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[Blu-ray Review] Cult Classic ‘Blood Suckers from Outer Space’ Gets a Second Life on Blu-ray

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It’s a bummer that the days of video stores are long behind us. Yes, there are still some stores like Movie Madness in Portland, Oregon, but not all places are fortunate to have a local video store. And while the quality of home viewing is much improved — Blu-ray looks a ton better than VHS — but it’s a lot harder for us to discover films in the same way that we used to. On the bright side, there are many boutique labels out there providing high-quality releases of some of our favorite video store treasures. Vinegar Syndrome is the amongst the leaders in doing so and they’re latest release of Blood Suckers from Outer Space is sure to pull up back in the aisles of your favorite childhood video store.

I actually had never seen Blood Suckers from Out Space growing up but it’s a movie I very much remember and always wanted to see. I would see it at my local video store all the time, Vide Update, but I never got around to actually renting it. Not sure why. My parents never cared what I watched and we were always getting during horror titles, but we never quite made it to this one. I’m pointing this out just so it’s clear that I have no nostalgic attachment to this film, other than it being something that I wanted to see.

If you go into this expecting some sort of alien creatures that come from outer space and suck the blood of humans, you’re not going to get that here. And I’ll be honest, I sort of expected something like that, although I should know better. Movies of this era rarely delivered on what they advertised. In this case, a mist, that is presumably from outer space, hits a small Texas town and turns the townsfolk into zombies, or at least zombie-like creatures. Once people turn they have a craving to suck the blood from all living things. They understand it’s weird, but it’s not so bad.

Jeff (Thom Meyes), a college-aged kid struggling with trying to determine if he should follow his dreams of being a journalist or give it all up and work on his uncle’s dairy farm gets stuck in the middle of this mess. With the assistance of a beautiful passerby named Julie (Laura Ellis), Jeff attempts to save the day.

Blood Suckers from Outer Space feels very much like a Troma movie. It checks all the required Troma boxes — low budget, goofy rather than funny, charming but flawed. In fact, this feels so much like something from the Troma brand that I’m positive had I seen this when I was younger I would have misremembered it to be a Troma film. This is all just a really roundabout way of saying if you like Troma movies, you’ll love this.

Personally, I really enjoyed this and am glad that I finally got to see it. It’s a silly zombie movie that spoofs 50’s drive-in fare. Not all the jokes land, and they work really hard to make them land, but the ones that do are worth it. My favorite aspect of the film is the casual nature of the zombies. There’s something so funny about a zombie knowing they’ve been turned into a zombie and knowing that it’s a bad thing but just saying, “eh, it’s an un-living.”

It actually has a lot in common with Return of the Living Dead, which would be released a year later. The basic plot outlines are identical, but ROTLD does a better job filling in the details.

What I would have liked to see more of is limbs getting chopped off. There’s a great scene in this movie where a zombie gets his arm chopped off and he’s very upset about it. Blood squirts everywhere and it’s just that awesome low budget gore fun. I wish there were more of that, but I understand that for budget purposes they probably weren’t able to do anymore. Oh well, what you do get is fun.

Also worth noting is the film’s amazing theme song that plays over the opening credits. If there’s one thing films are lacking these days it’s theme songs. Bring back the theme songs!

Special Features

The Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray release of Blood Suckers from Outer Space looks amazing. It’s a brand-new 2K restoration from the original 16mm camera elements. Despite the low budget, the film has a great cinematic look to it and the new Blu-ray highlights that. The colors are very bright and detailed, particularly on the zombie effects. The look for the zombies is created using different shades of blue makeup and it’s a cheap but effective way to turn your average human into a bloodsucker and it all looks pristine on this new release.

For the bonus content VS has included an audio commentary track with director Glen Coburn, star Meyes and DP Chad D. Smith. There’s also documentary on the making of the film called 34 Years Later. Coburn gathers a bunch of interviews with the cast and crew and you get a good sense of what the production was like. This actually makes the film all the more impressive because you really get a good grasp on what little they were working with. Also included is Back to Blood Sucker Town, a short feature that takes the cast back to Enloe, Texas to visit the locations used in the film. This provides some interesting commentary on why the town was selected for the shoot and what it was like filming there. And rounding out the bonus content is a short tutorial that teaches you how the awesome blood arm rip scene was completed and a still photo gallery.

There’s a reason Blood Suckers from Outer Space has a strong cult following. It’s a charming, low budget genre spoof made with a lot of heart by a crew that clearly loved what they were doing. Sometimes, that’s all you need.

Blood Suckers from Outer Space will be available on Blu-ray from Vinegar Syndrome on  May 29, 2018. You can pre-order your copy now from VinegarSyndrome.com and if you do so before 11:59 PM EST on 5/28/2018 you can take advantage of Vinegar Syndrome’s Half Way to Black Friday Sale (all VS titles are part of the sale).

Chris Coffel is originally from Phoenix, AZ and now resides in Portland, OR. He once scored 26 goals in a game of FIFA. He likes the Phoenix Suns, Paul Simon and 'The 'Burbs.' Oh and cats. He also likes cats.

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‘Herencia Diabólica’ – 1993’s “Mexican Child’s Play” Finally Has a Blu-ray Release [Review]

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Did you know that there is a Child’s Play-inspired film from Mexico? If you didn’t, you can thank Vinegar Syndrome’s new label Degausser Video for making 1993’s Herencia Diabólica available for the masses to watch. Or at least for the VS hardcore fanbase, Chucky completists and anyone else who needs something like this in their lives.

Director Alfredo Salazar, known for his writing connection to the 70s Santo film series, also serves as the writer here to bring us a film seemingly inspired from the Child’s Play franchise. While it has been recently labeled as the “Mexican Child’s Play” (there’s a special feature on the disc with that very title), the killer doll concept is where the comparison should start and end. Despite having some seeds planted by that franchise, Salazar delivers a story that blossoms into something unique.

Tony (Roberto Guinar) receives a letter informing him that his aunt has died, and he has inherited her estate in Mexico. He quits his job and uproots his life in New York with his wife Annie (Holda Ramírez) to relocate south of the border and move into his new crib. Now I know what you’re thinking, what person just quits their job and drags their wife to another country without having reliable monetary income? Tony does, everyone, Tony does.

And what’s the first thing they do once they arrive in Mexico and check out the estate? They hit the bedroom, naturally. We are treated to a sex scene with an erotica song that feels like a knockoff of “Sadness” by Enigma (remember them?). Sounds fun and all, but the scene takes place completely in the dark and we see absolutely nothing. Maybe that’s why the sexy-time tune was pumping, so we could know what was exactly going down.

While Tony goes on a job interview, Annie explores the estate’s grounds in a tedious chore to experience, going room by room, plodding along. But it does lead us to her discovery of our antagonist—the evil clown doll, Payasito! Of all the things in the house, she decides to bring this monstrosity down to show Tony when he gets home. What an exciting way to celebrate (sic)! Then out of nowhere, she spouts off some exposition about rumors that Tony’s aunt dabbled in the dark arts and now we know where our title Diabolical Inheritance (the English translation for Herencia Diabólica) originates. For those of you who keep score for things like that.

Before proceeding with this review, you really need to visualize what Payasito looks like to truly embrace the rest of the film’s shenanigans. While Chucky resembles a cute ginger child, Payasito resembles a small clown that is much larger in stature than Chucky. That’s because Payasito is performed by an actor (Margarito Esparaza) in clown cosplay whenever he’s on the move (like Mannequin 2), and makes some really horrible facial expressions. Chucky dresses in “Good Guys” overalls and a striped shirt, but Payasito wears a new wave Santa hat while sporting a Sgt. Pepper jacket and Peter Pan tights. As you can now tell, he is quite beautiful.

Back to our story, Payasito begins to spook Annie cerebrally until she becomes unnerved to the point of having a complete mental break down, making her easy prey to eliminate. She dies but the unborn child survives, with Tony believing that her death was caused by her mental instability. Fast forward some years later and the couple’s surviving spawn has grown into child Roy (Alan Fernando), who at this point has already bonded with Payasito to help him over the loss of his mother. Dun-dun-duuunnn!

Meanwhile wealthy Tony remains single, still grieving his late wife, until his blonde assistant Doris encourages him to move on with his life and start seeing other people. And by other people, she naturally means herself. As the old Kanye West song lyric goes, “I ain’t saying she’s a gold digger…”, and it seems that she might be until we learn more about her character. Doris is played by the stunning Lorena Hererra who has an extremely extensive resume in Mexico, and she carries most of the film quite well during the feature’s second half. The singer and former Playboy centerfold for their Mexico edition is by far the most recognizable face in the cast.

Doris and Tony do indeed hookup and she moves into La casa de Herencia, where she does her best to impress Roy and lessen his obsession with the doll. There is a scene where they go to a nearby park without Payasito that is filled with famous fairytale figures, such as Pinocchio, Cinderella and King Kong! What, you didn’t know King Kong is a fairytale? Me neither. But Roy continues to be obsessed with Payasito after their trip, much to Doris’ chagrin.

Her actions to separate him from Roy gets Payasito angry, setting up the film’s most memorable scene. We already know that Payasito is a devil doll like Chucky, but now we learn he also has the power to invade people’s dreams like Freddy Krueger! Does Payasito enter the dream world and concoct a creative way to kill Doris in her sleep? No, he harnesses his power to sexually assault her instead. Yes that actually happens. After she awakens, Doris grabs the doll and tosses him into a lake, only to find him waiting for her by the time she gets back to the house. So now we know he also maintains the ability to “transport” like Jason Voorhees too. This doll is the total package!

More insanity happens before we close out the film with the longest victim chase sequence ever. It makes the previously mentioned painful house search scene seem like an eyeblink. It feels like it’s the film’s entire third act, filled with so much padding that you could soundproof an entire three-story house.

So how’s the transfer? Considering it was created using a mix of VHS and film source elements from 1993, they did one heck of a job! The work they put into it is especially noticeable in the dream invasion sequence, with the pulsing multi-colored psychedelic visuals. Super trippy stuff. Even the film’s score provides a pretty chill vibe, during the times when Payasito isn’t on the prowl.

If anything you read has piqued your interest in the very least, you should give it a shot. But if not, it is best to leave this doll on the shelf.

Herencia Diabólica is now available to purchase at VinegarSyndrome.com.

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