Vinegar Syndrome Announces Its Mar. 31 Line-Up Of DVD And Blu-ray Releases

This past week Vinegar Syndrome announced its March slate of new film restorations for release as DVD and Blu-ray product offerings.   The street date will be Mar. 31.

For fans of Vinegar Syndrome’s popular “Peekarama” series of vintage adult features on DVD, there is some long awaited good news as a pair of double-features will mark the return of the “Peekarama” promotional banner after a nearly two-year hiatus. 

On the schedule for delivery on Mar. 31 are 2K film restorations (from the 35mm original camera negatives) of Peekarama: Carnal Highways/Carnal Olympics, both from filmmaker Carlos Tabalina (featuring the lusty allure of Seka, Brook West, Marlene Munroe, Liza Dwyer and Rhonda Jo Petty), Peekarama: Frankie and Johnnie Were Lovers (directed by Alan Colberg, starring Rene Bond and Cyndee Summers) and The Mislayed Genie (directed by Eric Jeffrey Haims and also starring Rene Bond).

On the Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack release front from Vinegar Syndrome on Mar. 31, look for four new film restorations.   

We begin with director Ulli Lommel’s 1983 sexual-psycho tale, Olivia (aka: A Taste of Sin), starring Suzanna Love (as Lacey in Lommel’s The Boogey Man and Boogeyman II) as a brutalized wife and would-be lady of the night, who develops a penchant for killing men her dead mother tells her to.

Vinegar Syndrome has lined up a new 4K film restoration from the original 35mm camera negative of the uncut version of the film … Olivia had several different titles, including A Taste of Sin and Double Jeopardy, so this is the first time that the uncut presentation will be available.

We are first introduced to Olivia (Suzanna Love) in London (there’s a prologue with her as a child where she witnesses her mother’s murder), she is married to a brute by the name of Richard (Jeff Winchester), but hits upon the idea of turning tricks to get some extra cash to escape the marriage.   

During one of these encounters her mother speaks to her and so she must kill her client.   Seems reasonable.   In the aftermath, she meets a kindly stranger named Mike (played by the Robert Walker Jr. — The Happening, Easy Rider, Beware! The Blob, etc.) and they become “friends,” but Richard finds out and all hell breaks loose.

Skip ahead four years and we hook up with Mike, who was in London to move the famous London Bridge, and is now in Arizona putting it all back together.   And guess who crosses his path … but is it really the same woman he met in London?

But, more importantly, will he become her next victim?

Bonus goodies include four featurettes — “Becoming Olivia,” “Taking on Many Roles,” “A Chance Meeting” and “Learning from Ulli” — and some vintage 8mm “behind the scenes” footage shot by the film’s co-writer, John P. Marsh.

Also to be found on the Mar. 31 release calendar from Vinegar Syndrome is a Blu-ray only edition of director James Bryan’s 1984 biker flick, Hell Riders (a new 2K restoration) … which is amazing for its teaming of Ginger from Gilligan’s Island, Tina Louise with Bruce Wayne/Batman, Adam West (what a combination)!!!

Hell Riders comes with the interview session with filmmaker James Bryan titled “Straight to Hell.”

The other two Mar. 31 releases are Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack editions of Malabimba and Deadline.