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Intrépidos Punks / Vengeance of the Punks – Vinegar Syndrome (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Dates: Mexico, 1988 (Intrépidos Punks), Mexico, 1991 (Vengeance of the Punks)
Director: Francisco Guerrero (Intrépidos Punks), Damián Acosta Esparza (Vengeance of the Punks)
Cast: Juan Valentín, Juan Gallardo, Princesa Lea, Ana Luisa Peluffo, Olga Rios, Bruno Rey, Luz María Jerez

Release Date: August 27th, 2024
Approximate Running Times: 87 Minutes 27 Seconds (Intrépidos Punks), 88 Minutes 27 Seconds (Vengeance of the Punks)
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC (Both Films)
Rating: NR
Sound: DTS-HD Mono Spanish (Both Films)
Subtitles: English (Both Films)
Region Coding: Region Free
Retail Price: $49.98

Intrépidos Punks: "After Fiera and her punk cohorts break their leader Tarzan out of prison, no one is safe! The newly reunited gang are quick to resume their favorite pastimes: robbing banks, brokering drug deals, and securing weapons, all while leaving a trail of mutilated corpses in their wake. As the entire countryside becomes caught up in the punk’s lifestyle of debauchery and violence, it's up to federal agents Javier and Marco to track them down before bloodthirsty anarchy becomes the new way of life." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Vengeance of the Punks: "The punks are on the prowl again! After another explosive jailbreak, Tarzan and his gang are back on the streets, this time looking to exact revenge on the men responsible for landing them in the slammer. After ambushing federal agent Marco’s party and murdering his entire family, they mistakenly believe that they’ve fully annihilated their enemies. But when it turns out that Marco didn’t die in the ambush, the punks begin to get a taste of their own ruthlessness as Marco tracks them down and kills them one by one…" - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 4/5 (Intrépidos Punks), 3.75/5 (Vengeance of the Punks)

Here’s the information provided about this release's transfers, "Newly scanned and restored in 4K from their 35mm original negatives."

Intrépidos Punks and Vengeance of the Punks come on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 45.8 GB

Feature: 21.2 GB (Intrépidos Punks), 20.2 GB (Vengeance of the Punks)

The Intrépidos Punks has a disclaimer explaining why some footage was taken from a 35mm theatrical print. Vengeance of the Punks source damage is more prominent than Intrépidos Punks' source damage. That said, despite their source limitations, it's hard to imagine these two films looking any better than they do here. Though there are moments where the quality fluctuates, for the most part flesh tones and colors look spot on, and image clarity is strong. Also, compression is solid, and the image always looks organic.

Audio: 4/5 (All Audio Tracks)

Both films come with one audio option, a DTS-HD mono mix in Spanish. Though there are some source limitations, dialog comes through clearly, everything sounds balanced, and range-wise things sound satisfactory. There are two English subtitles: one that translates only dialog, and the other translates dialog and song lyrics.

Extras:

Extras for this release include a theatrical trailer for Intrépidos Punks (1 minute 40 seconds, Dolby Digital mono Spanish with removable English subtitles), a making-of documentary titled Intrépidos Punks: A Surrealistic Mexican Scene, featuring interviews with director Francisco Guerrero, along with actors Tito Guillen, Socorro Albarran, Carlos Hauptvgel, Fidel Abrego, Olga Rios, Rosita Bouchot and Arturo Masson (30 minutes 17 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Spanish and English with non-removable English subtitles for Spanish), a making-of documentary titled La Venganza de los Punks: Punk is Dead, featuring interviews with actors Tito Guillen, Socorro Albarran, Carlos Hauptvgel, Fidel Abrego, Olga Rios, Arturo Masson, Anais De Melo and Juan Moro (20 minutes 59 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Spanish and English with non-removable English subtitles for Spanish), reversible cover art, a spot gloss slipcover (limited to 6,000 units), and a 28-page booklet with an essay titled In the Name of Punk written by Claudia Pretelin, and archival images.

Summary:

Intrépidos Punks: A masked man named Tarzan, leading a gang of punks, terrorizes a small town.

Vengeance of the Punks: A gang of punks and their leader Tarzan resume their reign of terror after breaking out of jail.

Vengeance of the Punks is more than a continuation of Intrépidos Punks; content-wise, there is a lot of overlap between these two films. The narrative for these two films is essentially a gang going around terrorizing, robbing, and destroying everything in their path while an inept police struggle to catch them. And what makes this scenario even more confusing is that it is such a small town that the police can't find the criminals. That said, despite some small variations between these films, Vengeance of the Punks feels more like a rehash than a sequel.

It would be difficult to pin either Intrépidos Punks or Vengeance of the Punks into a genre; they are both melting pots of genres; there is action, drama, and softcore erotica. Also, it should not come as a surprise that the most entertaining moments are when the gang wreaks havoc, while the rest of the events that unfold slow momentum down considerably. That said, the Intrépidos Punks soundtrack does a great job reinforcing the mood.

The criminal gang featured in these two films looks more like something from a post-apocalyptic film than a punk rocker. Also, though Vengeance of the Punks starts off strong, it lacks Intrépidos Punks’ spontaneity. One area you can’t fault either of these films is its cast's enthusiastic performances, many of which are over the top. Ultimately, Intrépidos Punks and Vengeance of the Punks are not easy films to recommend; fans of Z-grade exploitation will get the most mileage out of these two films.

Vinegar Syndrome gives Intrépidos Punks and Vengeance of the Punks their best home media release to date.