New York Ninja coming from Vinegar Syndrome

[Markgway]

It's like Joseph Lai and Tomas Tang are back!

I'd rate this as John Liu's best film:

Snuff Bottle Connection (1977) original trailer - YouTube

[BunyipPouch]

As per Hollywood Reporter, this will have its world premiere at Beyond Fest in Los Angeles in early October.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/mo...st-1235015222/

[JimDiGriz]

Wow this looks incredibly awful!

[SoulTaker3000]

Did anyone get to see the premiere of this one last weekend?

[Balerstos]

I was looking to see about any release information on this and found this thread. As someone who has seen the movie (and a short doc about it), I can answer some of the questions y'all have posted.

Originally Posted by Rayjg

This could be interesting. So this a unfinished film from 1984 that they've completed and not a film that is meant to look like it was shot and left incomplete 37 years ago? All these retro films and TV specials are making things a little confusing lately.

Yes. It's a film from 1984 that was abandoned after the studio changed ownership. They stopped sending funds to the filmmakers and nothing was ever done in post.

Originally Posted by jmilo61

This seems like a fascinating project. I have no doubt the end product won't be for everyone, but it definitely will be for me.

If I understand correctly the script and audio were completely lost. So essentially an entirely new script had to be created for the new voice actors.

Yup. They got the actual film reels from a warehouse basically on accident. They were almost thrown away and instead, a couple of the guys at VS decided they wanted to try and get this project done on the side. They had no audio at all. No scripts. No call sheets. Absolutely no idea what order it was filmed in.

Originally Posted by jmilo61

Did they a detailed storyline at least, or did they have nothing but the silent film to go on, and had to come up with their own storyline as best they could make it work with the footage they had?

From what we were told, almost no one at all from the movie wanted to talk to them or be involved with this in any way. The guy who stars in it currently lives in a shack/hut in a small village and basically wished them "good luck" as a response when they asked him for help. In the doc we watched, they were able to get in touch with a makeup guy and one of the actors who played a small part as a news reporter. They were the only ones to shed light on it from the actual production.

So they edited the movie into what they THOUGHT was a decent order and then did what they could with voice actors and approximated what was being said.

Originally Posted by Rayjg

I hope the theme song makes into the finished film.

It's in the end credits along with the music video.

They also hired a group to write a new score for it. Synth-heavy and perfectly fits.

All in all, it's a fascinating story about how this all came together. The movie is about what you'd expect. There's some goofy stuff that only 80's sleaze and cheese can do, but it's definitely a fun time if you like those things. It's disjointed and a little repetitive, but I'm definitely sending cash their way because of the hard work they put into this.

[kristoffer]

New Best of the worst king?

[Telemachus]

Ah, so that's why they put out that Whatever it Takes Blu Ray, had to butter up Don Wilson for the voice over work. It can't be any worse than Alien in L.A.. I feel strangely compelled to pick this up, especially if it's really the 3rd VSU package, they definitely have outstanding promo materials for it already. I'm also not sure I've ever seen this done to an old film before, it's truly a cool project. But at the same time, part of me is realizing these reels were abandoned and rotting in a warehouse, there might be a reason for that beyond funding being pulled, maybe it was just a disaster project that seemed bad. Oh well, I'll take a chance.

[DaveyJoe]

This will supposedly be a VSP, not a VSU so XYZ PDQ and hope you don't mind up on SVU.

[gbm82]

Originally Posted by DaveyJoe

This will supposedly be a VSP, not a VSU so XYZ PDQ and hope you don't mind up on SVU.

Mariska is that you?

[Telemachus]

Originally Posted by DaveyJoe

This will supposedly be a VSP, not a VSU so XYZ PDQ and hope you don't mind up on SVU.

I swear I saw one of their pre-releases and it mentioned it is getting the VSU packaging treatment despite being "VSP" or whatever, so it will be the 3rd VSU in my eyes.

[jmilo61]

Originally Posted by Telemachus

I swear I saw one of their pre-releases and it mentioned it is getting the VSU packaging treatment despite being "VSP" or whatever, so it will be the 3rd VSU in my eyes.

You're correct. In last weeks newsletter they specifically said NY Ninja would have VSU-style packaging.

[mikezilla2]

Too many Acronyms -

Translation ?

[defile959]

Originally Posted by mikezilla2

Too many Acronyms -

Translation ?

VSU - Vinegar Syndrome Ultra - special 4K releases with deluxe packaging, like Six String Samurai and Beastmaster

VSP - Vinegar Syndrome Pictures - new genre productions shot on film released on 4K and Blu.

VSA - Vinegar Syndrome Archive - released on Blu in the slipcase-style cover, films typical of the direct-to-video fare of the 80s and 90s.

[Mushi Minion]

Also worth noting VSAs were one-and-done deals that would not get a standard edition once the limited edition slipcase copy sold out… until the most recent additions which modified their verbiage to allow that.

[Vincent Dawn]

Originally Posted by mikezilla2

Too many Acronyms -

Translation ?

To add to what's already been said-

VSU:

Vinegar Syndrome Ultra, a new Vinegar Syndrome sub-label focused exclusively on extravagant UHD/Blu releases of ‘major’ 80s and 90s titles that might not always fit into the regular VS milieu.

VSA:

Vinegar Syndrome Archive collection, celebrating forgotten cinematic oddities from the video store era. This collection was inspired by our own brick & mortar video store, The Archive in Bridgeport, CT.

Unique to this line, each hand numbered limited edition release will come fitted in a specially designed, bottom loading VHS inspired slipcase, while also including a double-sided poster.

These releases will ONLY be available on our website and at participating indie retailers. Absolutely no major retailers will be stocking them. This slipcase edition is strictly limited to (X),000 units and may be followed by a standard edition in the future.

VSP:

VS's new sub-label for the weirdest, wildest, and most original NEWLY PRODUCED genre cinema, all shot on film

[DaveyJoe]

XYZ = eXamine Your Zipper

PDQ = Pretty Darn Quickly

SVU = Special Victims Unit

[Davidian]

Finished with no script? Did it not occur to them to hire a lip reader to create an authentic storyline?

Edit: just watched the trailer guess I'm overthinking it,

[DaveyJoe]

Originally Posted by Davidian

Finished with no script? Did it not occur to them to hire a lip reader to create an authentic storyline?

Actually they did hire a lip reader but every line was "No new taxes" so they had to improvise.

[Balerstos]

Originally Posted by Davidian

Finished with no script? Did it not occur to them to hire a lip reader to create an authentic storyline?

Edit: just watched the trailer guess I'm overthinking it,

They addressed that in the documentary (or during the intro of the screening...I don't recall which). I'm paraphrasing and possibly getting some of the details incorrect, but they thought about doing that. By the time the editing was done though they realized it would just be an expense that might lead to it not making any sense (though a lot of the movie doesn't ).

Whether they should have hired one to decipher all of the footage they had (hours and hours according to them) is a question you could ask, but given their budget I'm doubting it was a real option. Again, this was done by two guys during their off hours at work.

[Telemachus]

I've seen plenty of badly dubbed HK films that had way different English scripts, this won't bother me in the least. Still it's funny and interesting that this will be re-dubbed in English with possibly a way different story, from being originally written and voiced in English. If anything it might be better than it was the first time, but I have a feeling if there was any sort of memes and so bad it's good vibes in the original those will be partly lost. Vinegar can either play the dubbing/writing straight or intentionally try to make it cheesy, which never really works out from my experience and comes off forced and stale. Example of that: Samurai Cop vs. Samurai Cop 2.