Advertise on podcast: Punk Vacation: An Unofficial Vinegar Syndrome Podcast

October and November have consistently been some of the best months for Vinegar Syndrome across mainilne and sublabels, and 2026 is no exception. We are joined by the very hard working and passionate Dino Proserpio to review all of the October announcements. Dino's encyclopedic knowldge of Italian and German cinema is on display as he breaks down some of what he has been working on and gives a stirring history of Krimi films that would make Edgar Wallace proud.  After Dino we quickly transition to filmmaker, VS employee, and Punk Vacation regular Kurtis Spieler to discuss his latest film: Night of the Vamp-Friars. Not only is Kurtis' film a nod to classic genre films and 80s horror, but his work ethic and fortitude is a throwback to the independent production days of lore. This was a really fun conversation. Thank you to everyone who listens and please let us know how we can make the show better. Always listening! Someone's Favorite Productions  https://www.someonesfavoriteproductions.com/ Eli can be found on most socials @eliolsberg you can also check out his Letterboxd at https://letterboxd.com/eliolsberg/ Chris is on Letterboxd at https://letterboxd.com/personalhistory/ IG at personalhistoryoffilm Celeste de la Cabra can be found on most socials at Celeste de la Cabra but is very active on YT and IG right now. Also, if you're not already spend a few dollars per month supporting Celeste: https://www.patreon.com/CelestedelaCabra

One of this month's releases includes a commentary by a regular contributor to VinSyn's disc releases, so we're thrilled to welcome Erica Shultz, co-host of the Unsung Horrors podcast and author of The Sweetest Taboo: An Unapologetic Guide to Child Kills in Film! We chat with Erica about the work that goes into recording audio commentaries, video essays, and booklet essays for releases. We also highlight one of our favorite annual fundraising events set up by Erica through her podcast, Horror Gives Back! This year's contributions go to Best Friends Animal Society. This is a great way to support an awesome cause while getting your spooky season viewings in!  In addition to the audio commentary on this month's Blood Reincarnation on the mainline, you can hear and read her work on other VS mainline and sublabel releases like Men From the Gutter, Made in Hong Kong Volume 2, and the Mike Diana Film Collection from partner label Factory 25!  You can follow Erica's podcast on IG with the Horror Gives Back watchlist already live, as well as follow her letterboxd and of course, support the work she's doing by picking up the various titles she's contributed to on the VS website: https://www.instagram.com/unsunghorrors?igshid=sp84lpaa808u https://www.instagram.com/hexmassacre/ https://letterboxd.com/hexmassacre/ Chris and Eli then recap August releases, finding their favorite release from a divisive 4K line and a small, but mighty heap of partner releases too! Looking forward to the onslaught of September drops too! We'll be back the first week of October's with a returning guest to cover the announcements as well as the return of 15 Minutes with You, catching up on the May/June Melusine slate!   Thank you to everyone who listens and please let us know how we can make the show better. Always listening! Someone's Favorite Productions  https://www.someonesfavoriteproductions.com/ Eli can be found on most socials @eliolsberg, you can also catch his standup show the second Tuesday of every month at the Pleasure Chest in West Hollywood. Also, check out his Letterboxd at https://letterboxd.com/eliolsberg/ Chris is on Letterboxd at https://letterboxd.com/personalhistory/ IG at personalhistoryoffilm Celeste de la Cabra can be found on most socials at Celeste de la Cabra but is very active on YT and IG right now. Also, if you're not already spend a few dollars per month supporting Celeste: https://www.patreon.com/CelestedelaCabra

September is here with an absolutely wild lineup of new release titles and the Labor Day sale which is going on for a full week this time! Chris and Eli are joined by our most returning guest, Lead Archivist at VS, Oscar Becher! Reviver 4 was part of the new release schedule and being one of our favorite new sublabels, we had to bring Oscar back to discuss rescuing a lost film and putting together a feature length documentary included on the disc about saving the movie and restoring it. If you love Oscar's Winding Through segments as much as we do, this like Christmas in September! Oscar sticks around to go over all of this month's new releases on the mainline and sublabels, which include a combination of much needed upgrades, some new to blu titles (including a HK deep cut), and some old favorites getting re-releases for anyone who missed out when they were first released. Eli and Chris also call out some of their most hyped partner label releases and go over a few Labor Day sale and OOP titles that were released so far (and provide a hot tip for how to maximize discounts).  Thank you to everyone who listens and please let us know how we can make the show better. Always listening! Someone's Favorite Productions  https://www.someonesfavoriteproductions.com/ Eli can be found on most socials @eliolsberg, you can also catch his standup show the second Tuesday of every month at the Pleasure Chest in West Hollywood. Also, check out his Letterboxd at https://letterboxd.com/eliolsberg/ Chris is on Letterboxd at https://letterboxd.com/personalhistory/ IG at personalhistoryoffilm Celeste de la Cabra can be found on most socials at Celeste de la Cabra but is very active on YT and IG right now. Also, if you're not already spend a few dollars per month supporting Celeste: https://www.patreon.com/CelestedelaCabra

Finding the joy in unfettered creativity. A podcast dedicated to bringing awareness and context to movies of any budget, from anywhere, and during any time. In Episode 52, we have reached singularity. Eli is not on PV exactly as many episodes as he has not been on. To celebrate, we put him through a grueling exercise of all of the July VS and select OCN titles with Chris and all of the April Melusine titles with Celeste. Thank you Eli!  This podcast has improved with you on it, and we're lucky to have your passion and diligence. Here's to many more months and years of celebrating preservation and the art of discovery.  Thank you to everyone who listens and please let us know how we can make the show better. Always listening! Someone's Favorite Productions  https://www.someonesfavoriteproductions.com/ Eli can be found on most socials @eliolsberg Chris is on Letterboxd at https://letterboxd.com/personalhistory/ IG at personalhistoryoffilm Celeste de la Cabra can be found on most socials at Celeste de la Cabra but is very active on YT and IG right now. Also, if you're not already spend a few dollars per month supporting Celeste: https://www.patreon.com/CelestedelaCabra

It's August, which means there's a new slate of releases and we were so excited to see Iconoscope return with TWO new titles, so we had to bring back Iconoscope founder and lead scanning tech at VS, Brandon Upson and we're thrilled to welcome a first time guest on the show: film and tv historian - and Iconoscope co-producer(!) - Amanda Reyes!!  Amanda does incredible archival work in the film world, especially when it comes to made-for-TV movies, we talk with about the history and cultural impact of TV movies, the various projects she's worked on, and finally talking about the new titles: Death of a Cheerleader and Disappearance. Brandon then sticks around to chat with Chris and Eli about the August new releases, which include a Frank Sinatra neo-noir/slasher hybrid, some much needed restorations on the mainline making their 4K debut, and a couple of terrific surprises on the Melusine side. You can follow Amanda on IG and purchase her incredible book, Are You in the House Alone? on the VS site: https://www.instagram.com/madefortvmayhem/ https://vinegarsyndrome.com/products/are-you-in-the-house-alone-a-tv-movie-compendium-1964-1999-paperback-book?_pos=2&_psq=are+you+in&_psid=d80717ac9&_ss=e You can also keep up with Iconoscope on IG and of course, pick up the new releases on VinSyn's site: https://www.instagram.com/iconoscope_label/ https://vinegarsyndrome.com/collections/iconoscope Thank you to everyone who listens and please let us know how we can make the show better. Always listening! Someone's Favorite Productions  https://www.someonesfavoriteproductions.com/ Eli can be found on most socials @eliolsberg, you can also catch his standup show the second Tuesday of every month at the Pleasure Chest in West Hollywood. Also, check out his Letterboxd at https://letterboxd.com/eliolsberg/ Chris is on Letterboxd at https://letterboxd.com/personalhistory/ IG at personalhistoryoffilm Celeste de la Cabra can be found on most socials at Celeste de la Cabra but is very active on YT and IG right now. Also, if you're not already spend a few dollars per month supporting Celeste: https://www.patreon.com/CelestedelaCabra

This week, We're stoked to bring you a first time guest on the show, director of theatrical and special events for Vinegar Syndrome, Theresa Mercado! She's been with the company from their west coast beginnings in Brighton, Colorado and we get to spotlight the hard work that goes on behind the scenes at the warehouse, the opening of The Archive (now Vinegar Syndrome Denver) and the various events they throw at all their locations, and finally taking a deep dive into Vinegar Syndrome's ever-growing theatrical exhibitions with VSP titles! Afterwards, Chris and Eli took the Hurculean task of watching all of the May Halfway to Black Friday titles, along with some partner release for May and June, to talk about them and if you've been listening to prior episodes, you already know one of the year's best discoveries is among this watchpile and there's a new favorite among the sublabels too! We'll back in a little overweek with a special guest to discuss the August announcements! You can follow Theresa on IG: https://www.instagram.com/scream.screen/?hl=en You can also check out VinSyn's events calendar for screenings, events, and VS pop-ups: https://vinegarsyndrome.com/pages/sales-events-calendar Thank you to everyone who listens and please let us know how we can make the show better. Always listening! Someone's Favorite Productions  https://www.someonesfavoriteproductions.com/ Eli can be found on most socials @eliolsberg, you can also catch his standup show the second Tuesday of every month at the Pleasure Chest in West Hollywood. Also, check out his Letterboxd at https://letterboxd.com/eliolsberg/ Chris is on Letterboxd at https://letterboxd.com/personalhistory/ IG at personalhistoryoffilm Celeste de la Cabra can be found on most socials at Celeste de la Cabra but is very active on YT and IG right now. Also, if you're not already spend a few dollars per month supporting Celeste: https://www.patreon.com/CelestedelaCabra

Summer subscriber week just wrapped up with a terrific mainline slate and some exciting sublabel announcements, including one of our new favorites, Reviver. So, who better to have on than friend of the show and VinSyn's lead archivist, Oscar Becher. After multiple delays, The Lady in White is finally here and we talk with Oscar about the painstaking work of restoring three different version of the film (it really did take a village)! We also discuss the rest of the VS lineup, which includes two exciting VSAs in 4K, and of course, Reviver 3! In keeping with the Reviver tradition we won't say anything else about the convo, you'll just have to listen to find out more! You can follow Oscar's Reviver page on IG and of course, by picking up Reviver (and the other titles we discussed) directly through Vinegar Syndrome's site: https://www.instagram.com/reviverarchival/ https://vinegarsyndrome.com Thank you to everyone who listens and please let us know how we can make the show better. Always listening! Someone's Favorite Productions  https://www.someonesfavoriteproductions.com/ Eli can be found on most socials @eliolsberg, you can also catch his standup show the second Tuesday of every month at the Pleasure Chest in West Hollywood. Also, check out his Letterboxd at https://letterboxd.com/eliolsberg/ Chris is on Letterboxd at https://letterboxd.com/personalhistory/ IG at personalhistoryoffilm Celeste de la Cabra can be found on most socials at Celeste de la Cabra but is very active on YT and IG right now. Also, if you're not already spend a few dollars per month supporting Celeste: https://www.patreon.com/CelestedelaCabra

While Vinegar Syndrome's Halfway Subscriber Week has officially kicked off, we'll be talking about that in full next week with a special guest, so in the meantime we thought we'd spotlight one more OCN partner label with another one of our favorites, Kani Releasing! Co-founder Ariel Esteban Cayer joins Chris and Eli to talk about Kani's incredibly diverse catalogue, highlighting some the best in underseen Asian cinema, and how they've grown from their start as a blu-ray label to theatrical exhibition. We also get to chat about some of the early releases, highlight a few new ones, and going deep into the Shaw Studios catalogue for some real discoveries, including this month's release: The House of 72 Tenants. After that, Celeste and Eli are back with another 15 Minutes With You, covering half of the very stacked April release slate. They'll be back with the second half later this month!  You can keep up with all things Kani and see if any of their titles are playing at a theater near you by following their IG page and of course, supporting them by picking up their awesome releases on the VS OCN Partner Label page: https://www.instagram.com/kani.releasing https://vinegarsyndrome.com/collections/kani Thank you to everyone who listens and please let us know how we can make the show better. Always listening! Someone's Favorite Productions  https://www.someonesfavoriteproductions.com/ Eli can be found on most socials @eliolsberg, you can also catch his standup show the second Tuesday of every month at the Pleasure Chest in West Hollywood. Also, check out his Letterboxd at https://letterboxd.com/eliolsberg/ Chris is on Letterboxd at https://letterboxd.com/personalhistory/ IG at personalhistoryoffilm Celeste de la Cabra can be found on most socials at Celeste de la Cabra but is very active on YT and IG right now. Also, if you're not already spend a few dollars per month supporting Celeste: https://www.patreon.com/CelestedelaCabra

It's Episode 47 and we're continuing are focus on partner labels with another one of our favorites and a newcomer to OCN, Muscle Distribution, with founder Elizabeth Purchell! We talk with Liz about her work in film preservation, distribution, and a Kickstarter Muscle Distribution has launched to preserve and restore 4 films that have been long out of circulation! We highly encourage you to check out the details on the Kickstarter page and donate if you can and sign up for Muscle's newsletter that alerts you to any upcoming screenings in your town. And of course, check out Muscle's partner pages on the VS main site and Melusine! Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ muscledistribution/help-muscle-restore-and-rerelease-four-underseen-indie-films Muscle Distribution: https://www.muscle-distribution.com Liz's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/schlockvalue/ Then, Celeste and Eli almost make good on the name 15 minutes with You, going over the three Melusine releases for March, including another VCX release, a Peekarama double, and another Jess Franco title from Delirium! Thank you to everyone who listens and please let us know how we can make the show better. Always listening! Someone's Favorite Productions  https://www.someonesfavoriteproductions.com/ Eli can be found on most socials @eliolsberg, you can also catch his standup show the second Tuesday of every month at the Pleasure Chest in West Hollywood. Also, check out his Letterboxd at https://letterboxd.com/eliolsberg/ Chris is on Letterboxd at https://letterboxd.com/personalhistory/ IG at personalhistoryoffilm Celeste de la Cabra can be found on most socials at Celeste de la Cabra but is very active on YT and IG right now. Also, if you're not already spend a few dollars per month supporting Celeste: https://www.patreon.com/CelestedelaCabra

Finding the joy in unfettered creativity. A podcast dedicated to bringing awareness and context to movies of any budget, from anywhere, and during any time. In Episode 46, we're going up north and chatting with the co-founders of Canadian International Pictures, Jonathan Doyle and David Marriott! CIP has been a partner label for over 4 years and we talk about the company's formation, how they select titles, and the process of restoring and releasing them! We also highlight some of our favorite titles and discuss a very anticipated title for June, The Other French New Wave Volume 2! You can keep up with CIP's theatrical screenings and new release announcements on their IG and of course, can pick up their titles on the VS website (including a handful that are up to 70% off this month)! https://www.instagram.com/cipreleasing/ Then, Celeste and Eli cover the five February Melusine releases on 15 Minutes with You, including two new sublabel releases through VCX and a much anticipated partner label release through Wild Eye Releasing. Thank you to everyone who listens and please let us know how we can make the show better. Always listening! Someone's Favorite Productions  https://www.someonesfavoriteproductions.com/ Eli can be found on most socials @eliolsberg, you can also catch his standup show the second Tuesday of every month at the Pleasure Chest in West Hollywood. Also, check out his Letterboxd at https://letterboxd.com/eliolsberg/ Chris is on Letterboxd at https://letterboxd.com/personalhistory/ IG at personalhistoryoffilm Celeste de la Cabra can be found on most socials at Celeste de la Cabra but is very active on YT and IG right now. Also, if you're not already spend a few dollars per month supporting Celeste: https://www.patreon.com/CelestedelaCabra

Finding the joy in unfettered creativity. A podcast dedicated to bringing awareness and context to movies of any budget, from anywhere, and during any time. On Episode 45, we're kicking off our first of a few partner label interviews for this month by welcoming back friend of the show Ross Snyder, co-founder of Saturn's Core Audio & Video! We talk about all things SOV, from preserving and restoring titles from tape masters, to highlighting some past releases and of course, discuss this month's release: Dead Hunt, the final film from regional director Don Dohler! You can follow SC on Instagram and pick up their titles - some of which are up to 70% off this month - on the VS website! https://www.instagram.com/saturnscoreaudiovideo/ After that we jump into a much overdue 15 Minutes with You! Celeste and Eli catch up on January titles (Resurrection of Eve, Maraschino Cherry, and Sato Volume 3) and each week with partner interviews this month, we'll be covering the February, March, and April titles as well! Thank you to everyone who listens and please let us know how we can make the show better. Always listening! Saturn's Core Audio & Video https://saturnscoreaudiovideo.bigcartel.com/ Someone's Favorite Productions  https://www.someonesfavoriteproductions.com/ Eli can be found on most socials @eliolsberg, you can also catch his standup show the second Tuesday of every month at the Pleasure Chest in West Hollywood. Also, check out his Letterboxd at https://letterboxd.com/eliolsberg/ Chris is on Letterboxd at https://letterboxd.com/personalhistory/ IG at personalhistoryoffilm Celeste de la Cabra can be found on most socials at Celeste de la Cabra but is very active on YT and IG right now. Also, if you're not already spend a few dollars per month supporting Celeste: https://www.patreon.com/CelestedelaCabra

Finding the joy in unfettered creativity. A podcast dedicated to bringing awareness and context to movies of any budget, from anywhere, and during any time. In Episode 44 we get our wings up, our scentific mondo clipboards out, pop on a classical piano nocturne and lock in on an epic journey through 7 VSL releases in April, 2 other sublabels, 2 mainline, and the OCN titles we could get to.  We begin by reviewing the partner label titles that we bought during the first day of the sale and quickly pivot to all of the April releases.  June is going to be a little different for Punk Vacation. We have multiple partner label interviews lined up and will pair each OCN focused episode with a bevy of Melusine titles from 2026. Thank you to everyone who listens and please let us know how we can make the show better. Always listening! Someone's Favorite Productions  https://www.someonesfavoriteproductions.com/ Eli can be found on most socials @eliolsberg, you can also catch his standup show the second Tuesday of every month at the Pleasure Chest in West Hollywood. Also, check out his Letterboxd at https://letterboxd.com/eliolsberg/ Chris is on Letterboxd at https://letterboxd.com/personalhistory/ IG at personalhistoryoffilm Celeste de la Cabra can be found on most socials at Celeste de la Cabra but is very active on YT and IG right now. Also, if you're not already spend a few dollars per month supporting Celeste: https://www.patreon.com/CelestedelaCabra

Finding the joy in unfettered creativity. A podcast dedicated to bringing awareness and context to movies of any budget, from anywhere, and during any time. In Episode 43 we sit down with Kurtis Spieler. Kurtis is a key member of the restoration team at Vinegar Syndrome, but also is involved in many parts of behind the scenes production and even finds time to be a filmmaker. We talk about the Halfway to Black Friday surprise announcements, including a few that Kurtis played a major role in getting them out and ready to ship.   As always, Kurtis is an amazing interview with tons of insight into the VS operations and a sincere love for his job and the work he's doing to preserve cinema. We even get to tease the Vampfriars and how it was directing Vinegar Syndrome's first fully in-house production. We will be back later in June in a different way during partner month. We will have a dedicated episode to cover the 500 movies that were released in April, and separately we're looking forward to highlighting some of the partner labels in a more focused way. Thank you to everyone who listens and please let us know how we can make the show better. Always listening! Someone's Favorite Productions  https://www.someonesfavoriteproductions.com/ Eli can be found on most socials @eliolsberg, you can also catch his standup show the second Tuesday of every month at the Pleasure Chest in West Hollywood. Also, check out his Letterboxd at https://letterboxd.com/eliolsberg/ Chris is on Letterboxd at https://letterboxd.com/personalhistory/ IG at personalhistoryoffilm Celeste de la Cabra can be found on most socials at Celeste de la Cabra but is very active on YT and IG right now. Also, if you're not already spend a few dollars per month supporting Celeste: https://www.patreon.com/CelestedelaCabra

Finding the joy in unfettered creativity. A podcast dedicated to bringing awareness and context to movies of any budget, from anywhere, and during any time. Episode 42 is reviewing the May announcements that we know. In preparation for Halfway to Black Friday, VS has released a portion of their slate in addition to a new slate of OCN partner titles. We are joined by film historian Casey Scott and film and culture writer Gentry Austin who run the amazing Sin Syndicate podcast.  Casey is on record saying he has known Joe Rubin since he was 16 years old, and is a wealth of knowledge about VS and especially their golden age porno and sexploitation movies. Him and Gentry have many stories about the titles, the production of the discs, and overall this was a conversation Eli and I really loved. We had to try hard to keep it from going another 2 hours. They have already started showing up on commentaries and special features, including the Distribpix title this month, and it's easy to understand why.  We will be back later in May to cover the full Halfway to Black Friday slate and discuss the overflowing cornucopia of April releases.  Thank you to everyone who listens and please let us know how we can make the show better. Always listening! If you want to get a taste of the expertise Casey and Gentry bring to their film discussion you can follow them on Letterboxd:  Gentry is simply gentryaustin Casey is manofsteel26 Someone's Favorite Productions  https://www.someonesfavoriteproductions.com/ Eli can be found on most socials @eliolsberg, you can also catch his standup show the second Tuesday of every month at the Pleasure Chest in West Hollywood. Also, check out his Letterboxd at https://letterboxd.com/eliolsberg/ Chris is on Letterboxd at https://letterboxd.com/personalhistory/ IG at personalhistoryoffilm Celeste de la Cabra can be found on most socials at Celeste de la Cabra but is very active on YT and IG right now. Also, if you're not already spend a few dollars per month supporting Celeste: https://www.patreon.com/CelestedelaCabra

Finding the joy in unfettered creativity. A podcast dedicated to bringing awareness and context to movies of any budget, from anywhere, and during any time. Episode 41 is Eli and I covering March titles in depth but most importantly it is sitting down with one of our heroes. Moviemaker, raconteur, philosopher, and now available on Shudder, Scooter McCrae joined Punk Vacation. Scooter is the actual best. Get this man into any discussion of the Mount Rushmore of moviemakers from history. He is takes the craft so seriously, and spends a lot of time in this conversation breaking down the small details he considers in order to out Dreyer Carl Theodor himself. He also speaks openly about his time as a behind camera creative in the NY porn scene, and shares some stories with us I had not heard before. But what jumps in every Scooter interview is how humble and kind the man is. He'll roll with any topic, is self-depricating if he has a chance to make a joke, clearly loves classic cinema. He speaks about cinematographers the way that the best drummers speak about their heroes from the past.  After Scooter dips out, Eli and Chris walk through the mountain of March titles and portend the impossible task of covering everything from April. Overall, this is an episode I'm very happy with and I hope you enjoy! We will be back in early May to discuss the months announcements as the month of reveals opens up with a few early sneak peeks and another cornucopia of partner releases. Thank you to everyone who listens and please let us know how we can make the show better. Always listening! Go watch Black Eyed Susan on Shudder! Someone's Favorite Productions  https://www.someonesfavoriteproductions.com/ Eli can be found on most socials @eliolsberg, you can also catch his standup show the second Tuesday of every month at the Pleasure Chest in West Hollywood. Also, check out his Letterboxd at https://letterboxd.com/eliolsberg/ Chris is on Letterboxd at https://letterboxd.com/personalhistory/ IG at personalhistoryoffilm Celeste de la Cabra can be found on most socials at Celeste de la Cabra but is very active on YT and IG right now. Also, if you're not already spend a few dollars per month supporting Celeste: https://www.patreon.com/CelestedelaCabra