By Stephen Lackey
Among physical media aficionados Vinegar Syndrome has become a favorite distributor of both cult classics and trash cinema. The studio scrapes the bottom of the film tin for those diamonds in the rough and nostalgia bombs, giving them the premium release treatment with top tier transfers, bonus features and industry leading packaging. Black Friday is a big week for VS as the vast majority of their inventory will be on sale for the weekend. Fans often crash the site grabbing titles they’ve waited all year to get at a big discount. Every VS title and partner label title released after May 2024 will be on sale with discounts ranging from 50% – 75% off.
It’s no wonder VS has such a rabid fanbase. The studio offers outstanding customer service, AND their website is tailor made for FOMO. Every item on the VS website features an inventory count letting fans know when a movie or piece of merch is about to go out of print. Many movies will go out of print during the sale.
Quick tips for the sale:
Make a List
When the website goes live at midnight Friday morning seasoned fans will immediately go to those titles that have low inventory counts and snatch them up. So, if there are movies that you are interested in that have less than 500 left in stock you need to go and grab them as soon as the site goes live.
Use the ‘Add to Order’ Option
When the site goes live grab the movies you want that are low in inventory and complete the purchase even if you are planning to buy more throughout the weekend. If you leave something sitting in your cart, it may sell out while you are shopping. After completing an order, you can choose other items and at the shipping page simply choose ‘add to existing order’, and these new items will be shipped with your initial order saving you on shipping multiple packages. You can use this option throughout the weekend.
Save for the Daily Deals
Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday will all get special deals ranging from additional
discounts to special preorders. Try to allow for these deals because very often big titles will be released for preorder at significant discounts. Special releases announced so far are two new VS releases, one new VSA (Vinegar Syndrome Archive) release, one new VSL (Vinegar Syndrome Labs) release, one Cinematographe, and three previously out of print slipcovers. VSA, VSL, and Cinematographe are even more niche than the main line of VS titles and are much more limited than the main VS releases.
Watch Trailers
If you are on the fence about a title, check out the trailer and read reviews. Blind buying a VS title can be pretty risky. Fortunately, the community of fans is vibrant and plenty of people are looking to buy and trade if you end up with something you don’t like.
If you follow these tips, you’re bound to get some fantastic, or fantastically bad but fun titles to add to your physical media collection.
