Psychos in Love – Vinegar Syndrome (Blu-ray/DVD Combo)

Theatrical Release Date: USA, 1987
Director: Gorman Bechard
Writers: Gorman Bechard, Carmine Capobianco
Cast: Carmine Capobianco,v Patti Chambers, Carla Bragoli, Carrie Gordon, Angela Nicholas, Debi Thibeault, Cecelia Wilde

Release Date: September 26th, 2017
Approximate running time: 86 Minutes 26 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Aspect Ratio / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC
Rating: NR
Sound: DTS-HD Mono English
Subtitles: English SDH
Region Coding: Region Free
Retail Price: OOP

"Joe (Carmine Capobianco) runs a strip club and Kate (Debi Thibeault) is an attractive young manicurist. After bonding over their mutual dislike of grapes, they discover another commonality: both of them are bloodthirsty serial killers. As they begin to balance their obsession with murder and each other, they meet Herman (Frank Stewart), a cannibal who, upon discovering their bloodlust, attempts to lure them into killing as a means to satisfy his craving for human flesh!" - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 5/5

Here’s the information provided about this release's transfer, "Newly scanned and restored in 2k from the 16mm original camera negative."

Psychos in Love comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 39.1 GB

Feature: 23.3 GB

The source used for this transfer looks excellent, and this new 2K restoration is by far and away the best Psychos in Love have ever looked at on home video. Flesh tones look healthy, colors are nicely saturated, image clarity, black levels, and compression are solid, and the image always looks organic. When it comes to the black-and-white footage, image clarity, contrast, and shadow detail are solid.

Audio: 4.25/5

This release comes with one audio option, a DTS-HD mono mix in English with removable English SDH. This audio is in great shape; there are no issues with hiss or distortion. Dialog comes through clearly, everything sounds balanced, and ambient sounds are well represented. That said, though range-wise things can sound very limited, this is more a product of Psycho’s in Love’s low-budget origins than anything to do with the work that went into cleaning up this track for this release.

Extras:

Extras for this release include a behind the scenes photo gallery, a promotional image gallery, a theatrical trailer (1 minute 44 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), an introduction with co-screenwriter/director Gorman Bechard and co-screenwriter/actor Carmine Capobianco (32 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), alternate Wizard Video opening credit sequence (1 minute 12 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), rough edit outtakes and extended scenes (9 minutes 55 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), an archival featurette titled Making Psychos (13 minutes 1 second, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), highlights from the Psychos in Love stage play (13 minutes 45 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), Carmine Capobianco Q & A from Cinema Wasteland 2016 (49 minutes 18 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an interview with Gorman Bechard titled Directing the Psychos (11 minutes 11 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an interview with Carmine Capobianco titled Playing a Psycho (15 minutes 26 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), a conversation with Gorman Bechard and Carmine Capobianco titled Discussing Psychos (20 minutes 6 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an audio commentary with Gorman Bechard and Carmine Capobianco, an audio commentary with Gorman Bechard, four short film directed by Gorman Bechard: The Only Take (2 minutes 32 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), Pairs (32 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), Bartholemew (6 minutes 33 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles) and Objects in the Mirror Are Further Than They Appear (14 minutes 59 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), reversible cover art, a double-thick ‘stickered cover’ limited edition slipcover (limited to 2,000 copies), and a 12-page booklet with an essay titled In Love with Psycho’s in Love written by Art Ettinger and an essay titled Pardon Me While I Have A Strange Interlude written by Matt Desiderio.

Included with this release is a DVD that has the same content as the Blu-ray included as part of this combo.

Summary:

Two psychotic killers cross paths and fall in love.

Psychos in Love was directed by Gorman Bechard, who co-wrote the screenplay with Carmine Capobianco, who also composed the film's score, and he also appears in the film as one of the lead characters. Gorman Bechard would collaborate with Carmine Capobianco on three other films: Disconnected, Galactic Gigolo, and Cemetery High.

Though there is plenty of blood and carnage in Psychos in Love, it serves more as window dressing for what is really a story about finding one's soul mate. The disjointed nature of the plot and a subplot about a killer plumber who eats his victims are Psychos in Love’s two biggest flaws. The scenes where Joe and Kate (the two psychos who fall in love) are bonding are what drive Psychos in Love.

Despite being shot on a modest budget, Psychos in Love has a tremendous amount of style. Two scenes that best exhibit this are a proxy re-creation of the shower scene murder from Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho and a scene where Joe and Kate have trouble killing a hooker who appears to have nine lives.

Another one of Psychos in Love's strengths is the mesmerizing performances from its two leads, Carmine Capobianco and Debi Thibeault (who bear an uncanny resemblance to Molly Ringwald). Also, you have to love the dialog, especially when Joe goes on one of his rants about hating grapes. Ultimately, Psychos in Love is a fun film that takes familiar themes and turns them on their heads.

Psychos in Love gets a definitive release from Vinegar Syndrome, highly recommended.

Written by Michael Den Boer