Synapse Films is a DVD

DVD

A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....

/Blu-ray label owned and operated by Don May, Jr. and his business partners Jerry Chandler and Charles Fiedler. The company specializes in cult horror, science fiction

Science fiction

Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

, and exploitation films.

Synapse's focus has been to provide quality restoration and video transfers to genre films usually neglected or granted shoddy release on home video. May has brought to the company an expertise in video mastering and film restoration gleaned from nearly a decade of experience in the LaserDisc

Laserdisc

LaserDisc was a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium. Initially licensed, sold, and marketed as MCA DiscoVision in North America in 1978, the technology was previously referred to interally as Optical Videodisc System, Reflective Optical Videodisc, Laser Optical...

 industry, and personal enthusiasm for exploitation film of all stripe.

The Synapse catalog ranges from European horror touchstones like Vampyros Lesbos

Vampyros Lesbos

Vampyros Lesbos is a 1971 erotic horror film directed and co-written by Jesús "Jess" Franco, inspired by Bram Stoker's short story Dracula's Guest.- Plot :...

, and Castle of Blood, to important genre documentaries including Roy Frumkes'

Roy Frumkes

Roy Frumkes is an independent filmmaker. Frumkes directed the 1985 documentary Document of the Dead, a film detailing the production of Dawn of the Dead.-Biography:The cooperation of George A...

 Document of the Dead, from drive-in favorites like The Brain That Wouldn't Die

The Brain That Wouldn't Die

The Brain That Wouldn't Die, also known as The Head That Wouldn't Die, is a 1962 science-fiction/horror film directed by Joseph Green and written by Green and Rex Carlton. The film was completed in 1959 under the title The Black Door, but was not released until May 3, 1962, when it was renamed...

to Leni Riefenstahl

Leni Riefenstahl

Helene Bertha Amalie "Leni" Riefenstahl was a German film director, actress and dancer widely noted for her aesthetics and innovations as a filmmaker. Her most famous film was Triumph des Willens , a propaganda film made at the 1934 Nuremberg congress of the Nazi Party...

’s Nazi film Triumph of the Will

Triumph of the Will

Triumph of the Will is a propaganda film made by Leni Riefenstahl. It chronicles the 1934 Nazi Party Congress in Nuremberg, which was attended by more than 700,000 Nazi supporters. The film contains excerpts from speeches given by various Nazi leaders at the Congress, including portions of...

.

In 2004, Synapse released a definitive edition of the controversial Thriller – A Cruel Picture, a DVD which was not without controversy itself. Notoriously difficult director Bo Arne Vibenius

Bo Arne Vibenius

Bo Arne Vibenius is a Swedish film director, most famous for his exploitation classics Breaking Point and Thriller – A Cruel Picture...

 repeatedly sent threatening dispatches from Europe to the Synapse offices, sometimes under false names, claiming the company had not secured the rights to release the DVD. The DVD was released without legal incident.

Recently, Detroit film scholar Nicholas Schlegel released his documentary The Synapse Story in its entirety on YouTube

YouTube

YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....

. The documentary details the history and vision of the label and its founders.