Since Arrow Video opened up shop in the U.S., they've increased the number of monthly releases as well as presenting some amazing exclusive treats for both the British and American customers.
Next February sees British home video fans getting a brand new edition of Miike Takashi's breakout hit Audition on Blu-ray, as well as Plasmatics' Wendy O. Williams vehicle Reform School Girls (DVD only), Mario Bava's Five Dolls for an August Moon (already on US Blu-ray from Kino Lorber), and a plain Jane reissue of the gorgeously terrifying original Hellraiser trilogy. On US shores, we'll see an exclusive Blu-ray release of Sho Kosugi's uncut Pray for Death.
Hitting both territories at the same time is the impressive American Horror Project Vol. 1, an ambitious collection of stateside horrors making their Blu-ray debuts, as well as Pam Grier's sexy Sheba, Baby. The American Horror Project is a collection that Arrow Video appear to have dedicated a lot of time and energy to, and I'm excited to see how this volume turns out. The first volume includes Malatesta's Carnival of Blood, The Premonition, and The Witch Who Came From the Sea. All are exciting, but The Witch Who Came From the Sea is one that home video geeks have been waiting for for quite some time.
Overall it's an incredible line-up sure to satisfy fans while draining their wallets. Be sure to ogle the covers and details in the gallery below. Happy shopping!
NEW UK ONLY TITLE: Audition (Arrow Video) Dual Format SteelBook + Blu-ray
Takashi Miike’s notorious classic remastered in 2K.
Pre-order the Dual Format SteelBook here: http://bit.ly/1MBTVPe
Pre-order the Blu-ray here: http://bit.ly/1MBU7Oi
Release Date: 29th February
Region: B/2 (SteelBook) B (Blu-ray)
One of the most notorious J-horror films ever made, Takashi Miike’s Audition exploded onto the festival circuit at the turn of the century to a chorus of
awards and praise. The film would catapult Miike to the international scene and pave the way for such other genre delights as Ichii the Killer and The
Happiness of the Katakuris.
Recent widower Shigharu Aoyama is advised by his son to find a new wife, agreeing Shigeharu seeks the advice of a colleague having been out of the dating
scene for many years. Taking advantage of their position as a film company they stage an audition. Interviewing a series of women, Shigeharu becomes
enchanted by Asami, a quiet, 24-year-old woman, who is immediately responsive to his charms. But soon things take a very dark and twisted turn as we find
that Asami isn’t what she seems to be...
Pulling the audience into a story that will lead to one of the most harrowing climaxes in cinema history, Miike twists and turns us through delirious
editing and shocking visuals for one of the most depraved nightmares of all time!
SteelBook (2 discs)
LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS:
•Limited Edition Steelbook
•Brand new 2K restoration of original vault elements presented in High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD
•Original 5.1 audio (DTS-HD Master Audio on the Blu-ray)
•Optional English subtitles
•Audio commentary with director Takashi Miike and screenwriter Daisuke Tengan
•Brand new commentary by Miike biographer Tom Mes examining the film and its source novel
•Introduction by Miike
•Ties that Bind – A brand new interview with Takashi Miike
•Interviews with stars Ryo Ishibashi, Eihi Shiina, Renji Ishibashi and Ren Osugi
•Trailers
•Gallery including behind-the-scenes images
•Booklet featuring new writing on the film
•More to be announced!
Blu-ray (1 disc)
SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS:
•Brand new 2K restoration of original vault elements
•High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
•Original 5.1 audio (DTS-HD Master Audio on the Blu-ray)
•Optional English subtitles
•Audio commentary with director Takashi Miike and screenwriter Daisuke Tengan
•Brand new commentary by Miike biographer Tom Mes examining the film and its source novel
•Introduction by Miike
•Ties that Bind – A brand new interview with Takashi Miike
•Interviews with stars Ryo Ishibashi, Eihi Shiina, Renji Ishibashi and Ren Osugi
•Trailers
•Gallery including behind-the-scenes images
•Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Sean Phillips
•More to be announced!
NEW UK ONLY TITLE: Five Dolls for An August Moon (Arrow Video) Dual Format
Another classic giallo by the master of the macabre, Mario Bava.
Pre-order here: http://bit.ly/1MBSqR5
Release Date: 1st February
Region: B/2
ISLAND OF TERROR!
A weekend retreat on a private island should be a recipe for rest and relaxation – unless you’re appearing in a giallo by the master of the macabre, Mario
Bava (Black Sunday, Blood and Black Lace)...
Wealthy industrialist George Stark (Teodora Corrà, Django the Bastard) has gathered a group of friends - played by a who's who of Italian genre cinema
including William Berger (Faccia a faccia), Ira von Fürstenberg (The Fifth Cord), Edwige Fenech (Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key) and
Howard Ross (The New York Ripper) - to his island retreat. He hopes to entice them into investing in a new project, but soon the sunbathing and cocktails
parties give way to murder, as the corpses begin to pile up one by one.
Paying homage to Agatha Christie’s Ten Little Indians, Five Dolls for an August Moon turns the style up to ten. Surrounded by beautiful women, stunning
locations and flamboyant fashions – and abetted by Piero Umiliani’s equally exotic score – Bava creates one of his most eye-catching movies, a visual tour
de force.
SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS
•High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentations
•Optional English and Italian soundtracks presented in original uncompressed mono PCM audio
•Optional isolated Music and Effects track
•Optional English subtitles for the Italian audio and English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing for the English audio
•Audio commentary by Mario Bava’s biographer Tim Lucas
•Mario Bava: Maestro of the Macabre - a documentary profile of the director, hosted by Mark Kermode and featuring interviews with Joe Dante, John Carpenter
and Tim Burton
•Theatrical trailer
•Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphreys
•Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Glenn Kenny and a new essay by Adrian Smith on the Fancey family and their efforts to
bring international exploitation titles, including Five Dolls for an August Moon, to a UK audience during the 60s, 70s and 80s
NEW UK ONLY TITLE: Reform School Girls (Arrow Video) DVD
A riotous Women-in-Prison romp starring Punk Goddess Wendy O. Williams.
Pre-order here: http://bit.ly/1MBSIrb
Release Date: 15th February
Region: 2
SO YOUNG... SO BAD... SO WHAT?
Punk Goddess Wendy O. Williams of The Plasmatics, stars (and lends vocals to the killer theme song) in Reform School Girls, a riotous Women-in-Prison romp
from Tom DeSimone (Hell Night).
After a heist gone wrong, first time offer Jenny finds herself sentenced to Pridemore Juvenile Facility, an all-girls reform school presided over by Warden
Sutter (Sybil Danning, Chained Heat), a megalomaniacal dictator with the shoulder pads of a 49er and sadistic Head Matron Edna (Pat Ast, Andy Warhol’s
Heat). Terrorised by resident bad girl Charlie (Williams) Jenny looks to the guards for help, finding them more interested in shower time Jenny and timid
runaway Lisa rally girls, guns – and buses – to battle the lust-crazed lesbians.
A knowing spoof of bad girls gone berserk, Reform Schools Girls mixed plenty of violence and nudity with songs from Williams and Etta James to ensure its
cult status.
NEW UK ONLY TITLE: Hellraiser Trilogy (Arrow Video) Blu-ray
The first three instalments of Clive Barker’s terrifying horror franchise in stunning new 2K restorations
Pre-order here: http://bit.ly/1MBS5h6
Release Date: 25th January
Region: B
WE HAVE SUCH SIGHTS TO SHOW YOU!
In 1987, master of horror Clive Barker unleashed Hellraiser upon unsuspecting audiences – launching what has proven to be one of the genre’s most enduring
franchises and creating an instant horror icon in the figure of Pinhead in the process.
In Barker’s original Hellraiser, Kirsty Cotton (Ashley Laurence) comes head-to-head with the Cenobites – demonic beings from another realm who are summoned
by way of a mysterious puzzle box. Picking up immediately after the events of the original Hellraiser, Hellbound: Hellraiser II finds Kirsty detained at a
psychiatric institute and under the care of Dr. Channard, a man with an unhealthy interest in the occult. Meanwhile, Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth sees
Pinhead and his band of Cenobites let loose in our own world, with terrifying consequences.
Here presented in brand new 2k restorations, Arrow Video is proud to present the first three instalments in one of the most fiercely original horror
franchises of all time.
SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS:
•Brand new 2K restorations of Hellraiser, Hellbound: Hellraiser II, and Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth
•Uncompressed PCM Stereo 2.0 and Lossless DTS-HD MA 5.1 sound for Hellraiser and Hellbound: Hellraiser II
•Lossless DTS-HD MA 2.0 sound for Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth
•English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing for all three films
•Reversible sleeves for all three films featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Gilles Vranckx
DISC 1 – HELLRAISER
•Brand new 2K restoration approved by director of photography Robin Vidgeon
•Audio commentary with writer/director Clive Barker
•Audio commentary with Barker and actress Ashley Laurence
•Leviathan: The Story of Hellraiser – brand new version of the definitive documentary on the making of Hellraiser, featuring interviews with key cast and
crew members
•Being Frank: Sean Chapman on Hellraiser – actor Sean Chapman talks candidly about playing the character of Frank Cotton in Barker’s original
•Soundtrack Hell: The Story of the Abandoned Coil Score – Coil member Stephen Thrower on the Hellraiser score that almost was
•Hellraiser: Resurrection – vintage featurette including interviews with Clive Barker, actors Doug Bradley and Ashley Laurence, special make-up effects
artist Bob Keen and others
•Under the Skin: Doug Bradley on Hellraiser
•Original EPK featuring on-set interviews with cast and crew
•Draft Screenplays [BD-ROM content]
•Trailers and TV Spots
•Image Gallery
DISC 2 – HELLBOUND: HELLRAISER II
•Brand new 2K restoration approved by director of photography Robin Vidgeon
•Audio Commentary with director Tony Randel and writer Peter Atkins
•Audio Commentary with Randel, Atkins and actress Ashley Laurence
•Leviathan: The Story of Hellbound: Hellraiser II – brand new version of the definitive documentary on the making of Hellbound, featuring interviews with
key cast and crew members
•Being Frank: Sean Chapman on Hellbound – actor Sean Chapman talks about reprising the role of Frank Cotton in the first Hellraiser sequel
•Surgeon Scene – the home video world premiere of this legendary, never before-seen excised sequence from Hellbound, sourced from a VHS workprint
•Lost in the Labyrinth – vintage featurette including interviews with Barker, Randel, Keen, Atkins and others
•Under the Skin: Doug Bradley on Hellbound: Hellraiser II
•On-set interview with Clive Barker
•On-set interviews with cast and crew
•Behind-the-Scenes Footage
•Rare and unseen storyboards
•Draft Screenplay [BD-ROM content]
•Trailers and TV Spots
•Image Gallery
DISC 3 – HELLRAISER III: HELL ON EARTH
•Brand new 2K restoration of the Original Theatrical Version [93 mins]
•Alternate Unrated Version [97 mins]
•Brand new audio commentary with writer Peter Atkins
•Audio commentary with director Anthony Hickox and Doug Bradley
•Hell on Earth: The Story of Hellraiser III – making-of documentary featuring interviews with Atkins, Keen and actor Ken Carpenter
•Terri’s Tales – brand new interview with actress Paula Marshall
•Under the Skin: Doug Bradley on Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth
•Raising Hell on Earth – archival interview with Hickox
•On-set interviews with Barker and Bradley
•Never-before-seen Hellraiser III SFX dailies
•Theatrical Trailer
•Image Gallery
•Hellraiser III comic book adaptation [Disc gallery]
NEW US ONLY TITLE: Pray for Death (Arrow Video) Blu-ray
Vigilante justice – ninja style!
North American pre-orders links should be live soon!
Release Date: 16th February
Region: A
THEY SHATTERED HIS AMERICAN DREAM.
In Pray for Death, martial arts legend Sho Kosugi (Enter the Ninja, Ninja 3: The Domination) stars as a family man driven to exact vigilante justice –
ninja style!
Japanese Restauranteur Akira (Kosugi) has taken his wife and two boys to the United States in search of a better life. But their slice of the American
Dream is quickly soured when they fall foul of a group of vicious jewellery thieves. Unfortunately for the bad guys, they didn’t count on Akira being a
secret black ninja.
The samurai sword of vengeance falls swift and hard in this classic slice of ‘80s ninja action from director Gordon Hessler (Scream and Scream Again, The
Golden Voyage of Sinbad), culminating in an action-packed showdown with a bodycount worthy of Commando.
·
SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS:
•High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation from a transfer of original elements by MGM of the unrated version
•Optional English SDH subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
•Brand new interview with star Sho Kosugi
•Archive interview and Ninjutsu demonstration with Kosugi from the film’s New York premiere
•Original Theatrical Trailer
•Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Matthew Griffin
•Collector’s booklet featuring an extract from Sho Kosugi’s upcoming biography
NEW UK/US TITLE: ‘Sheba, Baby’ (Arrow Video) Dual Format
Another Pam Grier classic joins the Arrow Video line
Pre-order your UK copy here: http://bit.ly/1OtoWeH
North American pre-orders links should be live soon!
UK Release Date: 8th February 2016
US Release Date: 8th February 2016
Region: A/B+1/2
HOTTER 'N' COFFY MEANER 'N' FOXY BROWN!
Fresh off her career defining roles for Jack Hill in Coffy and Foxy Brown, Pam Grier returned to pure Blaxploitation (after turns in Blaxploitation-horror
and action), in cult filmmaker William Girdler's (The Manitou, Abby) 'Sheba, Baby'...
Grier plays Sheba Shayne, a private eye based in Chicago who is called to her hometown to stop the local mob boss (played by "that bad D'Urville Martin",
Black Caesar, Dolemite) from moving in on her father's loan business. Aided by her father's partner, Brick Williams (Austin Stoker, Assault on Precinct 13,
Battle for the Planet of the Apes), Sheba finds out that the violent thugs aren't going go away with a fight. Car bombs, gun fights and boat chases ensue
whilst armed with her curves, street smarts and a .44, Sheba is in for a bloodbath!
Grier would appear in three Blaxploitation classics in 1975 (the others were Bucktown and Friday Foster), where she was at the top of her game and genre,
with the Los Angeles Times calling her "cool, tough and glamorous - a female fantasy Wonder Woman", further cementing her status as the first female action
star.
SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS:
•High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentations
•Original mono audio (uncompressed PCM on the Blu-ray)
•Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
•Audio commentary with producer-screenwriter David Sheldon, moderated by critic Nathaniel Thompson
•Sheldon: Baby - a brand new interview with David Sheldon
•Pam Grier: The AIP Years - a look over the wonder years of the Blaxploitation queen with film historian Chris Poggiali
•Trailer
•Gallery featuring rare publicity images and Lobby Cards
•Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Sean Phillips
•Booklet featuring brand new writing on the film by Patty Breen, webmaster of WilliamGirdler.com, illustrated with archive stills and posters
NEW UK/US TITLE: American Horror Project Vol 1 [The Witch Who Came From the Sea + Malatesta’s Carnival of Blood + The Premonition] (Arrow Video) Dual
Format Limited Edition
Unique slices of the American Nightmare are brought back into the public consciousness and preserved for all to enjoy.
Pre-order your UK copy here: http://bit.ly/1Otp0Lt
North American pre-orders links should be live soon!
UK Release Date: 22nd February 2016
US Release Date: 23rd February 2016
Region: Free
Everyone knows the classic American horror titles: Night of the Living Dead, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and A Nightmare on Elm Street, to name but a few.
But we want to tell you a different story – a story of the unsung heroes of American terror... Whether it’s a film that has languished in obscurity, or a
movie that’s at risk of being lost due to lack of source materials, American Horror Project is here to ensure that these unique slices of the American
Nightmare are brought back into the public consciousness and preserved for all to enjoy.
Volume I of this series presents three tales of violence and madness from the 1970s. Malatesta’s Carnival of Blood (Christopher Speeth, 1973) sees a family
arrive at a creepy, dilapidated fairground in search of their missing daughter, only to find themselves at the mercy of cannibalistic ghouls lurking
beneath the park. Meanwhile, The Witch Who Came from the Sea (Matt Cimber, 1976), stars Mollie Perkins (The Diary of Anne Frank) as a young woman whose
bizarre and violent fantasies start to bleed into reality – literally. Lastly, every parent’s worst nightmare comes true in The Premonition (Robert Allen
Schnitzer, 1976), a tale of psychic terror in which five-year-old Janie is snatched away by a strange woman claiming to be her long-lost mother.
Newly remastered from the best surviving elements and contextualised with brand new supplementary material, with American Horror Project we can re-evaluate
an alternative history of American horror and film heritage.
LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS
•Brand new 2K restorations of the three features
•High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard DVD presentations
•English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
•Reversible sleeves for each film featuring original and newly-commissioned artwork by the Twins of Evil
•American Horror Project Journal Volume I - Limited Edition 60-page booklet featuring new articles on the films from Kim Newman (Nightmare Movies), Kier-La
Janisse (House of Psychotic Women) and Brian Albright (Regional Horror Films, 1958-1990)
MALATESTA’S CARNIVAL OF BLOOD - SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS
•Brand new interview with director Christopher Speeth
•Brand new interview with writer Werner Liepolt
•Draft Script (BD/DVD-ROM content)
•Production stills gallery
THE WITCH WHO CAME FROM THE SEA - SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS
•Audio commentary with director Matt Cimber, actress Millie Perkins and director of photography Dean Cundey
•Brand new interview with director Matt Cimber
•Brand new interview with Dean Cundey
•Brand new interview with actor John Goff
THE PREMONITION - SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS
•Audio commentary with director-producer Robert Allen Schnitzer
•Brand new interview with composer Henry Mollicone
•Interview with actor Richard Lynch
•Three Robert Allen Schnitzer short films: ‘Vernal Equinox’, ‘Terminal Point’ and ‘A Rumbling in the Land’
•4 “Peace Spots”
•Trailers and TV Spots
PLUS MORE TO BE ANNOUNCED!