Even if you missed Halloween, you can ring in "Día de los Muertos" with THE LAUGHING DEAD, on Blu-ray from Vinegar Syndrome.

When Father O'Sullivan (horror writer Tim Sullivan) takes a group of tourists – among them New Age yuppies Wilbur (Larry Kagen) and Clarisse (Krista Keim), wisecracking slob Dozois (Raymond Ridenour), grumpy Frost (fantasy author Gregory Frost), and troubled runaway Laurie (Thai soap star Premika Eaton) who stows away in the back – to Mexico to observe the "Day of the Dead" rites in a village outside Oaxaca, he is unwittingly about to fulfill a demonic destiny when the group are joined by Tessie (Wendy Webb) who was once Sister Mary Theresa before she had to leave the church after an affair with O'Sullivan that produced foul-mouthed offspring Ivan (). The first sign that they should turn back occurs when the bus – driven by fellow fantasy author Edward Bryant – hits the corpse of a young girl bound in the manner of Mayan sacrificial rites, but even the appearance and magical disappearance of two Mayan priests is conjectured by the group as a tourist gimmick.

The group discovers that the village in which they are staying is virtually empty, and the innkeeper (George Salazar) fearfully informing O'Sullivan that the locals have gone back to the Old Gods. As the village prepares for the annual festivities, O'Sullivan comes under the malevolent influence of Dr. Um-Tzec (director Somtow) – named after the Mayan god of death – who intends O'Sullivan to take his place in a ceremony that requires multiple sacrifices to bring about a "new age of death." As the tourists are picked off one-by-one, only archaeology student Cal (Ryan Effner) may be able to help Laurie and the survivors cross into the Mayan underworld to save their friends.

The directorial debut of Somtow Sucharitkul, a musician and composer in his native Thailand before establishing himself as a horror novelist in America under the name S.P. Somtow with such works as VAMPIRE JUNCTION, THE LAUGHING DEAD has an interesting concept, a reasonably compelling plot, some striking economic production design, and some incredibly splattery unrated effects work by John Carl Buechler (FROM BEYOND). Somtow filled the cast with fellow writers – Webb is the daughter of late author Susan Webb and an award-winning writer in her own right – and gets a lot of out of the low-budget thanks to the photography of David Boyd (THE WALKING DEAD), the wide open Arizona locations standing in for Mexico; however, there is a disconnect between Somtow the writer and the director (see below) that derails the film.

While dodgy acting and a tone that veers between dark horror and black comedy – Um-Tzec's notes that plan is to have O'Sullivan replace him so that he can retire to private life as an investment banker, all the while ripping out hearts of sacrificial victims and tossing them onto an overflowing platter – has not prevented other films of this era from being widely seen and becoming cult works, THE LAUGHING DEAD is perhaps undeservedly obscure even if the film's demerits would be enough to torpedo it if caught on a bad day. As far as eighties gorefests involving ancient rites, the film is superior to the likes of dual BLOOD FEAST sequels BLOOD DINER and BLOODSUCKING PHARAOHS FROM PITTSBURGH but below studio efforts like THE SERPENT AND THE RAINBOW or THE BELIEVERS with which it might have more comfortably fit in with had it played as a straight horror film with a more consistent tone and more disciplined performances and direction.

Unreleased in the United States and distributed direct-to-video overseas – most accessibly as a Japanese-subtitled VHS or an unauthorized German import in English with no German audio or subtitle options – THE LAUGHING DEAD comes to Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray from a new 4K scan of the original 35mm camera negative and looks glorious from its opening title sequence (shot over the slow reveal of skulls that recalls the title sequences for CAT PEOPLE and NIGHT ANGEL) to the warm tones of the opening Mexican desert sequence and various nightmares to the blue-hued night scenes and eighties neon-lit vision of the underworld. The film's effects probably always looked rubbery in the Buechler tradition while the heightened resolution does quaintly reveal the rough edges of the papier-mache caves and the Styrofoam blocks of the Mayan temple set. The DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo track nicely renders the dialogue and the score – at times atmospheric and exotic, and at other times overbearing with symphonic synthesizers – while the optional English SDH subtitles flub some of the transcription.

The films is accompanied by an audio commentary by writer/director Suharitkul who discusses his move to America, stepping away from composing towards writing, his interest in making a horror movie, and the choice to cast the film with writers – he reveals that it was wishful thinking to cast Gardner Dozois as the Dozois character and that the "death by Mongo" joke told by the character was actually one told by the author at a convention – his research into the Mayans, noting that the Arizona setting stood in for an American's impression of Mexico, and that the exotic elements of his score were Balinese rather than South American.

Suharitkul also appears in the documentary "Unholy Assembly: Crafting The Laughing Dead" (35:12) alongside a handful of cast and crew. Producer Lex Nakashima discusses getting the project underway and dealing with the production end – Nakashima's idea to buy a studio that they could rent out to other productions when not making their own has grown into Laurel Canyon Stages – actors Eaton and Sullivan are briefly on hand to recall the shoot, and cinematographer David Boyd is commended by Suharitkul for his speed while himself noting some of the makeshift ways they got around lighting challenges (including having the crew pose themselves as cacti when they could not prevent shadows from being captured in the background of a location shot lit by the sun behind them).