This limited edition 3-disc set (designed by Earl Kess) is limited to 6,000 units and is only available on our website and at select indie retailers. Absolutely no major retailers will be stocking them. Special note: this is Volume #1 of a three part (and world first) expanding box set featuring the films of René Cardona Jr.
René Cardona Jr. was the king of Mexican exploitation cinema throughout the 70s and 80s, directing dozens of films in a variety of genres and taking creative inspiration from the most popular trends in American and Italian genre cinema. Vinegar Syndrome presents The Cardona Collection: Volume 1, containing three of his violent, horror tinged adventure and disaster movies, all newly restored from their original negatives.
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TREASURE OF THE AMAZON:
Gringo, an American ex-pat driven mad by a failed (and deadly) treasure hunt in the Amazonian rainforest, is encouraged by two novice adventurers to help them recover Gringo’s mythic loot. Setting out on their journey, they cross paths with Klaus von Blantz, a deranged and greedy ex-Nazi, who has launched his own fortune seeking expedition and Clark, another American hunting for oil. As greed and jealousy grows between the competing posses, they discover that their biggest threat isn’t each other, but the ravenous native beasts around them…and some very hungry local tribesmen…
A terrifically entertaining and twisted Mexican take on Italian style cannibal and jungle films, René Cardona Jr.’s TREASURE OF THE AMAZON is chock full of all the right ingredients: gratuitous gore (and some imaginatively nasty death scenes), cannibal natives, animal attacks, and a surprise A-list cast featuring Oscar Nominee Stuart Whitman (Night of the Lepus), Donald Pleasance (Halloween), and Golden Globe winner, Bradford Dillman (Piranha) playing along side Eurosleaze film favorites such as Hugo Stiglitz (Nightmare City) and John Ireland (One on Top of the Other). Vinegar Syndrome is delighted to present this overlooked piece of Amazonian set splatter to Blu-ray, newly restored in 4K from its original negative!
directed by: René Cardona Jr. 1984 / 105 min / 1.85:1 / English Mono
Region Free Blu-ray
Newly scanned & restored in 4k from its 35mm original negative
Still gallery
English SDH subtitles
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THE BERMUDA TRIANGLE:
Edward, a wealthy old man, has commissioned a yacht to take his family on an expedition to investigate underwater ruins in the Bermuda Triangle. While at sea, his daughter discovers a strange looking doll floating in the water, to which she takes an immediate liking. No sooner than entering the Bermuda Triangle, increasingly mysterious events start to befall the travelers, as the group begins loosing all sense of time. And it’s not long before various members of the party turn up dead, while the strange doll develops an appetite for fresh flesh…
A strange Mexican-Italian co-production that balances adventure and survival film tropes along with touches of supernatural horror and mystery, René Cardona Jr.’s THE BERMUDA TRIANGLE stars two-time Oscar winner, John Huston (Chinatown, Prizzi’s Honor), Italian sex symbol Gloria Guida (To Be Twenty), Euro starlet Claudine Auger (Thunderball), and Mexican exploitation stalwart, Hugo Stiglitz (Survive!). Imaginatively weird and frequently jaw dropping, Vinegar Syndrome brings THE BERMUDA TRIANGLE to Blu-ray for the first time, newly restored from its original 35mm negative.
directed by: René Cardona Jr. 1978 / 112 min / 1.85:1 / English Mono
Region Free Blu-ray
Newly scanned & restored in 4k from its 35mm original negative
“Escaping the Triangle” - an Interview with René Cardona III
“Triangle of Fear” - an interview with producer Angelo Iacono
Collection of foreign titles and credits
Still gallery
English SDH subtitles
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CYCLONE:
When a powerful cyclone sweeps through the Caribbean, downing a small plane, sinking a fishing boat, and sweeping people off of the nearby islands, a group of sea bound survivors take refuge on a damaged boat. Stranded and with no way to communicate with land, the days drag on and hunger and hopelessness overtake the group. However, their horror is only beginning as food supplies start to dwindle and the survivors are forced to take unspeakable measures to stay alive, all as carnivorous sea life circles in, seeking fresh blood…
An epic disaster thriller made on a shoe-string that slowly morphs into an unsettling tale of survival and desperation, René Cardona Jr.’s cult classic, CYCLONE brings together a remarkable cast, headlined by five time Oscar nominee, Arthur Kennedy (Let Sleeping Corpses Lie), exploitation queen Carroll Baker (Orgasmo, Baby Doll), Spaghetti crime favorite, Lionel Stander (Milan: Caliber 9), and Italian character actress, Olga Karlotos (Fulci’s Zombie). Elevated by a lush score from two time Oscar nominee, Riz Ortolani (Goodby Uncle Tom, Don’t Torture a Duckling), Vinegar Syndrome presents this star-studded thrill ride on Blu-ray for the very first time, presented in both its commonly seen English export version as well as it’s rare, alternate Mexican theatrical cut, both of which feature extensive alternate footage!
directed by: René Cardona Jr. 1978 / 119 min / 1.85:1 / English Mono
Region Free Blu-ray
Newly scanned & restored in 4k from its 35mm original negative
Includes both the English & Spanish language versions
“Surviving the Cyclone” - an Interview with René Cardona III
“The Eye of the Cyclone” - an interview with producer Angelo Iacono
“Beware of Sharks” - an interview with actress Carroll Baker
Still gallery
English SDH subtitles
Overall rating: 4.2418604 / 5 from 215 reviews.
AI Generated Review Summary
This limited edition 3-disc set, featuring three films by René Cardona Jr., is highly praised for its excellent film quality, top-notch transfer, and fantastic packaging. Customers appreciate the great collection of films, the entertaining movies, and the appealing artwork on the box.
"Great artwork, packaging and movies!" — Hunter R.
"Great release, nice packaging that looks splendid." — Sebastian V.
"Great movies, transfers, and extras" — Adam R.
Reviews
Could Also Be Called "The Hugo Stiglitz Collection"
"Awesome collection of dark survival adventure films. It could also be called The Hugo Stiglitz Collection, since he appears in all three. I’d say my favorite was Treasure of the Amazon, followed by Cyclone, and then The Burmada Triangle as my least favorite. Triangle has a good spooky supernatural element that the other two don’t have, but it’s really slow and boring when it’s not focusing on that. Cyclone’s a pretty good stranded-at-sea film that hilariously becomes a shark attack film in the last five minutes - I enjoyed it. Treasure of the Amazon is a jungle adventure that surprisingly stars a fat old bearded guy - that aspect is kind of amazing. Overall, it’s a great collection that I can recommend if you are interested in those kinds of movies."
— Lucas B. (4/5)
A nice collection of genre films
"This a fun little set of Mexican exploitation films. I had a good time watching these, with the highlight being Treasure of the Amazon."
— Marshall T. (5/5)
Fun, low-budget disaster fare
"Alright, now this first collection of Rene Cardona, Jr. movies — Treasure of the Amazon, The Bermuda Triangle, Cyclone — is up my alley: low budget, silly but ambitious, and the kind of stuff you can put on while doing household chores. We aren’t talking deep-plot-city on these films…which have a place in cinema. Tongue-in-cheek while never taking themselves too seriously. A lot of fun. And while I’m no packaging fetishist, the magnetic cases for this and its companion piece, Volume 2, are fun to look at with their collages-like images."
— Paul S. (5/5)
Cool collection
"While the quality of these films is debatable, it is definitely a good package of tasters of a corner of cinema most people have little to no experience with."
— Teun H. (4/5)
Highly recommended for Cardona and B-movie fans!
"This really should have been a trilogy with Tintorera instead of the Treasure movie, but aside from that this is a great set for fans of Cardona and international b-movies. The picture quality is excellent, the sound is passable. The slipcase packaging from Vinegar Syndrome is outstanding. Feels very collectible and reverent to the content with some great artwork. The movies are very entertaining featuring some great guerilla-style filmmaking, and some surprisingly good casting such as John Huston and Donald Pleasance. And of course, Hugo Stiglitz. Lots of Hugo Stiglitz."
— Istvan K. (5/5)
Wild grab bag of Mexican genre cinema
"A hugely entertaining mix of adventure and exploitation from the Cardona clan. Not every film is “great,” but they’re all colorful, energetic, and fascinating snapshots of their era. The set looks far better than you’d expect, with strong restorations and fun extras."
— Thomas L. (4/5)
Doctor Druncle Peter
"💎 Treasure Of The Amazon - Great opening, scenery and atmosphere. Pleasance makes quite an entrance with a hot bare breasted Amazonian woman on horseback. One of the pilots looks like charlton Heston’s brother. This is a pretty decent adventurer film. Stuart Whitman easily has the best acting out of everyone else, not to take away from them because the whole cast was enjoyable to me. Hugo Stiglitz drives the boat. There are some pretty well shot kills here too. The score is pretty good! I loved the ending too. Check it out. 🚢 Triangle: The Bermuda Mystery - nice stormy opening with some great camera work. The English dubbing is so hilariously bad. One of the young boy actors has what sounds like an older woman or man dubbing his voice, so completely off. Lmao even Hugo Stiglitz voice has a terrible voice dubbing. There’s another actor that looks like an islander version of Richard Kiel (Jaws) and his dubbing is done by what sounds like a teenage boy lmao. I’m not even ten minutes into the film yet, it’s only just begun! Furthermore, not all of the voices are dubbed, so it’s topsy turvy haywire nonsense if you’re really paying attention. That little long haired blonde girl is a vexatious one. This terrible dubbing continues, the dialogue is so horridly entertaining and seemingly void of effort. This is a true gem, a real winner if you’re looking for consistent verbal schlock. I’m trusting that everyone who participated in this film was hammered because then it would atleast be justifiably bad. The acting is very wooden, and there isn’t much emotion behind any of it lol. For example, the teenage boy told his sister that their parents fell overboard during the storm the night before and he said it like was just a casual occurrence, and then after her blank stare, her response was telling him to look after their other siblings if she died because he is a man now. Well first of all I wouldn’t want anyone who couldn’t even make a facial expression after hearing about his parents’ death to look after anybody, let alone his own siblings - they wouldn’t stand a chance lol. There are some really beautiful underwater and storm scenes. Yeah really terrible acting but unintentionally funny of course which is the one and only proper way to make a true “so bad it’s good film”. When the actors and filmmakers are intentionally unaware of how bad they are doing and it is obvious to an audience then it becomes pure comedy charm. Nobody feels anything at all when someone dies at all in this film and to me it is impossible to be taken seriously. Although these films cannot be compared when truly analyzed, overall my favorite of the three is definitely Triangle simply for how bad it is. With that said, I liked Treasure a lot because of the adventure horror in a jungle aspect of it. “Carlber Blowout“ “Moby Dick My Ass“ “Dog Overboard“ “Tonight We Dine On Terriers Soup” 🦈 Cyclone - well lol in less than five minutes I’ve already noticed that half the actors from Triangle are in Cyclone, and the same lady that played Crisp’s mother in Kindergarten Cop is also here. Not surprisingly there is a lot of good storm footage, hence the film title. Then again, there are many forms of media in existence whose premise has nothing to do with what the name of the title implies. Again, the quality is astoundingly poor but it actually makes the movie worth checking out depending on your definition of good taste. It is much better than watching another regurgitated CGI piece of garbage. The acting is also terrible but I still found Triangle to be far funnier than this. Lmao though because even the sharks have their own soundtrack to eat people floating in the water, complete with cheeseball guitar riffs. Lmao just when the movie was becoming fairly boring for awhile the dog gets thrown overboard and its throat is cut so they could use the meat for fishing bait. I was dying 🤣. Each one of these films are a solid 2 hours long, so be ready for a lengthy trio of Cardona. Lol I’m not understanding why a boat full of over twenty people cannot catch a fish to save their lives - LITERALLY! Additionally and Even dumber - they finally catch jaws’s distant cousin with human flesh but instead of having like ten of an available 20+ people aboard grab the line to pull in the shark, they only have two people pulling and one of them falls in. These are most retarded S. O. S. people ever to Grace the screen that I’ve witnessed. Also this film has the biggest amount of people slaughtered by sharks that I have seen yet. There is wonderful scenery littered throughout this movie. I really don’t know what to say about the ending, I’ll leave that one alone. This is a nice box set with great artwork and the matching magnets that marry the Cardona Vol. 2 boxed set. There is indeed a respectable amount of supplemental material as well. Combined with volume two that makes 7 Cardona films to binge on if need be. This doesn’t include the other separate Cardona releases available. The design and art on the slipcase is awesome. 👏"
— Rory K. (5/5)
Interesting films
"This is an interesting set and I enjoyed my time with this release. Magnetic slipcases are cool and they fit together perfectly on the shelf. High recommendations!"
— Eppu K. (5/5)
File under: people wandering in a jungle.
"You gotta be in the mood for dingbats and foliage, but when the mood hits, these flicks will do ya right."
— JOHN F. (4/5)
Okay exploitation movies, very nice
"Okay exploitation movies, very nice cover. Solid transfers considering the material."
— Jacob K. (4/5)
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