One of the most mind-boggling vanity projects CHAMPAGNE AND BULLETS comes to Blu-ray in three flavors, courtesy of Vinegar Syndrome's Archive line.

After an illegal drug bust that leaves multiple casualties, crooked police lieutenant Normad (William Smith, SCORCHY) frames former buddies Rick Bode (John De Hart) and Henry "Huck" Finney (Wings Hauser, VICE SQUAD) for drug-dealing and gets them thrown off the force. Years later, Huck is spiraling downward due to multiple upheavals in his life – including a divorce from shrewish Alex (Lisa Boyle, LOST HIGHWAY) – while Rick is growing restless as a charter limousine driver. When the pair go out to Cowboy Night to blow off steam, Rick runs into ex-girlfriend Cindy (Playboy Playmate Pamela Jean Bryant, DON'T ANSWER THE PHONE) who has come home after running with a wild crowd in Hollywood. He fends off an attack on her by a group of men at the bar who she reveals were part of a devil-worshipping cult that actually sacrificed children, and they are out to get her because she knows too much. When Huck gets into a domestic incident with his ex-wife, he finds himself in court before Normad who is now a judge, who Alex just happens to also recognize as the leader of the cult. When Normad's henchman Snake (Steve Halcum) and Scar (Jimmy Williams, ISLAND OF BLOOD) are sent out to "dust" Cindy, Rick takes the law into his own hands.

Written, directed, produced by and starring John De Hart – who also provides at least five songs, including a live performance of the "Shimmy Slide" that gone viral in recent years – CHAMPAGNE AND BULLETS may either be a delusional vanity project or a very shrewd tax break situation. While it would be easy to write off De Hart, he is intermittently charismatic although obviously not the humble everyman his character is meant to be; although he also seems far away from the likes of Tommy Wisseau even though THE ROOM might come to mind watching this film. In this case, he has the talents of Bryant, Smith, and Hauser to thank for doing their best with the material. On the other hand, one is not quite certain that De Hartis not just pointing the camera at Hauser on a bender in some of the film's most uncomfortable scenes; and even Smith seems a bit too convincing as he slaps around and spanks sobbing Boyle (a rape scene is also thrown in). The climactic shootout is more entertaining for Smith's scenery-chewing than the clumsily-staged action. The final result – well, as final as this version could be (see below) – plays like the poor relation of Vinegar Syndrome's inaugural Archive release SAVAGE HARBOR with Frank Stallone and Chris Mitchum.

Unreleased in its original CHAMPAGNE AND BULLETS cut, the film was reworked twice for video, eventually escaping onto the format under the title GETEVEN. The original cut (98:59) is presented in 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 widescreen from a 2K scan of the original 16mm camera negative looking well-preserved since it was probably only previously run through a telecine for the earlier master. Saturated colors pop, but the color scheme is often unconsidered and gives the impression of being washed out. Grain is plentiful as expected, especially in underexposed low-light scenes while some scenes may look diffused without any actual filters because of the lighting and lenses. For better or worse, the DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 and Dolby Digital 2.0 mono tracks are clean enough to clearly convey both dialogue and the multiple vocal numbers while English SDH subtitle are also provided to better appreciate the lyrics and Hauser's paraphrased rantings.

The feature presentation is accompanied by an audio commentary track with De Hart who credits Smith with knowing his character and Hauser conceiving his character along the likes of Jerry Falwell(!) while De Hart had Huckleberry Finn in mind. He is not unaware of the reactions online to his Shimmy Slide number but notes that he was medicated because he had thrown his back out picking up Hauser in another scene. He reveals that the devil-worshipping subplot is based on an emotional story told to him by a female hired driver who was then mysteriously killed in a motorcycle collision with a van the following week. De Hart also appears in an audio interview (25:24) in which he discusses his childhood interest in acting and music, not firing original director James Paradise but shooting second unit around him and then taking over after he left.

The disc also offers the two reworked versions of the film sourced from video since the edits recutting was done on analogue video. The first re-edit is ROAD TO REVENGE (74:56) which not only cuts virtually of the nudity and sex scenes – apart from the dramatically necessary shot of Alex ripping open her own dress before she accuses Huck of assault – but trims the tops and tails of several other scenes to improve the pacing, sometimes starting or ending with Rick's appearance in the scenes. This is not always the case since the scene with Huck in the hospital being counseled by a nun is necessary for the ending, instead De Hart cuts out the latter half of the scene where Rick and Cindy arrive to comfort him. While the original cut was lacking in establishing shots, simply cutting from one interior location to another, this version goes overboard in adding hastily-shot establishing shots that are sometimes so short they do not really "establish" themselves. This version also features a flashier credits sequence (although the one on the feature presentation looks like it might have been knocked together digitally and hastily by Vinegar Syndrome).