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Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray (Uncut) |
Comparison between the cut Hong Kong VHS by Ocean Shores and the uncut US Blu-ray by Vinegar Syndrome
- 6 changes
Lau Hung-Chuen's 1983 Devil Fetus was made on a small budget, but with a lot of passion and creative ideas. Shortly before, Tobe Hooper's Poltergeist was a huge box office success, and the Shaw Brothers in particular also had a wild occult horror film in their program, The Boxer's Omen. Smaller studios also wanted a piece of the action with titles like Centipede Horror. The film was produced by Lo Wei, whose successes with Bruce Lee dated back a long time and who had just lost Jackie Chan to Golden Harvest – however, this studio did take over the distribution here. Among genre fans, Devil Fetus had been sought after for quite some time, but (as so often) availability left something to be desired. In recent years, the Hong Kong DVD from Joy Sales was of course an obvious choice and at least in 2.35:1, but the rape/nude scenes are censored here and a less gory alternative take is used for the killing of the dog. The Ocean Shores LaserDisc still contained these scenes, but gory moments such as the evisceration of the dead dog and the masturbation scene were toned down, and the unattractively zoomed full-screen master had a few more missing bits, probably due to the source material. On VHS, the same, already heavily edited master was used as a basis, but with additional cuts (more than on the DVD) around the nude scenes. This very heavily censored version is the subject of the following report. The US Blu-ray from Vinegar Syndrome, available in the label shop since the end of March 2025 (and from April also on Amazon), is thus the first opportunity to get an uncut version on a large scale. For this, the rare English audio track was even rescued from an Indonesian VHS, which is likely to be a novelty even for most English-speaking fans. Once again, this new HD scan offers the trashy cult film in unimagined quality, and the release also comes in a double pack with the infamous rape-n-revenge shocker Her Vengeance – in a reconstructed Cat. III combo version and with the Cat. IIb version expanded to include more plot. More about the special features of these two versions in a dedicated report. Incidentally, both films are also to be released individually in the UK by 88 Films later this year. Runtimes:
Runtime information is arranged according to the scheme The Blu-ray starts with the logo of Fortune Star. The following logo of Lo Wei Motion Picture Co. Ltd is also missing on both old releases by Ocean Shores. Not included in the cuts duration/amount.
58 sec
The VHS and LaserDisc by Ocean Shores instead have different Ocean Shores logos at the beginning. Interestingly, the VHS then has a first fade-in (also not appearing on the Blu-ray) before the title card, while the LaserDisc has a note about the age rating instead. VHS 7.9 sec longer
01:12 / 01:41-01:44 The tracking shot down to the stage begins a little earlier. Both VHS and LaserDisc start when the sign is not visible anymore. 3.1 sec
Well known to Hong Kong collectors: On VHS, further references to Ocean Shores appear in these first few minutes. The cropped subtitles and the image being much too dark and heavily zoomed also speak for themselves. Even back then, the DVD was a huge leap in quality and with the new Blu-ray, this mess is fortunately finally a thing of the past.
03:04 / 03:41-03:44 A long shot is a little longer. 2.2 sec
07:38 / 08:30 A small master error when the old woman goes to the door. 0.5 sec 15:40 / 16:53-17:24 Shu Ching is seen on the bed for a considerably longer period of time before the door is opened. The camera pulls back and, while more ominous voices can be heard off-screen, she slowly gets up. 30.7 sec
At 20:58 / 22:56-22:57 a black frame is insignificant 1.5 sec longer. 31:06 / 33:32-33:33 Before the dog eats the mass, it spreads out on the floor a moment earlier. 0.8 sec 35:13 / 37:50-37:51 When the couple are passionately kissing, there is a shot of the dog, which is now also scurrying around under her skirt. 1 sec
35:18 / 37:57-38:01 At the end of the shot, she looks down in amazement, notices the dog and rushes screaming away. 1 sec
How the dog is killed at 38:05 / 40:55 (only in quickly shown close-ups, the splashing blood makes it look more drastic than it actually is) is shown identically. This is a good example of how the zoomed full screen defuses the scene almost by itself. Ocean Shores didn't use the less bloody alternative take here as on the Joy Sales DVD, but half of the bloodstain was cut off to the side anyway. See also the subsequent shot (which was identical on the Joy Sales DVD): Shu Ching is completely out of the picture on the left here.
At 38:28 / 41:19, there was a change of reel. On VHS, this is almost identical to Blu-ray, but a mark on the right is noticeable. On LaserDisc, this short moment (1 sec) is missing and at the beginning of the following shot, the logo appears again.
Difference to the otherwise identically cut LaserDisc 45:06 / 48:11-48:18 The VHS copy at hand has a small gap here during a scene change (from the forest to the ceremony where something is lit) and is thus slightly shorter. The LaserDisc is also not quite complete here: after all the other deviations exactly match the VHS, it is at least 3 sec longer than the VHS. In any case, a total of... 7.2 sec
45:42-45:46 / 48:55-48:59 As shown at the beginning, the image was quite dark on both the VHS and the LaserDisc. The fact that you can hardly see anything when the dog's carcass is uncovered can be seen as deliberate censorship. No time difference
See also the aerial shot shortly afterwards.
For comparison, here is the LaserDisc, which is a tiny bit brighter, and the DVD.
46:01 / 49:15-49:22 But here there was additional censorship: At the end of the shot, the belly is held up longer. Reaction shot to the drumming, then Wai continues to poke around in the intestines. 7.2 sec
46:02 / 49:23-49:28 Wai is eating the dog innards. 4.4 sec
46:04 / 49:30-49:34 More shots of that. Only the last, closer shot (only mouth and no intestines visible) remained with Ocean Shores. 4 sec
48:18 / 51:54-51:56 Between the medium long shot of Wai on the bed and a close-up of the pin-up girl on the poster, you can actually see in close-up how he opens his trousers. 1.6 sec
Difference to the otherwise identically cut LaserDisc 55:48 / 59:45-59:48 Rape scene: Both VHS and LaserDisc use the more explicit take and not the zoomed version from the later Joy Sales DVD. However, the shot is interrupted on the VHS before Wai uncovers her breast. The LaserDisc (here 55:43-55:46) also contains the complete rest of the shot. 2.9 sec
55:57 / 59:58-60:30 They try to open the door earlier. Kent comes over and calms his father down. Wai doesn't react to him either, so Kent starts kicking the door. Note: This scene is only available in Cantonese on the English soundtrack, so it was apparently missing as well from the corresponding version of the Indonesian VHS. 30,4 sec
59:57 / 64:40-64:42 When the eagle was killed, the beginning of the shot with the throat cut was removed. 2.3 sec
60:01 / 64:47-64:53 The shot is longer: a lot more blood runs down. 5.9 sec
Difference to the otherwise identically edited LaserDisc 60:15 / 65:07-65:21 While the HK-DVD only cuts the shot just as the breast is uncovered, the Hong Kong VHS removes the entire shot of the blanket being pulled down. The LaserDisc (here 60:13-60:26) still had the entire shot. 13.6 sec
Difference to the laser disc, which is otherwise identically cut 60:40 / 65:48-65:52 Demon Wai licks over her body. This was still completely included in the LaserDisc (here 60:51-60:56). 4.6 sec
63:01 / 68:20-68:21 The beginning of a shot: Flying wildly around. 0.8 sec 71:34 / 77:16-77:17 A few inconsequential frames are lost here as well, as Shu Ching scurries around in panic. 0.8 sec 74:49 / 80:40-80:51 Shu Ching continues to walk around the room, with wild flickering several times. 10.8 sec
75:01 / 81:04-81:18 Shortly afterwards, Shu Ching can be seen slowly walking backwards much earlier, while the Ocean Shores version only starts to react when the cloth is torn off behind her. 13.4 sec
81:44 / 88:18-88:21 Wai yells “Brother!” in an additional shot. 2.8 sec
82:10-82:17 / 88:48-88:55 Another suspiciously dark scene: When Wai's body is torn open, you can hardly see anything on VHS. A few frames were removed in addition, but it's hard to pinpoint them in the dark shots. Blu-ray 0.4 sec longer
82:26 / 89:05 Another shot of it is a moment longer at the end. When the shred of flesh falls, the image brightens briefly here, or rather, because this would have been better seen even on the darkened VHS image source, it was cut. 0.6 sec
After the credits have rolled, the Blu-ray has additional information from Fortune Star and Vinegar Syndrome.
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