The night staff of roller rink are stalked and killed by a mysterious figure who they believe may be the spirit of a teenager who was accidentally killed there years ago.
STARRING: Amanda Courtney, Caedmon Holland, Alan Humphrey
Read more “Death Rink (2019) Available August 24”In this chilling tale of alien terror, a writer (William Devane, Rolling Thunder) takes a personal interest in a series of baffling, shocking murders in Los Angeles … and evidence suggests the suspect may not be human. Every night The Mangler stalks the streets, attacking and mutilating random victims. On the creature’s trail is TV reporter Zoe Owens (Cathy Lee Crosby, Coach) and police detective Dave Mooney (Richard Jaeckel, The Dirty Dozen), but the truth behind the murders is far more strange and horrifying than they could ever imagine in this 1979 cult classic from director John Bud Cardos (Kingdom of the Spiders, Mutant) and featuring Keenan Wynn (Dr. Strangelove), Casey Kasem (radio legend and American Top 40 host) and Jacquelyn Hyde (They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?) in her Saturn Award® nominated performance.
STARRING: Keenan Wynn, Cathy Lee Crosby, William Devane, Jacquelyn Hyde, Casey Kasem
Read more “The Dark (1979) (Collector’s Edition) Available August 24”One of the most sensational cases from Ed and Lorraine Warren’s files, it starts with a fight for the soul of a young boy, then takes them beyond anything they’d ever seen before.
STARRING: Patrick Wilson, Vera Farmiga
Read more “The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (2021) Available August 24”Following the success of his debut feature, The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, distributor Titanus tasked writer / director Dario Argento with delivering a follow-up in short order. The resulting film, granted a greatly enhanced budget and heralded in its US marketing campaign as “nine times more suspenseful” than its predecessor, was The Cat O’ Nine Tails.
When a break-in occurs at a secretive genetics institute, blind puzzle-maker Franco Arnò (Karl Malden, Patton, One-Eyed Jacks), who overheard an attempt to blackmail one of the institute’s scientists shortly before the robbery, teams up with intrepid reporter Carlo Giordani (James Franciscus, Beneath the Planet of the Apes) to crack the case. But before long the bodies begin to pile up and the two amateur sleuths find their own lives imperilled in their search for the truth. And worse still, Lori (Cinzia De Carolis, Cannibal Apocalypse), Franco’s young niece, may also be in the killer’s sights…
This second entry in the so-called “Animal Trilogy” found Argento further refining his distinctive style and cementing his reputation as the master of the giallo thriller. Co-starring Catherine Spaak (Il Sorpasso) and Rada Rassimov (Baron Blood), and featuring another nerve-jangling score by the great Ennio Morricone (The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, The Good, The Bad and the Ugly), The Cat O’ Nine Tails remains one of Argento’s most suspenseful and underrated films.
STARRING: James Franciscus, Karl Malden, Catherine Spaak
Read more “The Cat O’ Nine Tails (1971) (Limited Edition) (4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray) Available August 24”WHEN THE BUTCHER GOES BERZERK!
From subversive Spanish writer/director Eloy de la Iglesia comes the international hit and DPP 39 ‘Video Nasty’ that remains among the most notorious and misunderstood shockers of the ’70s: When a slaughterhouse worker (Vicente Parra of No One Heard The Scream) accidentally kills a man during a fight, it will trigger a desperate descent into madness, mass murder and ‘the most horrific use of a single apartment since Polanski’s Repulsion’ (Mondo Digital). Emma Cohen (Cut-Throats Nine) and Eusebio Poncela (Law Of Desire) co-star in this ‘unforgettable mix of Euro arthouse and exploitive sleaze’ (DVD Drive-In) – also known as The Apartment On The 13th Floor and Week Of The Killer – now featuring both the International and extended Spanish Version newly scanned from the original negatives for the first time ever.
STARRING: Vicente Parra, Emma Cohen
Read more “The Cannibal Man (1972) Available August 24”Norman J Warren’s final feature as director is also one of his most unclassifiable. Filmed in Wales, it focuses on a group of teens who find themselves on a stranded island while holidaying. The island is home to a deserted hotel, where it’s no longer the summer of 1986, but New Year’s Eve 1959, cueing a series of Warren’s famed horror set-pieces, involving ghosts, zombies, dismemberment, decapitations and much, much more besides.
STARRING: Suzy Aitchison, Mark Powley, Nikki Brooks, Daniel James
Read more “Bloody New Year (1987) (Import) Available August 27”Blind Beast is a grotesque portrait of the bizarre relationship between a blind sculptor and his captive muse, adapted from a short story from Japans foremost master of the macabre, Edogawa Rampo (Horrors of Malformed Men, The Black Lizard, Caterpillar).
An artists model, Aki (Mako Midori), is abducted, and awakens in a dark warehouse studio whose walls are decorated with outsized womens body parts eyes, lips, legs and breasts and dominated by two recumbent giant statues of male and female nudes. Her kidnapper introduces himself as Michio (Eiji Funakoshi), a blind sculptor whom she had witnessed previously at an exhibition in which she featured intently caressing a statue of her naked torso. Michio announces his intention of using her to sculpt the perfect female form. At first defiant, she eventually succumbs to his intense fixation on her body and finds herself drawn into his sightless world, in which touch is everything.
Blind Beast is a masterpiece of erotic horror that explores the all\-encompassing and overwhelming relationship between the artist and his art and the obsessive closed world that the artist inhabits, with maestro director Yasuzo Masumura (Giants and Toys, Irezumi) conjuring up a hallucinogenic dreamworld in which sensual and creative urges combine with a feverish intensity.
STARRING: Eiji Funakoshi, Mako Midori
Read more “Blind Beast (1969) Available August 24”A lonely man works on the deep web to raise enough money to finally leave his hometown and his troubled lifestyle. His friend, a certifiably crazy criminal, brings him into the darkest places of the city where their minds become obsessed with the deep web and the ability to make money quickly. The road to financial success will be full of pain as the duo tries to find a way to escape from their enemies and the darkness of their new existence. What they don’t realize is that a mysterious disfigured woman has been following them… and taking notes.
STARRING: Various
Read more “Acid Love (2021) (Amore Acido) Available August 24”A female serial killer escapes from prison to go after the one victim that got away.
Read more “Friday, August 20, 2021: The Girl Who Got Away Premieres Today on VOD”A widow begins to uncover her recently deceased husband’s disturbing secrets.
Read more “Friday, August 20, 2021: The Night House Premieres Today in Theaters”A young woman unleashes terrifying demons when supernatural forces at the root of a decades-old rift between mother and daughter are ruthlessly revealed.
Read more “Friday, August 20, 2021: Demonic Premieres Today on VOD”A vacationing family turns the tables on a mass shooter who claims to be fighting demonic forces.
Read more “Friday, August 20, 2021: Blood Conscious Premieres Today on VOD”In this unsettling ghost story, Leah, 10, lives in a large, old house with her family but can’t quite work out why her mother seems so distant. At night she is visited by a mysterious guest, who might be able to give her some answers. With a new challenge every night, Leah is rewarded with bits of knowledge that, when pieced together, threaten to shine a dangerous light on both the truth in her nightmares and of the world she lives in. Written and directed by Ruth Platt. Starring Denise Gough, Anastasia Hille and Steven Cree.
Read more “Martyrs Lane – Official Trailer [HD] | A Shudder Original”In the late 90s, a video archivist unearths a series of sinister pirate broadcasts and becomes obsessed with uncovering the dark conspiracy behind them.
Read more “Broadcast Signal Intrusion – Official Movie Trailer (2021)”London, 1974. As Britain prepares for electrical blackouts to sweep across the country, trainee nurse Val arrives for her first day at the crumbling East London Royal Infirmary. With most of the patients and staff evacuated to another hospital, Val must work the night shift in the empty building. Within these walls lies a deadly secret, forcing Val to face her own traumatic past in order to confront the malevolent power that’s intent on destroying everything around her.
Read more “The Power – OFFICIAL TRAILER”Strange events unfold in Six Mile Hill when construction on a new road disrupts the ancient burial ground of Abhartach, a legendary Irish vampire said to have inspired Bram Stoker’s famed “Dracula.” Deadly and sinister forces terrorize the construction crew, and they’re forced to fight to survive the night, while exposing the true horror that resides in the town’s local myth.
Read more “Boys From County Hell – OFFICIAL TRAILER”After Mark breaks into a suburban home, he is stuck having to pay for the consequences of his actions. Mark soon learns that the home is inhabited by criminals who will do whatever it takes to make sure he does not get out alive. Mark, who is a criminal himself wants to do whatever it takes to get out of the messy situation to which he got himself into.
One year after his international breakthrough with Cannibal Man, defiant Basque filmmaker Eloy de la Iglesia co-wrote and directed this twisted thriller – his last under Spain’s repressive Franco regime – that instantly made him ”the father of Spanish giallo” (Spanish Fear): When a woman spies her neighbor disposing of his wife’s corpse, she will cross the line from witness to accomplice to something far more depraved. Vicente Parra (Cannibal Man), Carmen Sevilla (The Glass Ceiling), María Asquerino (That Obscure Object Of Desire) and Antonio Casas (The Good, The Bad And The Ugly) star in ”a must for all European film fans, with a final twist that will resonate with you for a very long time” (The Gore Splattered Corner), now featuring an HD scan from the original negative.
STARRING: Carmen Sevilla, Vicente Parra
Read more “No One Heard The Scream (1973) Available August 31”Seeking shelter from a storm, a family find themselves trapped for days with no sign of rescue and untold evils lurking just beyond the walls in this wildly fun house-of-horrors thrill ride.
Opening in theaters and VOD: September 3
Read more “We Need to Do Something “Ozzy Osbourne or a Cute Puppy?” Official Clip | HD | IFC Midnight”Robert Foxworth and Talia Shire star as a doctor and his wife who travel to Maine to research the impact of the lumber industry on the local environment. They begin to investigate a succession of mysterious and terrifying events: ecological freaks of nature and a series of bizarre and grisly human deaths. Something unimaginably horrible waits in the woods. Something unwittingly created by man, that will become an uncontrollable, merciless machine of destruction.
A graphically violent piece of environmental horror from director John Frankenheimer, PROPHECY comes to Blu-ray for the first time ever in the UK.
Read more “Prophecy “Sleeping Bag” Clip”After her brother goes missing, a young psychologist visits an infamous haunted and cursed location known as ‘Howling Village’ to investigate his disappearance and uncover her family’s dark history.
Read more “Tuesday, August 17, 2021: Howling Village Premieres Today on VOD”With the giallo at its peak in the early 70s, it seemed that every filmmaker working in Italy was vying to make one and put their unique creative stamp on this highly popular genre. Presented here are a trio of early 70s gialli, all directed by filmmakers who had never made one before (or after) and all presenting wildly different approaches to the genre’s most prevalent trappings.
The Girl In Room 2A: After being released from prison, Margaret (Daniela Giordano) goes to stay at a halfway house for female ex-cons, run by the kindly Mrs. Grant. It’s not long before she begins experiencing strange happenings in the old house, and things take an even more unsettling turn when she befriends Charlie, who is searching for his sister, who disappeared after staying in the house.
A bizarre giallo directed by American exploitation filmmaker, William L. Rose & produced by globe trotting sleaze impresario, Dick Randall, The Girl In Room 2A (‘House of Fear’ in Italian) plays like an American roughie that’s been dressed as a murder mystery. Vinegar Syndrome is pleased to present this in a brand new 2K restoration of its original 35mm camera negative & in its longest and most complete version ever presented on disc!
The French Sex Murders: Following the brutal death of a prostitute at a Parisian brothel, grizzled Inspector Fontaine (Robert Sacchi) is brought in to investigate. After implicating Antoine (Peter Martell), a petty thief & regular client of the murdered woman, Fontaine believes the case to be closed. However, after Antoine makes a daring attempt to escape, getting decapitated in the process, those affiliated with implicating him begin to meet their own violent ends. Has Antoine’s vengeful spirit returned to kill those he believes responsible for his own gruesome fate, or has another, more sinister character been behind these diabolical murders from the very beginning?
A sublimely trashy giallo produced by Dick Randall and helmed by assistant director, Ferdinando Merighi, The French Sex Murders straddles the line between a clever murder mystery and a distinctly 70s sleaze-fest. Vinegar Syndrome is proud to present the world Blu-ray debut of this cult favorite, newly restored from its original 35mm camera negative!
My Dear Killer: After a man is decapitated at a construction site, Inspector Luca Peretti (George Hilton) is assigned to the case. But what initially seems to be an isolated killing soon paves the way for an ever growing number of vicious murders. As Peretti tries to unmask the killer, he discovers that all of the victims were connected to another shocking & unsolved crime – the horrific murder of a young girl.
Directed by Tonino Valerii, My Dear Killer was his sole foray into the giallo genre. The result is a handsomely produced and unrelenting mystery-thriller that revels in clever twists and brutally depicted murders. Vinegar Syndrome is proud to present this sleeper masterpiece of prime era giallo cinema on Blu-ray, from a stunning new 4K restoration of its 35mm original negative.
STARRING: George Hilton, Patty Shepard, Anita Ekberg, Daniela Giordano, Rosalba Neri
Read more “Forgotten Gialli: Volume #2 Available August 31”Influenced by Dario Argento’s horror classic Suspiria, director Norman J Warren and screenwriter David McGillivray – reteaming two years after the success of Satan’s Slave – created an offbeat blend of satire and the supernatural, sending up the British exploitation film industry while delivering ever more outlandish set-pieces. An eclectic cast list includes John Nolan (Doomwatch), Carolyn Courage (Space: 1999), Glynis Barber (Dempsey and Makepeace) and Peter Mayhew, best known for playing Chewbacca in the Star Wars movies.
STARRING: John Nolan, Carolyn Courage, James Aubrey, Sarah Keller, Tricia Walsh
Read more “Terror (1978) (Import) Available August 27”For his first foray into horror cinema – the genre in which he would ensure his legacy – Norman J Warren teamed up with critic-turned-screenwriter David McGillivray (House of Whipcord) and Hammer veteran Michael Gough (The Phantom of the Opera) for a tale of witchcraft and occultism. Candace Glendenning (Tower of Evil) plays a young woman who witnesses the death of her parents en route to visiting her uncle (played by Gough) and cousin (Martin Potter, Goodbye Gemini). While recovering from the trauma at his isolated estate, she begins to suspect all is not as it seems and that dark magic may be at work…
STARRING: Candace Glendenning, Celia Hewitt, David McGillivray, Barbara Kellerman, James Bree
Read more “Satan’s Slave (1976) (Import) Available August 27”IN THIS SLEEPY TOWN, THERE IS NO REST FOR THE LIVING … OR THE DEAD.
The terrifying tale of Salem’s Lot continues in the shocking and satirical A Return To Salem’s Lot! Beneath the quaint, picture-perfect exterior of a small New England community lurks an unsettling, undead evil: vampires. When fresh blood comes to town in the form of amoral anthropologist Joe Weber and his son Jeremy, the vampires employ the father to document their story. But when the stakes are raised, Joe must take on the hellish horde or lose his son … and his soul.
Directed and co-written by genre legend Larry Cohen (the It’s Alive trilogy, Black Caesar, God Told Me To) and featuring Michael Moriarty (the star of Cohen’s Q: The Winged Serpent), A Return To Salem’s Lot is a ghoulishly clever follow-up to the hit miniseries based on master of horror Stephen King’s acclaimed novel.
STARRING: Michael Moriarty, Samuel Fuller, Ricky Addison Reed
Read more “A Return to Salem’s Lot (1987) Available August 24”Following the commercial success of Satan’s Slave, Norman J Warren next turned to science fiction. Barry Stokes (The Corruption of Chris Miller) plays a carnivorous, shape-shifting alien on a fact-finding mission to Earth. He discovers the rural house of a lesbian couple – played by Sally Faulkner (Vampyres) and Glory Annen (Felicity) – and the three become embroiled in a claustrophobic psychological drama of sex and violence.
STARRING: Sandy Chinney, Glory Annen, Sally Faulkner, Eddie Stacey, Barry Stokes
Read more “Prey (1977) (Import) Available August 27”One year after his international breakthrough with Cannibal Man, defiant Basque filmmaker Eloy de la Iglesia co-wrote and directed this twisted thriller – his last under Spain’s repressive Franco regime – that instantly made him ”the father of Spanish giallo” (Spanish Fear): When a woman spies her neighbor disposing of his wife’s corpse, she will cross the line from witness to accomplice to something far more depraved. Vicente Parra (Cannibal Man), Carmen Sevilla (The Glass Ceiling), María Asquerino (That Obscure Object Of Desire) and Antonio Casas (The Good, The Bad And The Ugly) star in ”a must for all European film fans, with a final twist that will resonate with you for a very long time” (The Gore Splattered Corner), now featuring an HD scan from the original negative.
STARRING: Carmen Sevilla, Vicente Parra
Read more “No One Heard The Scream (1973) Available August 24”Boasting a strong female cast – including Judy Geeson (10 Rillington Place), Stephanie Beacham (Tam-Lin) and Victoria Tennant (Flowers in the Attic) – and co-financed by Run Run Shaw of the Shaw Brothers, Inseminoid is among Norman J Warren’s most widely seen films… and his most infamous. Once listed as a ‘video nasty’, this science-fiction horror concerns a small crew of scientists who are terrorised by a creature on a distant planet. Comparisons with Ridley Scott’s Alien have been ever-present, though Inseminoid has a charm all of it’s own – it may not have the gloss or the budget, but it’s certainly a great deal of fun.
STARRING: Judy Geeson, Jennifer Ashley, Stephanie Beacham, Robin Clarke, Steven Grives
Read more “Inseminoid (1981) (Import) Available August 27”WHEN THE BUTCHER GOES BERZERK!
From subversive Spanish writer/director Eloy de la Iglesia comes the international hit and DPP 39 ‘Video Nasty’ that remains among the most notorious and misunderstood shockers of the ’70s: When a slaughterhouse worker (Vicente Parra of No One Heard The Scream) accidentally kills a man during a fight, it will trigger a desperate descent into madness, mass murder and ‘the most horrific use of a single apartment since Polanski’s Repulsion’ (Mondo Digital). Emma Cohen (Cut-Throats Nine) and Eusebio Poncela (Law Of Desire) co-star in this ‘unforgettable mix of Euro arthouse and exploitive sleaze’ (DVD Drive-In) – also known as The Apartment On The 13th Floor and Week Of The Killer – now featuring both the International and extended Spanish Version newly scanned from the original negatives for the first time ever.
STARRING: Vicente Parra, Emma Cohen
Read more “The Cannibal Man (1972) Available August 24”
