An In Depth Look at Vinegar Syndrome

An In Depth Look at Vinegar Syndrome 

There are alot of specialty boutique home media labels out there doing a fantastic job. Personally, I love Arrow Films, Redemption, and Anolis Films. That said I think one specialty boutique label deserves a special look at and a moment of your time. That label is Vinegar Syndrome.

VS, how I will refer to Vinegar Syndrome for the rest of this blog, was started by a couple of die hard exploitation film fans in Bridgeport, CT. They decided their goal was to search and recover the rarest and most interesting exploitation films ever made. In some instances, VS was able to obtain the only known existing print in the world.

So without a company like VS, alot of these films would never see the light of day on home media or are receiving their first home media release in almost 40 years. So essentially these were dead films waiting to escape from the grave. In a way, I think the name VS is appropriate for them considering they were named after a process known to film as Vinegar Syndrome.

Essentially it is a process in which the film begins to deteriorate because of the organic compounds in used to make the film and gives off a distinct strong odor from the acetate the same chemical that gives vinegar its smell. Once that deterioration starts you can't stop it. That print will die from vinegar syndrome.

So VS wants to get their hands on these rare and interesting film prints before they die from this disease and are possibly gone forever. VS will be able to scan the film in it and save the film digitally. However, VS's goal in restoration is not to do a super duper over the top restoration that you might see Criterion or Arrow do. The reason for that is if you caught the typical film VS releases when they first came out in the theater you most likely saw the film at a drive in or dive theater. These films were not meant to look like they were made with the best film technology. So VS does no noise/grain reduction and only tries to repair the biggest damage on the print and leaves the rest in there. Sure the films might get some color correction and minor stuff done so they don't look faded, but the idea is minimal is better. Just look at the image from the Candy Tangerine Man above. I just saw the film at the Film Bar a few days ago and the common complaint I get on BluRay releases is films look fake on that medium. I'm not sure with a VS a release that you can tell much difference from a 16mm or 35mm print to that of a VS restoration.

I think that is the beauty of a VS release. Imagine watching Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song at your local arthouse theater. VS's source material was from the original negatives scanned in at a 4K. VS did some minor color correction to make sure the film looked liked it did when released, but for the most part left all the other imperfections in. To the average person, they will think they are watching from a print right off of the projector with most of the imperfections left give the film a luscious color look, but at the same time gritty and rough like sandpaper was taken to it. In most instances I would be complaining, but for grindhouse style exploitation films I think this actually adds more character to the films for much pleasurable and sometimes hypnotic viewing that seems like only VS has mastered.

Not every film needs or deserves or needs the VS treatment, but those that do watch out. VS recently released SHOT on BluRay. I had never seen or heard of the film before. Now normally that doesn't mean much, but this film was shot in Champaign-Urbana, Il. That is my hometown of around 100,000 people or so. Films just don't get made there and the town is extremely proud of its history including that HAL 9000 was made in our town. So you think I would have heard of this film, but nope. What I got to was a rough side of my hometown in a different light. No gangsters that I know of exist there, but it was a
fantastic throwback.

So yeah maybe they have released that rare film made in your own small hometown. That release is special to you.

VS's must own flagship release is Wonder Women. Their logo and theme music is all taken from this film so I highly suggest this release. Other than that, just get films from VS that directly speak to you because honestly not every film is a must own release. You should know by description of the release if you want to buy the film or not.

Being that VS is a small company I highly recommend buying directly from them to support small business. As a benefit from buying from VS directly if you are a slip cover lover you can get a limited Edition slipcover directly from them. Then there is a cool shipping option of having a BluRay shipped directly to you in a 35mm film canister.  You never know what film may be listed on the cannister, mine came in They Call Me Bruce Lee.

Check them out and have fun.