PLEDGE NIGHT (1990) Blu-ray/DVD Combo
Director: Paul Ziller
Vinegar Syndrome

Come endure "a hazing in hell" with Vinegar Syndrome's Blu-ray/DVD combo release of PLEDGE NIGHT.

Fraternity Phi Epsilon Nu is planning to put six initiates through the ringer during Hell Week despite hazing having been officially banned on campus since an incident twenty years before. Even before the cherry race and the various endurances tests involving toilets, insects, and branding, the pledges are unsettled after witnessing fraternity tumor-stricken brother Dan (Arthur Lundquist, REGENERATED MAN) violently attack president Rex (Steven Christopher Young) and forbidden to call the police when Rex is rushed off to the hospital and Dan consigned to the attic. Townie pledge Larry Bonner (Todd Eastland, MOMMY 2: MOMMY'S DAY) is getting grief from his hippie mother (Barbara Summerville, PRIME EVIL) who reveals that her college boyfriend Sid (Anthrax's Joey Belladonna) was horribly burned and died in a hazing ritual involving a bathtub accidentally filled with acid in the very same house as Phi Epsilon Nu. On the weekend of Hell Week, the pledges are locked up in the house with elder brothers Chip (Michael T. Henderson), Tom (Tony Barbieri), and J.D. (Lawton Paseka) along with sister sorority members Wendy (Shannon McMahon, BLOOD SISTERS) and Connie (Cecelia Wilde, PSYCHOS IN LOVE). They are not alone, however, when the spirit of "Acid Sid" (Will Kempe, FRESH KILL) comes back to avenge himself on a new generation of frat brothers. As Sid wreaks havoc among the brotherhood and the nubile coeds, the six pledges are sitting ducks confined to the basement and believing the screams and havoc above are just more elaborate pranks.

Although most of the acting ranges from flat to bombastically amateurish, what remains of the gore effects of Dean Kartalas (STREET TRASH) do not always impress – indeed, it seems less like some effects were censored than cut shore because not all were pulled off successfully – and Acid Sid is no more than a Freddy clone, PLEDGE NIGHT is refreshingly critical about the rituals of fraternities and the type of successful but morally bankrupt men they produce (illustrated with the "Pig Party" and the sensitivity show by only one character who is otherwise passive). Whether accidental or not, the inciting hazing prank gone wrong has the effect of making an outcast of Sid and everything he stands for, making it all the more appropriate that this one-liners are counterculture attacks on capitalist values ("This one's for Spiro Agnew!") and his question of "Who are you?" before killing each pledge having a double meaning (like HELL NIGHT with its fraternity milieu, the elder generation of fraternity and sorority members who should be positively shaping the lives of their pledges are the ones to suffer first). Although the direct-to-video release garnered a cult following on tape and import DVD, those who are finally seeing the film for first time may find their curiosity sated but may or may not find it has much re-watch value.

Released direct to VHS by Imperial Entertainment with artwork seemingly patterned after the 1983 film GOOD-BYE CRUEL WORLD, PLEDGE NIGHT was long unavailable on DVD stateside with interested parties having to seek out German and Dutch import DVDs featuring a fullscreen PAL master. Vinegar Syndrome's 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 widescreen Blu-ray is derived from a 2K scan of the original camera negative and is spotless throughout. Acid Sid's make-up looks rubbery in high definition while the darker scenes are no longer murky and seem more stylized than underlit. The DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono audio is clean but subject to the limitations of the original mix. The Anthrax music comes through cleanly, as does the overemphatic original score, but there are a few scenes where the music seems mixed louder than the dialogue, scuttling tension as ably as the bad acting. Optional English SDH subtitles are included.

While there is no audio commentary for the film, the disc's extras are pretty comprehensive. In “Hell Weeks” (15:21), director Paul Ziller (LETHAL OBSESSION) recalls going from film school to working as an editor at Troma, including reediting some defaulted films that Troma bought from international labs and adding new footage. He notes that the film was the brainchild of writer/producer Joyce Snyder (RAW TALENT) who did some deep research into fraternities. He notes that the only place he really clashed with her was the structure of the script that started as a college sex comedy and then veered into horror, with Ziller wanting more horror earlier on. He also reveals that the film was submitted five times to the MPAA and that Snyder filed a complaint with the justice department that the MPAA was being harder on their film than on studio films with similar content. In “Graduating to Horror” (10:44), Snyder reveals that she had been an editor for an X-rated magazine and got into producing adult films, and that horror seemed like a logical next step since there was some mainstream crossover with some of her adult films playing in R-rated softcore versions. She discusses the research she did into fraternities and authentic hazing rituals, recalls Anthrax's Belladonna being a pain and speaks highly of the film's make-up effects.

In “The Bad Man” (12:22), actor Lundquist recalls the shoot with relish, reading off passages from the diary he kept during the time, his appreciation of Snyder's script and Ziller's direction, and also recalls that the make-up effects team had spent a chunk of the budget making a head with a likeness of one actor who then quit the film over what he called "homosexual overtones." In “Hazing From Hell” (27:06), actor Robert Lentini (DEADLY MANOR) recalls his reactions to the content of the script including the "cherry race" and the bugs but not realizing that the film had comedic elements just some dumb dialogue. Snyder returns in the locations featurette (2:59), visiting the Rutgers campus and the location fraternity house, but spends as much time visiting other houses on the campus not used and noting the hazing events that landed each of them in trouble. Also included is the theatrical trailer (0:57). The combo comes with a reversible cover, and the first 2,000 copies ordered from Vinegar Syndrome include an embossed slipcover by Earl Kessler Jr. (Eric Cotenas)

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