Vinegar Syndrome Halfway to Black Friday Haul Part 1

We are halfway through 2022, and the sales have not stopped. Perhaps the highlight of this time of year for many of us is Vinegar Syndrome’s Halfway to Black Friday Sale that took place over Memorial Day weekend. In lieu of my usual haul post and a quick re-cap of all the films I got, I figured I might try something different. You see unlike Criterion titles, the overwhelming majority of Vinegar Syndrome pickups are blind buys. There is a buzz about going blindly into this, basing your pickups on recommendations or simply taking a chance. You might be in for a newly discovered classic, or a craptacular dud.

I would argue that no label is quite the crapshoot as Vinegar Syndrome. I believe they are responsible for releasing more films featured on Best of the Worst as anyone else. Even the “great” films they put out are often hated by fellow fans and subscribers. However any fan of cult cinema will recognize that they are the absolute best when it comes to restoring and releasing the weird, marginalized, fringe movies that deserve to be seen.

Well I’ll keep things somewhat short and get into some of the actual films I’ve watched over the past 24-48 hours. Hopefully I’ll keep this going for the rest of the haul and the monthly subscription packages as they get delivered.

Thriller: A Cruel Picture (1973)

Each major sale from VS is usually centered around a bundle of titles, with one or two being the highlights. Vinegar Syndrome has spent the better part of 2022 hyping up their massive 4k restoration of Thriller. The set contains three separate cuts of the film, a boatload of extras and two separate slipcovers. Despite not actually being 50% off for the sale it still managed to sell out over the weekend and without question became the biggest ticket item of the sale. It seemed fitting that I would start my own watch-a-thon with it.

As is usually the case when faced with multiple versions of the same film I often go with the longest version. That happened to be the Cannes cut which was long out of circulation and features some hardcore inserts. I say inserts because it is pretty clear that whoever’s close-up genitals are being shown don’t belong to the actors in the scene. I can only speak on this Swedish version but I will say it might have benefited from the American release. It was distributed by AIP, which had a habit of buying foreign exploitation cinema and then cutting 15-30 minutes from it.

I’d say the hardcore elements seemed jarring and out of place, so getting rid of those is no great loss. The scenes of violence are stylistically shown in super-duper slow-motion to an almost comical extent. There are also several dragging scenes that could have definitely been tightened up. Since Thriller aka They Call Her One Eye was a longstanding cult classic, I’m going to assume it is largely on the strength of the American re-edit. The Swedish version is by no means a bad film, and actually quite compelling. I worried it would linger too much on its unsavory elements but it offers just enough to set up the second half. There’s a reason this is a classic, and if you were fortunate enough to get the deluxe edition, enjoy. At some point I will watch the other versions included, but for now it was a good start. 

Grave Robbers (1988)

As fate would have it there are more than one films named Grave Robbers released by Vinegar Syndrome. Both came recommended for different reasons. This particular one was described as a Twin Peaks-esque dark comedy and well that description isn’t entirely inaccurate. Caroline actually requested we watch this because it had a loose association with the mortuary sciences. It is at this point that I should warn my readers that many of VS’s releases are a little better with some weed. Everyone in the film just feels slightly off, which along with an early diner scene are the reasons it probably drew Twin Peaks comparisons.

Now this is a classic VS release. There is no world in which Grave Robbers is a “good film” but it was a blast to watch. The surreal nature of the movie was thoroughly compelling and I was on board with the wackiness. In order to enjoy it, you have to take a few leaps of faith though. The central set up to the film is so bizarre that it can sink or swim the whole thing nearly 5 minutes in. A diner waitress who apparently used to be a prostitute accepts a marriage proposal from a stranger in the middle of her shift, fucks off to live in a funeral home and to the surprise of no one, things get weird. This definitely is the type of polarizing picture this company made it’s reputation on so for better or worse this represents the VS brand beautifully.

Scared to Death (1980)

William Malone’s debut feature I believe was one of the final two titles unveiled for the Halfway to Black Friday bundle. I pre-ordered the bundle two months before the sale to save money and lock in free shipping, so I didn’t actually know this was being included. As a halfway subscriber, there will be titles throughout the rest of the year that get sent my way automatically. I therefore felt like this would be a nice introduction to some of the “might as well” releases I’d be receiving. To be honest the majority of Malone’s later features I am either unfamiliar with or they’re just plain garbage.

Scared to Death looked absolutely dreadful in the opening shot, but luckily the restoration looked significantly better as it progressed. It was shot on 16mm in 1980 so I know there’s sometimes only so much you can do especially when something has been out of circulation this long. The movie itself is essentially asking the question “What if we made Alien a slasher film, but he was genetically engineered because we don’t have the money to do space?” So part creature feature, part slasher, and not terribly original. Some of the performances help elevate the movie from the bottom of the barrel, but this is one of those titles where if it isn’t automatically included in your subscription you can probably pass.  

Rancho Deluxe (1975)

So the sale isn’t only about Vinegar Syndrome, there are something like 13 partner labels who participate in the sale as well. Although I largely ignored the recommendations on these titles, Rancho Deluxe was repeatedly recommended. It so happens I was intrigued enough by the involvement of director Frank Perry and the rather stellar cast. Like a sucker though I was sold on the “low slip count” at the start of the sale. So my first order was for this, Fade to Black ,and Grave Secrets. For better or worse, Vinegar Syndrome lists the number of copies left when it dips under 1000. So if you start panicking about a particular title because there are 140 copies left it can sway you to pick it up. It does work both ways because there are plenty of titles I passed on because they were well over 1000. Rancho Deluxe was definitely in the FOMO category.

I have seen a handful of Perry’s films and I can’t quite find a through-line between them. This is possibly the only real comedy he made, and definitely the only one that resembles a Western. Jeff Bridges and Sam Waterson play a couple of likable cattle rustlers who seem to be more into causing mischief than any diabolical criminal activity. The rest of the supporting cast is a who’s who of 70s character actors. For better or worse it also features original music by Jimmy Buffet, who even appears as himself in a saloon. I would definitely recommend it for fans of Bridges, Harry Dean Stanton, and Frank Perry.

Alley Cat (1984)

For reasons I can’t quite understand Vinegar Syndrome has a number of imprints within their label. Among those are the VSA titles, typically limited to 5000 copies, they are designed to be available for a shorter time then gone forever. Typically they have slightly larger budgets and production values, but are more an ode to the video store days. There isn’t a definitive theme among the films, but they do tend to lean more towards action than horror.

Alley Cat is the current front-runner for best film of the haul. I haven’t watched enough of the VSA’s to make any broad generalizations, but I have been mostly impressed with the ones I’ve seen. Karin Mani is awesome as our heroine here. Unlike many revenge, female’s who kick ass movies, she arrives fully formed as a badass. We get no training montages and there is no scene where she actually gets her ass kicked. Alley Cat is something of a cross between a female driven Death Wish and a less vulgar Savage Streets.

Watching a few of these movies there does seem padding, but the only bit of fluff I can find in this movie is the credits which roll incredibly slow, followed by some music on black afterwards to stretch the running time to 83 minutes. If I had any complaint it might be that there’s just not enough of this film. We get a solid half dozen scenes of obnoxious men underestimating our hero only for her to beat their asses. For good measure we even get about five minutes worth of a women in prison movie, which of course features a shower scene because them’s the rules. Reading the reviews on Letterboxd I can say a few folks do not share my enthusiasm, but this was a delightful little package that made my day.

Stanley (1972)

William Grefe is one of those purveyors of regional schlock that seem to be perpetually rediscovered lately. Like Bill Rebane he has a boxed set of films via Arrow, but unlike Bill Rebane he isn’t one of the worst filmmakers to ever live. With that in mind I’m going to tell you Stanley was not for me. Perhaps it is the simple fact that I don’t care for snakes, or the particular brand of low budget trash he operates in is the Florida swamps. Cliff Robinson plays one of the whitest Seminole’s in film, who really loves snakes to the point of murdering everyone who doesn’t share his enthusiasm. In fact if anyone harms his snakes, or threatens to, he is quick to sic his beloved rattlesnake Stanley on them.

This falls into that weird subgenre of “when animals attack” and I guess Grefe, thought fuck it snakes. This was included as a double feature with Horror High. Regional low budget horror is a decided mixed bag, and it’s hard to really classify this as a horror film. It does have plenty of inappropriate music, and rather low stakes situations met with profound brutality. As much as the film might want us to sympathize with our protagonist, he does not make it easy. He does start to unravel which makes it a somewhat interesting turn, but so much of the first ⅔ of Stanley has you questioning what the hell is up with this guy.

Horror High (1973)

In my limited experience with Vinegar Syndrome double features, they tend to go one for two. So after being somewhat let down with Stanley I was hoping for greatness on Horror High. It isn’t exactly a dud, but it’s very far from great. Horror High is cheap and doesn’t try very hard to hide the fact. Val Lewton discovered several decades earlier that if your makeup looks like shit, it’s best to hide it in shadows. Rather on the nose is the opening class film where we hear but don’t see (get it) Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Instead of just hiding a reference to a favorite classic horror film, this goes the very literal route of being a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde knock-off.

Poor Vernon Potts has no shortage of bullies, but his awkwardness is matched only by his scientific ability. Well after a comically violent scene with the world’s most sadistic janitor, he is forced to drink his own experimental potion, and essentially becomes Mr. Hyde. Then the pattern of someone being unreasonably mean to Vernon followed by him Hyde-ing out and getting his revenge plays out until the cops get wise. Some of the kills are fun, and I particularly loved the brutality with cleats. This is one of those cheap drive-in flicks where you can figure out the plot about 20 minutes in and you won’t be wrong. Satisfying in that “good for him” sort of way but it is definitely bogged down by its cheapness.

Overall a pretty decent start to the haul. I did wind up watching a couple other films, but I’ll hold off on those reviews for a potential future post.

The 2021 Academy Awards

I didn’t forget about you, although like many people I may have come close to forgetting about the Academy Awards this year. Having a year where many delayed films got released, and production resumed albeit in a “new normal” way, 2021 saw cinema get back to business as usual, sort of. Despite this being about the least pre-prepared I was in years, the later show date (tonight, oops) gave me some time to play catch up. As always I will offer some of my lukewarm takes on the nominees, possibly predict winners that will be laughably wrong, and bitch about everything. The tradition continues. I've put my predictions in bold, just to see how I do.

 

Let’s start the categories that will most likely be announced earliest, supporting actor and actress. Mark my words we’re about a decade away from these categories being thrown out because of gender identity, so enjoy outdated binary gender based awards while you can.

 

Best Supporting Actor:

 

Thanks to a last minute rental of Belfast (yes I legitimately watched all the nominees this year for the first time since 2005 I think), I am up to date on this category. Ciaran Hinds is definitely the type of actor who would get an awards because this category is always dominated by old actors who never won. That said I have to go with Troy Kotsur for CODA. I didn’t need that film in my life, but he was an absolute highlight of it. I feel like The Power of the Dog actors will cancel each other out, although Chicago and The Godfather Part 2 have proved that isn’t always the case. J.K. Simmons recent win in this category doesn’t mean he won’t win (think Mahershala Ali and Christoph Waltz). However the rather “meh” reaction to Aaron Sorkin’s latest monologue-a-thon puts him in the be happy for the nomination category.

 

Best Supporting Actress:

I have never heard of Ariana DeBose, but I’d bet a nickel she’ll win an Oscar today. She seems to have been doing well in some of the pre-Oscar award shows and well this category is extremely weak. More on this in a bit, but 2021 was not some “year of the woman”, the nominees this year have female roles as an afterthought at best. Supporting actress Oscars usually go to a co-star who far upstages their leads. DeBose does that admirably, giving easily the most memorable performance in West Side Story. It also helps that Rita Moreno won this category for playing the same role, even if the characters have different names. Judi Dench is fine in Belfast but she basically is just being a pleasant grandmother. Kirsten Dunst is the type of actress who has been around forever without ever taking home one of these things so I wouldn’t rule her out. She also did arguably the most “acting” in The Power of the Dog. I had to look up Aunjanue Ellis to see who she played in King Richard which would tell you everything you need to know about how forgettable her performance was. Jessie Buckley is a fine actress who might win one of these trophies some day, but The Lost Daughter was such an insufferable slog that I’m rooting against her on principle.

 

Best Actor

 

This is the category I crossed off first this year, and I know everyone out there is thrilled to be given that knowledge. So fun little Oscar trivia, because you know I wouldn’t let people enter an Oscar party without a useless factoid to drop. 2001 was the first year that two black actors were nominated for best actor. Those two actors were Denzel Washington and Will Smith. Denzel took his home for Training Day, and Will Smith famously was out of the theater before the award was even handed out. Exactly twenty years later they are going up against each other and this time Will Smith seems to be in the “he’s due” side of things and Denzel is on team “happy to be nominated”. I will say I infinitely preferred Joel Coen’s Tragedy of Macbeth to King Richard, but this feels like Will Smith’s award to lose. That said I was 100% certain Chadwick Boseman was getting a posthumous award last year, so I’ve been wrong before. Javier Bardem and Andrew Garfield also seem to be riding the nice to be nominated wave, even though both are great. Garfield is proving himself the best of the Spider Man actors, even if he might have been the worst of the Spider Men. Benedict Cumberbatch is Smith’s toughest competition, and I honestly think he should win, but politics play a larger role than the strength of the performance.

 

Best Actress

 

I now present to you the weakest category in this year’s awards. It seems mathematically impossible for there to be 10 best picture nominees and zero overlap between that category and best actress. So anyone wondering what film might sweep every major category like It Happened One Night, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and Silence of the Lambs will have to wait at least another year. That isn’t saying the individual performances are bad, it’s just that the films they were attached to left something to be desired. I will say as of this writing I did not get to see Parallel Mothers so will not speak on Penelope Cruz’s performance. Olivia Coleman plays one of the worst people I’ve seen in a movie in The Lost Daughter and I genuinely hated the film. Nicole Kidman does a fine job even if she is at least a decade too old for the role. Kidman has proven herself one of her generation’s greatest actresses and this could definitely be another win for her, but she’s done better. Then again The Hours was far from her best work. Nothing would make me happier than Kristen Stewart winning, just to watch people’s heads explode. She also happens to be excellent in Spencer even if I’m one of 20 people who actually watched the movie. That leaves us with my default pick, Jessica Chastain for The Eyes of Tammy Faye. This film didn’t need to be made, and it didn’t particularly enrich my life in any way. That said Chastain is absolutely amazing in it. She truly disappears in the role, becoming unrecognizable and utterly committed. It possibly was the best performance of the year, and Renee Zellwegger proved two years ago that you can win this category playing a real person even if the movie is lousy.

 

Best Director

It isn’t a requirement that the best picture winner is nominated for best director, but well the numbers back it up. In other words these five films are the real contenders for best picture. Spielberg’s two trophies in this category make this seem a little more honorary than usual. His last nomination in this category was for Lincoln, so he’s not quite in Meryl Streep (or Diane Warren for that matter”) company, but close. Paul Thomas Anderson has certainly proved he deserves one of these, but despite how much I loved Licorice Pizza he still feels like a long shot. Kenneth Branagh has the benefit of working with black and white which worked as recently as 2018’s Roma for Cuaron. Ryuske Hamaguchi can join many other foreign directors who earned somewhat surprise nominations with no actual momentum. Spielberg won his first best director Academy Award for Schindler’s List beating out among others Jane Campion. This time I think Campion gets her 28 year revenge. There is apparently some drama surrounding her personally but if it didn’t stop Roman Polanski from winning I think she has it.

 

Best Picture

 

Belfast- This film and CODA I believe were the only best picture nominees under two hours, so thank you Mr. Branagh for that. There is something familiar about many of this year’s best picture nominees, including the fact that THREE of them are remakes, but even the original pictures seem to hit all the notes you would expect. A coming-of-age story set against turbulent real world events is not a new trope, but this film just made me miss Thomasin McKenzie in Jojo Rabbit. Probably didn’t help that she looks a bit like Lara McDonnell who plays Moira in this. I also couldn’t help but be reminded what a piece of shit Van Morrison is these days with his music all over the film.

 

CODA - There is usually a spot reserved when breaking down these films every year for me discussing how fast they will fade out of memory. CODA felt like it would be an insufferable slog when it started but seemed to settle into another coming-of-age story and about the only best picture nominee whose main protagonist is a female. CODA has about he same chance of winning best picture as the Detroit Lions winning the Super Bowl. If you have Apple TV, The Tragedy of Macbeth is definitely the better film, but get your money’s worth and watch this too.

 

Don’t Look Up - As someone who likes Adam McKay’s films, even going so far as to name The Big Short my favorite film of 2015, this movie can eat my ass. There are some movies that let the audience fill in some blanks, draw their own conclusions, and then there’s this. An all-star film that seems like the kind of thing Republican politicians will use to convince people Hollywood is all a bunch of out of touch liberals who think they’re idiots. I don’t mean to get into politics here, but this movie is as subtle as a Michael Moore documentary and nowhere near as entertaining or informative. It’s hard not to view it as insulting to the audience’s intelligence. Entertaining at times, there is no universe in which this should have even been considered for best picture.

 

Drive My Car - We have no reached the “Dave’s a pretentious film snob” part of the nominees. Here is where I mention how this is truly the best film of the year and point to an army of critics who agree. I had every intention of seeing Hamaguchi’s film before the nominations were announced, and still need to see his equally praised Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy which also came out last year. I would like to think in a post-Parasite world this actually has a chance, but if I’m being honest I don’t see it winning. It is too leisurely paced, too philosophical, and there’s not enough action and bloodshed to really capture the anti-subtitle crowd. As long as it’s on HBO Max though please watch it, It’s better than at least 9 other best picture nominees.

 

Dune - The first of the remakes on this year’s ballot. I know it’s brilliant, or it’s shit, or I’m an idiot because I didn’t read every book, or Lynch’s version is a corny mess, or it’s a brilliant misunderstood masterpiece, or I need to see the mini-series, or that also sucks. I was honestly exhausted by this film before it came out, which may have had something to do with the fact that it was delayed a year only to be released on streaming. More realistically it’s because science fiction nerds are the worst, even if I kind of am one. My faults with the film are somewhat understandable, it is half a movie. It ends at such a non-climax that it feels frustrating. Not to say I need closure, Antonioni taught me that, it just felt like a pilot episode of a show. I’m intrigued to watch another episode but I can’t make up my mind if I actually like the show. I can’t fathom how Hans Zimmer’s score for this is also nominated for an Oscar, it was as obtrusive as the Wonder Woman theme from the Snyder Cut of Justice League. I feel often that there’s at least one best original score nominee that honors whatever the loudest score was. This year it’s Dune. It’s well made and all but I’ll hold off my final judgement until the rest of it gets made, if such a time arrives.

 

King Richard - I’m embarrassed to say this was the only best picture nominee I had seen before the nominations came out. I understand Will Smith REALLY wants to in an Oscar, and this is his shot, but to nominate the film in any other category is a joke. Narrative films need one thing, conflict, and when you know that these two girls go on to be the best female tennis players ever all the drama is gone. Then you just get frustrated watching his character be a stubborn and insufferable helicopter parent. It also seems kinda insulting to make a movie about the origins of two of the most famous female athletes of all time and give all the credit to their father.

 

Licorice Pizza - Despite trying to see this on Christmas, I didn’t actually see it until 24 hours before the Oscar telecast. As much as I love Paul Thomas Anderson’s work, it usually takes a second viewing to appreciate what he was doing. Licorice Pizza just made me happy in a way none of his films really do. They’re always something of a bummer, but this was just a delight. Sure it’s another slice of life in the valley in the 70s, but this couldn’t feel more departed from Boogie Nights or Inherent Vice. The cast is all wonderful, I particularly loved John C. Reilly playing Herman Munster for two seconds. I feel for the actors though who had to do sooooo much running. If I were ranking the nominees this would probably be my third favorite, but I have no confidence in it winning. Anderson will most likely have his day, but it’s going to take something a little more ambitious.

 

Nightmare Alley - Another remake, and another film with Bradley Cooper, and another movie featuring Cate Blanchett? Nightmare Alley seems to check off every box for a nominee in 2021. It’s been years since I saw Edmond Goulding’s 1947 adaptation, but it’s inclusion in Cult Movies 2 makes it hold a special place in my heart. There is nothing significant added plot wise despite being 20 minutes longer than the original. Like Dune, and West Side Story for that matter the movie is good, and if you want to ignore the original it’s certainly worth a watch. I don’t think anyone thought The Shape of Water would win best picture so maybe Nightmare Alley has some shot.

The Power of the Dog - This is the best picture of the year, or at least the best one nominated for best picture. Fight me, or don’t but this is what should win. I’ve discussed some elements of it in the other categories, but it seems impossible that Netflix released this AND Don’t Look Up in the same year. The Power of the Dog seems like the antithesis to McKay’s film. Everything seems understated, brewing under the surface, and alluded to. It’s not like it’s some open-ended puzzle, all the pieces are there, we’re just not spoon fed everything. In the way McKay’s film insults it’s audience by ramming it’s social commentary down it’s throat, this is infinitely more rewarding. Campion has had some ups-and-downs over the last couple of decades, but this might be her masterpiece.

 

West Side Story - When I heard Spielberg was remaking West Side Story I thought “why”. Then it got delayed a year because old boomer man wanted his movie in theaters. I somewhat resented him for using his talents on this remake, but honestly the movie is pretty damn good. It’s been a century since I watched the original, but hey at least his leads seem to be the right ethnicity. The flaw of most remakes is why? Now it’s been 50 years since the original so if you can’t remake a movie after 5 decades then when can you? I did like this more than some of his recent offerings like Bridge of Spies and The Post but like Tragedy of Macbeth I feel like a an often told story can only be so good.

 

Enjoy the show and feel free to come back here to see how I did.