Until Monday midnight–well, it says “EST” but probably means "EDT–Vinegar Syndrome is having a sale!
VS is interesting because you pay more for their loving restorations of cheesy, sleazy flicks than you would for “good” movies. And it’s surprising how watchable many of these films become once you clean them up. Honestly, the cover art alone tends to elevate the contents (in the great tradition of the video store). Take, for example, Hobgoblins (please!):
That cover captures the movie’s essence better than the…uh…actual movie! Hobgoblins everywhere! Mysterious vaults! Old man! Rake fights!
And you get extras!
Archival commentary track with director Rick Sloane
“Hobgoblins Revisited” brand new making-of featurette
Brand new interview with hobgoblin creature fabricator, Kenneth J. Hall
“Hobgoblins: The Making of a Disasterpiece” featurette
“Hobgoblins Invade Comic-Con” featurette
They’ve done some amazing work in recent years, and if you have Shudder or have ever watched Red Letter Media’s “Best of the Worst”, you’ve probably experienced it without knowing.
But they are pricey. I assume that’s how they stay in business, high prices, limited editions. So the sale is worth checking out.
I bought no less than two unriffed MST3K films from this sale (Hobgoblins because of that case and Ilya Muromets (Sword and the Dragon) ). I regret nothing!
VS is truly the Criterion of Cheesy Movies, though they’ve expanded their horizons by adding some genuinely awesome movies over the years. I think their releases are worth it, considering the picture/audio quality they usually provide, as well as the quality of special features.
It almost interests me more to know how these movies are made, versus the production histories of many large-budget studio movies. Like the Manos Q&A said, there’s something endearing about even the worst movies out there - some effort was put in somewhere during production, even if the end result is a feast of incompetence.
It really is kind of wonderful. They dig up movies that are forgotten, nearly destroyed, and bring them back to life—and some of them are quite good, or at least more interesting, than a lot of “better” movies.
These guys have an impressive selection of oddities. My horror-loving heart is thrilled, but my wallet is very upset with me at the moment. I’ve bookmarked the site for later.
I love that the yard rake fight is featured on the cover like it’s some epic face-off for our hero, though there really isn’t much to choose from (perhaps the face-off with the criminal would have been thematically more fitting).
To be fair, it’s really the only way to make their business model work. Manufacturing and storing physical goods gets expensive fast and there’s a finite amount of people who want to buy (say) Hobgoblins.
(Miami Connection 4K VSU was already paid for during the “Halfway to Halfway” event.)
Slipcovers:
Hobgoblins
The Coca-Cola Kid
Hangs Upon Nothing
Voyage of the Rock Aliens
Standard Editions:
Ilya Muromets (Sword and the Dragon)
Buster Keaton Rides Again/Helicopter Canada
Summer of '84 (4K)
The Vineyard
Treasure of the Ninja (The Films of William Lee)
Born to Win
…aaaand the “half-year” package covering the rest of 2022
Granted, many of these were marked down, I had promo codes and I finally paid off my car loan the month before, opening up a bit more room in my budget. Buuuut with that being said, however…looks like I’m buying a maximum of five blu-rays or less the rest of the year!
