It's summertime, and the living is sleazy when it comes to Vinegar Syndrome's latest releases on Blu-ray. Today we're looking at their May and June output - sorry, we got a bit behind - and there's a little something here for everyone. Four of the five releases are horror (or at least horror-adjacent), with films like cult-fave Slaughterhouse, indie hero Adam Rifkin's satanic slasher Psycho Cop Returns, chilling ghost story The Hearse, and the giallo-esque Double Exposure. The final film on today's roster is Malibu High, a film that delivers more than you might be expecting.
Dig in to the capsules below for more details!
William Byron Hillman's little known thriller, Double Exposure, is the kind of film that takes the viewer by surprise in the best way possible. Made in 1982, the film plays like a cross between a daytime soap-opera, a standard serial killer thriller, and an Italian giallo film. While it does take it's time to settle on a dominant tone, Double Exposure absolutely nails it in the final reel, giving the viewer plenty to chew on as the picture fades.
Adrian Wilde is a professional photographer who specializes in shooting lovely ladies in the buff for men's magazines. He shares a special bond with his brother, a double amputee - one arm and one leg - who works as a stunt driver in the movie business. One day Adrian begins to have violent nightmares about murdering his models in increasingly brutal and gruesome ways. The scary thing about these nightmares is that they seem to comes true shortly after he wakes up. Adrian begins to wonder what is going on, is he the one behind these murders and he can't remember, or is there something more sinister and supernatural going on? Plenty of scantily clad women fall prey to the menacing black-gloved killer throughout the run time of Double Exposure, but can Adrian figure it all out before they get to the woman he really loves?
While I enjoyed Double Exposure as it found its groove toward the end, there's no denying that the tone is really uneven in the first half of the film. The above-mentioned soap opera sensibility persists for a good forty minutes, meaning that it's a bit slower paced than a film like this should be. However, when the film kicks into high gear, it really starts to click. I have to admit, I didn't see the end coming, and I would love to be that surprised by every film. This one is definitely worth checking out.
The Disc:
I'm going to say some version of this for every Vinegar Syndrome release today, but Double Exposure looks fantastic in a newly scanned 2K restoration from the original camera negative. Fine detail and contrast are gorgeous, and the film looks beautiful. The original mono audio does its job well presenting the dialogue and effects clearly and without major defects.
Vinegar Syndrome have included a full length director commentary with Hillman on the disc that is very informative, but it is a pair of interviews with cinematographer R. Michael Stringer and script supervisor Sally Stringer that were most engaging for me. The former talks a lot about how he came to the project (late), and a lot of the techniques he used to make Double Exposure stand out. Stringer talks a lot about his work as a camera operator on several projects with John Cassavetes before coming to Double Exposure and it's a fascinating talk all around.
When Jane Hardy decides to stay the summer in the country manor willed to her by her late aunt to lick her wounds after a divorce, she attracts the negative attention of the townsfolk when they realize who she is and where she's staying. No one will explain to her why, buy she faces ostracization from all and sundry, even so far as not being able to find a handyman or being cut-off in the middle of trying to make small talk. To make matters worse, not only are the townspeople rejecting her, she's also being stalked by a mysterious black hearse by night. Eventually she learns that the house and her late aunt are somehow connected to a witchy presence and possible ghosts.
If there's one film among this bunch that just didn't work for me, it was probably George Bowers' The Hearse. The film shares a lot of the soap opera sensibility that the later Double Exposure did, and that drags it down a bit. Oddly, The Hearse might fit in well with the present trend of "post-horror" that's currently burning up the indie genre film circuit. Thankfully, unlike a lot of the films that tend to find themselves saddled with that non-genre label, The Hearse does eventually provide answers to its questions and wraps up in a fairly satisfactory way.
Probably the most exciting thing about The Hearse for film fans is the presence of Orson Welles regular Joseph Cotten as the local police chief. By this stage of his career in 1980, Cotten was doing a lot of b-movies, however, he doesn't offer a whole lot in The Hearse. He's mostly there to fill in some narrative gaps and collect a paycheck. Who can blame him?
The Disc:
Looks fantastic, sounds great. Vinegar Syndrome have scanned and restored the original camera negative for The Hearse at 2K resolution, and their work is, as always, impeccable.
The Hearse is the rare VinSyn release that doesn't feature an audio commentary, but there is a decent length interview with co-star David Gautreaux. Gautreaux plays a gentleman caller who woos Jane Hardy in the film, and would later go on to work steadily in TV.
And now a little break for the fun stuff!
Irvin Berwick's Malibu High is a really spirited - and twisted - take on the high school sex comedy. A softcore gem of a genre bending movie, Malibu High goes places that the viewer doesn't see coming, and it is all the better for it.
When Kim's (Jill Lansing) boyfriend dumps her for a rich girl, she decides it's high time that she starts to get what she deserves by any means necessary. Kim's family is poor, and she's not very good in school, but she knows what her assets are and she intends to exploit them fully. She starts off by sexually blackmailing her teachers for better grades, but quickly realizes that she can utilize her skills to solve her other problems as well. When the devil doll gets noticed by a high class pimp, she thinks she's finally made it to easy street, but little does she realize that shedding her clothes is only the beginning of her descent into sin. Soon this bobby-soxer has a gun in her hand and she learns how to use it.
Malibu High is a bizarre mix of genres that is never anything less than 100% entertaining. One part sex comedy, one part exploitation movie, and one part cautionary tale, it's a really fun ride and possibly my favorite of this bunch.
The Disc:
Vinegar Syndrome's new 2K scan from the original camera negatives is beautiful and sounds great. I've begun to expect nothing less from these champions of low budget cult home video.
The extras on this disc are pretty extensive, thanks to the enthusiasm of producer Lawrence Foldes, who was only 18 at the time the film was made. Foldes is all over this disc, appearing on an audio commentary track with actress Tammy Taylor, as well as an individual video interview, a Q&A video from a New Beverly screening in Los Angeles with Taylor and actor Alex Mann, and finally with two of his short subjects also included (Struggle for Israel and Grandpa & Marika). The disc also features video interviews with Taylor and actor Garth Pillsbury.
Everyone involved with this disc seems to have very fond memories of the film, and Foldes is one hell of a character, making his contributions well worth checking out. There are a bunch of great stories on the commentary track and in the interviews that make the extras at least as engaging as this very fun film. Definitely check out Malibu High.
Psycho Cop Returns helpful hint: If you're going to discuss the booze, boobs, and drug filled bachelor party you're throwing for a co-worker after hours on company property, make sure that Officer Joe Vickers doesn't hear you.
When a group of nasty co-workers decide to sin the night away in their office building they are visited by one of the craziest cops ever put on screen. These office drones have most of the deadly sins covered, and Officer Vickers wants to make them all pay. One by one, and even occasionally two at a time, Vickers dispatches the revelers in horrifyingly gruesome ways. Oh, did I mention that not only is Vickers clearly insane, he's also and undead Satan worshiper with a talent for splatter? In the eternal words of The Texas Chan Saw Massacre, who will survive, and what will be left of them?
Confession: I've never seen Psycho Cop, so I have no idea if and/or how this film compares or contrasts. However, I have seen a few films by Psycho Cop Returns director, and indie hero Adam Rifkin, and I must say this feels very much like a Rifkin film. Absurdly violent and very darkly comedic, Psycho Cop Returns isn't particularly smart, but it is gory as hell and a great film to put on late at night with a bunch of buddies who just want to watch people get hacked and slashed to bits. Job well done.
The Disc:
Psycho Cop Returns comes to us on Blu-ray from VinSyn in a brand new 2K scan in its complete, uncut form. The film looks pretty great, even when its low budget shows. Detail is clean and clear, contrast and black levels are solid, and there are no obvious defects. Great stuff
Vinegar Syndrome stacks the disc with a feature length audio commentary from Rifkin in which he discusses the project, as well as a "Victims of Vickers" FX featurette with artist Mike Tristano. However, the real gem of this disc is the 43 minute making of doc titled "Habeas Corpus", which features Rifkin, his writer Dan Povenmire, and most of the cast including Robert R Shafer (the Psycho Cop, himself) talking about the production and legacy of the film. It's a great little doc that provides context to what is otherwise a pretty fluffy film. I dig it.
Buddy has an axe to grind... A big axe.
Slaughterhouse has one of the greatest taglines in slasher film history, unfortunately, while the film had been a staple on video store shelves, it took a while for it to make it to Blu-ray from a couple of companies on opposite sides of the Atlantic. The film's oafish murderer, Buddy, is one of the more sympathetic slasher killers of the '80s, but his appearance definitely betrays a bit of the heart behind this film, which is larger than one might think.
When Lester Bacon's old fashioned slaughterhouse faces closure at the hands of a new-fangled assembly line slaughterhouse across town. Deep in debt and facing seizure of his land, Bacon turns to his massive and mentally unstable son, Buddy, to take care of anyone or anything that tries to disturb the family business. And take care he does, as Buddy butchers anyone unfortunate enough to get in his father's way, and perhaps a few unwitting teenagers along the way.
Slaughterhouse owes more than a little to the success of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, and Buddy's mental acuity seems to match Leatherface's pretty well. Where Leatherface used a chainsaw to finish off anyone unlucky enough to stumble onto his property, Buddy's giant cleaver seems to do the trick here. On the surface, Slaughterhouse is a pretty standard slasher film, but it is one that manages to keep the proceedings light enough to engender some sympathy for its victims, but brutal enough to satisfy the gorehound in me. Not too smart, but not too dumb, Slaughterhouse toes the line very well and delivers a rock solid experience.
The Disc:
Slaughterhouse lands on Blu-ray in a new 2K restoration from a 35mm interpositive and it looks great. The level of detail is exceptional, occasionally to the level of being disgusting, but that's why we're here, isn't it? The audio is clean and clear, even if a 5.1 track is perhaps unnecessary for this low budget feature.
Vinegar Syndrome really packs in the extras by porting over numerous interviews from various home video releases over the years as well as a few of their own, leading to nearly two hours of new and archival interviews and promotional materials. It's more than any Slaughterhouse fan could've ever asked for. Director Rick Roessler and producer Jerry Encoe are omnipresent on the disc, which is kind of fun because we get to see them at very different stages of their lives and their relationship to Slaughterhouse. We get a radio interview, a "no smoking" snipe, trailers, radio spots, you name it, it's here. Slaughterhouse is good, gory fun and comes highly recommended.