Men from the Gutter

Details

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MEN FROM THE GUTTER is part of our Vinegar Syndrome Archive collection, celebrating forgotten cinematic oddities from the video store era. This collection was inspired by our own brick & mortar video stores, with locations in Bridgeport, CT, Denver, CO, Toronto, ON, and Pittsburgh, PA.

Unique to this line, each numbered limited edition release will come fitted in a specially designed, bottom loading VHS inspired slipcase, while also including a double-sided poster.

These releases will ONLY be available on our website and at participating indie retailers. Absolutely no major retailers will be stocking them. This spot gloss slipcase edition (designed by Haunt Love) is strictly limited to 5,000 units and and includes a 40-page perfect bound book. This release may (but probably not) be followed by a standard edition in the future.

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On the grimy streets of working-class Hong Kong, some merely scheme to get out, and someone has returned to exact savage vengeance. After a cop is killed in cold blood, detectives Qui and Zhou begin tracking a trio of lowly ex-cons plotting a jewel heist. The hoods hope to land a score that'll finally allow them to leave town, while the cops are chasing a corporate kingpin active in the heroin trade. Meanwhile, a steely yet inconspicuous hitman has arrived from Thailand, eager to take out that same kingpin for having crossed him. While chasing down leads from gun dealers and drug pushers, the police repeatedly encounter these various criminals as the desperation mounts. In a race across smoky gambling dens, cheap love hotels, seedy bars, and dingy warehouses, who will make it out of town alive?

Combining elements of gritty Eurocrime with a jolt of Michael Mann style, MEN FROM THE GUTTER is a crime thriller bursting with powerfully realistic violence. Only the second film directed by Ngai Choi Lam (Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky), it exhibits astonishingly sharp technique in a riveting story that never lets up. This sorely overlooked entry from the Shaw Brothers' waning years relies on cleverly alternating plotlines to showcase a wide variety of brutal action, all to a throbbing synth-heavy score. Starring Michael Miu Kiu Wai (The Legend of the Condor Heroes), Lo Meng (Five Deadly Venoms), Parkman Wong (The Killer), and a jaw-dropping, stunt-heavy performance by Jason Pai Piao (The Chinese Boxer), Vinegar Syndrome Archive is proud to bring to the surface this raw, sunken gem, newly restored from its original camera negative.

directed by: Ngai Choi Lam (as Nai-Tsai Lan)
starring: Jason Piao Pai, Jung Wang (as Yung Wang), Meng Lo, Michael Kiu Wai Miu (as Chiao-Wei Miao)
1983 / 88 min / 2.35:1 / Cantonese DTS-HD Master Audio Mono

Additional info:

• Region A Blu-ray
  
• Newly scanned and restored in 2K from its 35mm original negative
• Brand new commentary track with film historian & author Samm Deighan
• "From the Gutter to the Theater" (27 min) - a brand new making-of documentary featuring interviews with writer Tony Leung Hung-Wah, actor Jason Pai Piao, and actor Yuen Bun
• "Jason Pai Piao: Hong Kong Cinema’s Chameleonic Tough Guy" (13 min) - a video essay by film historian Erica Shultz
• 40-page perfect-bound book with essays by: Walter Chaw, Ariel Esteban Cayer, and Keith Allison
• Reversible sleeve artwork
• Newly translated English subtitles