About
Who We Are
Vinegar Syndrome is a film preservation, restoration, and distribution company founded in 2012 with a simple mission: to rescue and preserve lost, forgotten, and endangered exploitation and genre films.
Founded by four partners Ryan Emerson, Joe Rubin, Ralph Stevens, and Ian Stone, Vinegar Syndrome has grown from a small preservation-focused operation into one of the world’s leading independent genre film distributors, while also solidifying itself as one of the most important film archives critical to the long-term preservation of thousands of independent feature films. Our work has been acclaimed by The New York Times, Village Voice, Dangerous Minds, IndieWire, and many others, with Alamo Drafthouse Cinema calling Vinegar Syndrome “…perhaps the most important home video label in the world for genre film…”
Our ever-expanding catalog spans decades of independent and unconventional filmmaking and includes worldwide rights to such exploitation and genre classics as Tammy and the T-Rex, Demon Wind, Spookies, Night Train to Terror, Terminal Island, Blood Harvest, Angel, The Lamp, Death Promise, Don’t Open Till Christmas, and countless others.
Our preservation efforts also encompass a significant archive of rare and historically important sexploitation cinema, much of which is available through our sister site, MĂ©lusine.
What We Do
Film preservation is at the core of Vinegar Syndrome.
Our work has resulted in the digital restoration and preservation of over a thousand feature films, ranging from cult favorites to obscurities that, in many cases, were at serious risk of disappearing altogether. We also work closely with archives and cultural institutions including The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), the Academy Film Archive, the Library of Congress, UCLA, the Walker Art Center, and many others.
Through our in-house restoration facility, we can scan, preserve, and restore motion picture film, controlling the entire process to ensure we achieve the highest technical standards. Many of the elements that enter our archive have been neglected for decades, and some are the only known materials to survive.
Our goal is not to reinvent these films, but to preserve them. Whenever possible, we restore each title to the image and sound quality of its original theatrical presentation, while safeguarding its surviving film elements for the future.
We believe exploitation, genre, underground, regional, and independent cinema are essential parts of film history. Whether celebrated, misunderstood, overlooked, or nearly forgotten, these films deserve to survive, and to be seen by new generations of film lovers.
Why “Vinegar Syndrome”?
Our name is a constant reminder of what we’re fighting against.
“Vinegar syndrome” is the term used to describe a chemical deterioration process that affects acetate motion picture film as it ages. Once it begins, the damage is irreversible and will eventually render the film unusable.
Film preservation is a race against time, particularly for independent and genre films whose original elements were often poorly stored, neglected, or simply forgotten.
That race is why Vinegar Syndrome exists.
 
 
 
 
 