The Vineyard appeared in 1989 and was the third film directed by James Hong, with co-directed credit going to William Rice. Hong is more known as an actor, and is probably one of the most well-known/recognizable Asian American actors around- since 1950 he’s clocked up an impressive 450 plus acting roles- with key roles in the likes of Big Trouble In Little China, Blade Runner, and Kung Fu Panda 1 & 2. In all Hong has only five directors credits to his name- so while The Vineyard is well enough produced/ scoped- the plot( which was screen-played/written by Hong) is decidedly crazed/ bonkers as he really throws so many ideas/ horror tropes at the screen, leading one at times to wondering what the hell is going on- but of course that’s the joy of this type of nutzoid 80’s horror fun.
 
The film centres around celebrated wine producer Dr. Elson Po( Hong) who lives on a secluded island- he invites a group of male & female airheads to his island to audition for a film- we have two or three big-haired women, dumb muscle-bound men, and a cardigan-wearing investigative journalist who looks like an Asian Clarke Kent look alike. Fairly soon it becomes clear that Dr. Po is centuries old, and keeps relatively young by drinking a potion made from a blend of his wine & the blood of slaves he keeps chained up. As the group settles into Po’s house he starts killing them off one-by-one using oriental voodoo- so we get acupuncture needles coming out of necks, spiders pouring out of victims' mouths, unconvincing distant burning without flames, etc. Also in his wine fields, for some reason I couldn’t figure out, are a selection of barely buried zombies who keep trying to raise up- then Po has to magically make them lie down again. Add into this a deranged elderly women locked away in a room, WTH dancing parties with bad electro-funk soundtracks & cross-dressing guests, non talking henchmen that drag victims away or lop their heads off with axes, silly soft-focused flashbacks & cheesy 80’s soft-core, flits of Day-Glo effects and tacky aged make-up, and the odd bit of Kung fu fighting. Really it’s a film you don’t what is going to be thrown at you next, & it's entirely better for it- if you enjoy crazed 80’s horror you’ll have lots of fun with The Vineyard.
 
Moving onto this new Blu Ray/ DVD dual-format release- and as we’ve come to expect from VS we get a great new scan of the film which is 4K restoration from the original film negative- with the 80’s colours really popping & the more creepy/ darkly moody shots having more balance and definition. On the extras front we get three stand-alone interviews- the first is with Director/ actor James Hong- who is now in his 90’s still very sprightly pulling kung fu moves, and the films producer/ fighting actor Harry Mok- this is a fascinating nineteen minute chat with the two, discussing how the film developed, it’s low budget that they managed to be inventive with, amusing on-set stories, and the film's release on VHS. The other two stand-alone interviews are with co-director William Rice, and the film's cinematographer John Dirlam- and these each come in around the seventeen-minute mark. Lastly, we get an original trailer, and as always with VS the duel case features reversible artwork.
 
If you are a fan of crazed & all over the place 1980’s horror you’ll most certainly get a big kick out of The Vineyard- with VS giving their usual level of care to both the new print &  interesting extras.