Part 25 (includes commentary by Anders Palm and second commentary option with producer Mark Cutforth).