Sorting Out the Syns: '80s Horror, '70s Sleaze, and Everything In-between with Roberta Findlay, Ted V. Mikels, and More

Director Earl Barton's Trip with the Teacher is one of those films that has for years been relegated to the bargain bin in those 50 Films on 2 Disc collections at the bottom of the Walmart dump bins, but leave it to Vinegar Syndrome to take this nasty little piece of work and do it up right.

Ms. Tenney, played by Brenda Fogarty (star of more than one '70s sexploitation film), is taking her class of nubile young girls on a field trip to the Grand Canyon when their fun is interrupted by a gang of horned-up bikers looking for some fun. When the bikers, led by The Red Shoe Diaries’ legendary creator Zalman King in one of several of his supremely unsettling on-screen appearances as a sleazy villain, don't take this rejection lightly and the bus carrying the young ladies breaks down, it becomes a battle for survival in the western badlands. The bikers lead the girls to an abandoned farmhouse, and I'm pretty sure you can imagine the rest. Will they get away of won't they? That's the question, and perhaps only the teacher can save them.

Trip with the Teacher is pretty textbook in its approach to the roughie formula of the '60s, only with less explicit sex and a tad bit more plot. The film is cut together nicely and even though 90 minutes sounds a bit long for a film like this, it actually moves along at a decent clip. The film finds itself somewhere between legendary hardcore film The Farmer's Daughters (also starring Zalman King) and Wes Craven's Last House on the Left, but more ambitious than the former and less than the latter. All in all, it pretty much does what it says on the tin and fans who are interested by the premise will more than likely be satisfied by the execution.

The Disc:

Vinegar Syndrome presents Trip with the Teacher in yet another excellent looking 2K transfer and restoration from the original 16mm camera negatives. You do lose a bit of resolution coming from a less dense piece of source material, but this looks as great as I can imagine anyone wanting it to look.

In terms of extras, Vin Syn provides a feature commentary with director Barton and stars Cathy Worthington & Dina Oursley, a great interview with another actress on the project, Brenda Fogarty who talks about her long career in the arts including a long time spent as a dancer, as well as a trailer and some TV spots to round out the package.

Trip with the Teacher never bored me and for fans of '70s exploitation or the films I mentioned above, it's a home run.

 Ever seen a horror film about a haunted ghost samurai who comes to life at night? Well, neither had I until I saw Fabrice Zaphiratos' mind-bender, Blood Beat.

When Sarah and her boyfriend Ted go home to spend the holidays with Ted's family weird things start to happen. Weird things like the serial slaughter of local townsfolk and family members by a mysterious ghostlike figure dressed as a samurai. As Sarah and Ted try to unravel the mystery, the members of the household start to drop like flies and it's only a matter of time before the killer ghost gets to them.

I really don't know what to say about this film. It doesn't make one goddamned lick of sense, and yet it's inexplicably compelling. There is literally zero reason for a samurai to be a part of this film at all, but nevertheless, there's a goddamned ghost samurai murdering dudes left and right. There's a lot of painting, a lot of terrible clothing, and certainly a lot more mystical boinging than one might expect in a bargain basement supernatural slasher from 1983.

I've now seen Blood Beat and couple of times and while I no more clear on what it's about now than the first time I saw it, I'm pretty sure I like it.

The Disc:

Blood Beat another stellar release from Vin Syn in the A/V department. I'm not going to rehash the amazing job they do with restoration of all of their work, but I will pause here to point out that apparently the end credits weren't available from a film source, so those appear from a pretty messed up looking video source. Apart from that, everything looks and sounds great.

On this disc we get another boatload of really fascinating extras, including one which may be my favorite Vin Syn extra so far (for personal reasons). First up is an audio commentary from the director, who seems to believe that he made a much more ambitious film than the one I watched. More power to you, man. That's followed up with a video interview from the same Mr. Zaphiratos in which he claims inspiration from Star Wars in this project. I don't see it, but hey, you do you. There's also an interview with cinematographer Vladimir Van Maule that was less compelling, but worth checking out. The big bonus on this one, however, is a 28 minute silent version of the film with a custom score from Denton, TX band, Nervous Curtains that was specifically commissioned for Horror Remix in Richardson, Texas several years ago. 

The silent version of the film cuts together all the best parts of Blood Beat and lays a new audio soundtrack over the film that is surreal and compelling at the same time. I was fortunate enough to be at the live premiere of this live scoring project when Horror Remix debuted it several years back and it was a really fun experience that is pretty decently recreated here. If the film's 86 minute runtime is intimidating, this shorter silent version is just the ticket.

What the hell is Demon Wind? That is a question for the ages.

The newest film in this batch (1990), Demon Wind is like a dumber, cheaper Evil Dead 2 in which a group of twenty-somethings travel out to an abandoned house in the furthest regions of BFE to try to unravel the mystery of some family deaths. What they find instead is a vengeful spirit intent upon taken their souls and ripping their bodies to shreds. And frankly, the spirit seems to be pretty damned good at it. One by one the youngsters fall victim to the demon possessed wind that turns them all into creatures from Hell and dispatches them in gloriously brutal fashion.

Director Charles Philip Moore's Demon Wind is confusing, aggressively dumb, and gory as hell. Just the way I like them. This film never made the jump to DVD, making this Blu-ray an essential purchase for anyone interested in exploring the depths of their own souls (and giggling maniacally over gallons of gore strewn hither and yon throughout the film). Low budget, big fun, dumb as shit. Thumbs up!

The Disc:

Looks great, sounds great. Just like every other Vin Syn disc, no issues to report.

The Demon Wind Blu-ray is a solid release with several great featurettes and a great transfer. We get enlightening interviews with producer Sandy Horowitz, actress Sherry Leigh, and cinematographer Thomas Callaway, along with an audio interview with editor Christopher Roth and a still gallery and trailer. 

I had a lot of fun with this film. Even though Demon Wind doesn't make a whole lot of sense, it's buckets of fun and I definitely recommend checking it out.

 There are not a whole lot of women who made a big impression during the wild and woolly '70s and '80s exploitation boom, but Roberta Findlay was certainly one of them. Findlay directed dozens of sleazy gems from the late '60s straight through the late '80s and Vinegar Syndrome has grabbed some of her best for the deluxe treatment.

A Woman's Torment is the story of the Compton family, Don (Jeffrey Hurst) and Frances (Marlene Willoughby), who have been having a rough time recently due to the fact that they've become the caretakers of Frances' mentally disturbed sister, Karen (Tara Chung). Frances refuses to send her to an institution even though Don insists, and soon Don's instincts prove correct as Karen runs away to the family's beach house and begins a spree of violence that no one understands or sees coming. Karen's grip on reality slipping, it's up to Don and Frances to keep her together, but the chances of that are looking slim.

A Woman's Torment is a fascinating hardcore adult thriller. There are a number of explicit sex scenes in the film, and most of them are directly plot, which is welcome. However, beyond the explicit scenes, the film definitely works well on its own and that is evidenced through the R-rated version of the film included on the DVD in this set. I haven't seen a lot of Findlay films, but of the work I've seen, this ranks near the top for its audaciousness and considered approach to the subject matter. Well done.

The Disc

Another knockout A/V presentation from Vin Syn in a 2K restoration from the original negatives. No concerns here

Vin Syn provides a few really compelling extras for A Woman's Torment, though I could've watched hours more. There is a feature commentary with Findlay on the R-rated version, she is full of insight and sharp as a tack, really a joy to listen to. Which makes the included Q & A session from a 2017 screening at the Quad cinema in NYC a welcome addition, even if the footage isn't great, at least the subject is. There's also an interview with actor Michael Gaunt who plays a handyman who gets more than a little handsy with Karen and pays the price. He's only in the film for a few minutes, but his interview is interesting nonetheless.

I think A Woman's Torment may be my favorite of this particular batch. If you're not turned off by the hardcore scenes, I'd call this a must buy.

The Findlay love continues with a double feature from her later period of Prime Evil and Lurkers. I definitely have a favorite of these, but both are worth checking out.

In Prime Evil a coven of evil priests whose roots go back centuries are looking for new recruits and sacrifices to ensure the earthly return of their dark lord, Satan. On the hunt for victims, they encounter plenty of sex and violence in '87 New York City. This is a really fun bucket of sleaze that hits all the right buttons for fans of degenerate cinema. Devil worship, plenty of sex, perverted priests, and grimy NYC locales make it a must watch for fans of Bill Lustig's New York. 

Lurkers from 1988 is one of Findlay's final films, and it definitely looks like the wind was going out of her sails by the time this film hit the screens. The story centers on Cathy, who saw her father murdered by her deranged mother when she was a kid. Mother warned her that if she didn't behave, she'd get taken by the lurkers, and proceeds to display the absolute worst parenting skills I've ever seen in a film. Joan Crawford is a cakewalk by comparison. Cathy grows up and makes her way back to the family home, but she knows that something isn’t' right and the lurkers begin to rear their ugly, evil heads, sending her into a frenzy.

Lurkers commits the worst sin that a film can commit, it's boring. Apart from an insanely long conversation between two mostly naked models about financial markets - which is goddamned hysterical - there's not much new or exciting to see here. The FX is pretty weak, and the story just isn't compelling. However, thankfully Prime Evil really delivers the goods and is definitely worth the price of admission on its own.

The Disc

Both films are housed on a single disc, but there's no sign of image compromise here and both look perfectly decent. Not much in the way of extras, which is understandable, but we do get another great Findlay commentary (for Prime Evil, thankfully) and isolated score tracks, which is kind of fun as both films do have fun, bouncy synth tracks backing them. There are also trailers for each.

Prime Evil is a dirty little gem that I really enjoyed, Lurkers is also here.

 There are a small handful of legendary exploitation filmmakers out there whose names inspire confidence among connoisseurs of no-budget filmmaking and Ted V. Mikels is one of them. Mikels directed over two dozen films in his career, and The Corpse Grinders is probably one of the most well-known of the bunch.

When the Lotus Cat Food Company starts to lose its edge in the cut-throat pet food market, they decide that cutting a few throats of their own may be the only way out. A local cemetery provides a cheap source of fresh-ish meat with only the most minor of ill-effects. Unfortunately, the taste fo human flesh causes the local cat population to go on a killing spree, and the owners of Lotus will do anything to keep their little problem quiet. The cops trace a series of animal attack killings back to Lotus and it's only a matter of time before the jig is up.

The Corpse Grinders is a lot of super grimy fun for fans of low budget horror films. This 1971 film looks like it was shot at least six or seven years earlier and has the feel of those mid-sixties H.G. Lewis shockers like Color Me Blood Red and Blood Feast, but with a much smaller cast, crew, and production. Co-written by Eegah's Arch Hall, Sr., The Corpse Grinders is a legend for a reason. 10 tons of fun in a 5 ton bag, it's hard to go wrong with killer kitties.

The Disc:

The source materials for The Corpse Grinders appear to have been in rougher shape than the other films included this week, but it was also shot on 16mm color film, so there's definitely a curve that one can apply. That being said, it looks and sounds really solid for what it is and I have no complaints.

Sadly, Ted V. Mikels passed away in 2016, so all footage of him in archival for this release, but it is well worth checking out. The disc includes a commentary by filmmaker Elijah Drenner (American Grindhouse, and the producer/director of numerous featurettes for Vinegar Syndrome, Redemption, and many more) that includes several interludes with audio from Mikels' private files that are definitely worth checking out. There's also a 2007 interview with Mikels in which he discusses this film, his process, and his hopes for the future, including a third Corpse Grinders film (which did get made), and his excitement about even the possibility of making a new film is infectious, making him a great subject.

This is a classic horror film that spent a lot of time swimming around the bottom of the barrel, but with Vinegar Syndrome's new Blu-ray release, The Corpse Grinders finally gets the sunshine it deserves. Recommended.