insane triple feature of The Cardona Collection: Volume 1 in 2021 spotlighting 
the work of Mexican genre film dynasty member René Cardona Jr., Vinegar Syndrome delivers a belated but very welcome follow-up collection - this time with four films! - in The Cardona Collection: Volume 2. Once again you get a baffling international cast dropped into everything from animal attack fun to explosive action, all filtered through Cardona's singular sensibility and flinging a few surprises in your direction along the way. 
too 
pleased when she gets assigned to a farmer attacked by his chickens. (Confusingly, the action keeps hopping back and forth between Spain, South America, and Italy so much you'll be completely lost where everything is happening by the 30-minute mark.) Vanessa's story leads to the horrifying story of a small town decimated by birds thirty years ago, which might be linked to a Peruvian animal spirit or something. While stock music from Stelvio Cipriani's Tentacles (and some of his other films) gurgles on the soundtrack, we follow Vanessa and Peter on their investigation including an interview session in Rome with Black Emanuelle mascot Gabriele Tinti and Contraband's Cinza Lodetti (credited here as "Carol Connery"). Of course, it's just a matter of time before birds are amassing around the globe and staging a massive attack that will leave our journalistic heroes fighting for their lives against rampaging pigeons.
the video 
extras for the set, but we'll get to that in a moment.
situation for Mel and company. Cardona and company go all out here with lots of exploding cars, a huge cast of characters, and a funky score 
by Manuel de Sica that feels very much in the vein of the Italian cop films that were winding down around this time. In fact, Euro-crime addicts in general will be delighted by this one given its dedication to providing as many thrills as possible in just over 90 minutes. The source element here is immaculate and easily outclasses the fuzzy old VHS copies, and the Spanish track sounds fine.
'60s 
fashions, and espionage gimmicks, gambling, and so on, including lots of bikinis (of course) and a little more blood than you might expect. That vibrant primary colors look great here, and while the action scenes are definitely limited by the budget, you get a few car chases and rooftop foot pursuits to keep things moving along. The source for this one is also in great condition with excellent color, and the Spanish DTS-HD MA 2.0 mono track is solid. A new audio commentary is provided here by film historian Viviana García-Besné, who knows a huge amount about the production of this film (including its highly unorthodox financing!) and is a particularly big fan of Infante.
power struggle at a border-town brothel where Lalasana (Infante again) is on the run from the law and decides to hide out by cozying up to the aging madam, Celia (El vampiro's Montejo). As it turns out, Lalasana has quite the power-hungry streak and finds a 
possible partner in manipulation in Eleazar (Pineda), who tries to keep his distance from the working women. Though it seems like a fairy standard melodrama at first, this one gradually ratchets up the intensity until it hits a fever pitch in the last 15 minutes that really has to be seen to be believed. Anyone who doubts Cardona's chops as a director when he sets his mind to it will be silenced by this one, which has a freewheeling creativity beyond the brothel performance sequences (which include some crazed drag numbers to boot). For many this will be the real discovery of the set, and if you only watch one film... well, you'll probably go to Beaks first, but this one definitely shouldn't be overlooked. The transfer here looks beautiful again with some incredibly vivid colors that blaze off the screen, especially during that climax; the DTS-HD MA Spanish 2.0 mono track is also good with optional English subtitles. 
theater and wearing a safari hat as he covers his tenure with Cardona, his entry into Mexican cinema, and his 
particular fondness for Under Siege. In "Don’t Shoot" (9m47s), actor Orlando Urdaneta sits poolside and goes through the story of his career that led him to working in Mexico and South America on films like Under Siege. "All in the Family: The Cardona Legacy" (14m40s) features the director's granddaughter, Andrea Cardona, chatting about her family's movie-centric history and its contributions to Mexican cinema starting with Cardona Sr. (who started off as a silent film actor) and providing a great, affectionate snapshot of her ancestors along with explanations of how all those birds got wrangled for Beaks. In "Union City: Behind the Entertainment" (13m36s), production assistant Felipe Marino talks about the history of the movie union outgrowth in Mexico and his own family's role in its genesis, which continued in his work for Cardona and remains a major part of his professional life. Finally in "From P.A. to Producer" (16m48s), Casa actress Mineko Mori chats via videoconferencing from Mexico City about her path to becoming a film distributor and screenwriter after her early days in Japan and working alongside boyfriend (and eventual husband) Stiglitz. Finally you get a 43s promotional image gallery, largely focused on Beaks including lobby cards and posters.