Another month, another can't miss selection of classics from Arrow Video. This August may be light on quantity, but it's heavy on quality as Arrow delivers a trio of knock-out releases that fans will surely scamper to add to their collections.
Only three releases this month, and only two releasing in the USA, but those two are surefire winners and long awaited films making their domestic Blu-ray debuts. First up is WIlliam Friedkin's oft requested sleazefest, Cruising, releasing both in the UK and in the US/CAN. Next is Alfred Sole's Alice, Sweet Alice, one of the most beloved horrors of the '70s, featuring the film debut of Brooke Shields, releasing in the North American markets only.
Meanwhile, the UK gets a massively pimped out version of Park Chan-wook's Oldboy that any collector would happily devour a live octopus to add to their collection!
Check out the gallery below for more details.
CRUISING (UK/US/CAN)
Academy Award-winner William Friedkin (The Exorcist, The French Connection) directs Al Pacino as an undercover cop pitched into New York’s seedy underbelly in Cruising – available for the first time on Blu-ray in a brand new director-approved transfer.
New York is caught in the grip of a sadistic serial killer who is preying on the patrons of the city’s underground bars. Captain Edelson (Paul Sorvino) tasks young rookie Steve Burns (Pacino) with infiltrating the S&M subculture to try and lure the killer out of the shadows – but as he immerses himself deeper and deeper into the underworld, Steve risks losing his own identity in the process.
Taking the premise and title from reporter Gerald Walker’s novel, Cruising was the subject of great controversy at the time of its release and remains a challenging and remarkable movie to this day, with Pacino’s haunted lead performance as its magnetic centrepiece.
LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS
- Brand new restoration from a 4K scan of the original camera negative, supervised and approved by writer-director William Friedkin
- High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
- Newly remastered 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio supervised by William Friedkin
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- Archival audio commentary by William Friedkin
- The History of Cruising – archival featurette looking at the film’s origins and production
- Exorcising Cruising – archival featurette looking at the controversy surrounding the film and its enduring legacy
- Original Theatrical Trailer
ALICE, SWEET ALICE (US/CAN)
A young Brooke Shields meets an untimely end in this religious-themed proto slasher par excellence from director Alfred Sole.
On the day of her first communion, young Karen (Brooke Shields) is savagely murdered by an unknown assailant in a yellow rain mac and creepy translucent mask. But the nightmare is far from over – as the knife-wielding maniac strikes again and again, Karen’s bereaved parents are forced to confront the possibility that Karen’s wayward sister Alice might be the one behind the mask.
Bearing influences from the likes of Hitchcock, the then-booming Italian giallo film and more specifically, Nicolas Roeg’s Don’t Look Now, Alice, Sweet Alice is an absolutely essential – if often overlooked – entry in the canon of 1970s American horror.
SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS
- Brand new 2K restoration of the theatrical version from the original camera negative
- High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
- Original uncompressed mono audio
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- Brand new audio commentary with Richard Harland Smith
- Archival audio commentary with co-writer/director Alfred Sole and editor Edward Salier
- First Communion: Alfred Sole Remembers Alice, Sweet Alice – director Alfred Sole looks back on his 1976 classic
- In the Name of the Father – brand new interview with actor Niles McMaster
- Sweet Memories: Dante Tomaselli on Alice, Sweet Alice – filmmaker Dante Tomaselli, cousin of Alfred Sole, discusses his longtime connection to the film
- Lost Childhood: The Locations of Alice, Sweet Alice – a tour of the original Alice Sweet Alice shooting locations hosted by author Michael Gingold
- Alternate Holy Terror Television Cut
- Deleted scene
- Alternate Opening Titles
- Trailer and TV Spot
- Original screenplay
- Image gallery
OLDBOY (UK) LIMITED EDITION THREE-DISC SET: OLDBOY + OLD DAYS + THREE HOURS OF INTERVIEWS
Often cited as one of the best films of the 2000s and possibly the definitive example of extreme Asian cinema, Oldboy is a brutal, lyrical modern classic of the revenge genre.
Based on the Japanese manga of the same name, the film tells the horrific tale of Oh Dae-su (Choi Min-sik), a businessman who is inexplicably kidnapped and imprisoned in a grim hotel room-like cell for 15 years, without knowing his captor or the reason for his incarceration. Eventually released, he learns of his wife’s murder and embarks on a quest for revenge whilst also striking up a romance with a young, attractive sushi chef, Mi-do (Kang Hye-jung). He eventually finds his tormentor, but their final encounter will yield yet more unimaginable horrors...
Directed with immense flair by Park Chan-wook (The Handmaiden) as the second installment of his Vengeance Trilogy, Oldboy blazed a trail at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival where it was lauded by the President of the Jury, director Quentin Tarantino. The film went on to become a huge international smash, blowing audiences minds with its concoction of filmmaking virtuosity, ingenious plotting, violence and pathos. Now, this masterpiece has been newly mastered in 4K and is presented here in a three-disc set with a massive array of extras including the feature-length documentary Old Days, and three hours of bonus interviews.
THREE-DISC LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS
- Brand new 4K restoration from the original camera negative supervised by director Park Chan-wook
- High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
- Original 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio and 2.0 stereo
- Original Korean and English soundtracks
- Music and effects track
- Newly translated, optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing for the English soundtrack
- Newly translated English subtitles for the Korean soundtrack
- Audio commentary with director Park Chan-wook
- Audio commentary with Park Chan-wook and cinematographer Jung Jung-hoon
- Audio commentary with Park Chan-wook, and actors Choi Min-sik, Yu Ji-tae, Kang Hye-jung
- Audio commentary by Film critic Shin Hyung-chul
- Audio commentary by Film critic Kim Young-jin
- Old Days: An Oldboy Story, acclaimed feature-length 2016 documentary about Park Chan-wook's masterpiece
- Old Days Interviews: Looking Back on the Days of Oldboy, Over three hours of extensive recently film interviews with the film’s cast and crew
- New introduction to the film by director Park Chan-wook
- Film Critics on Oldboy, featurette with Oh Dong-jin, Lee Dong-jin, Darcy Paquet and Chris Fujiwara
- Filmmakers on Oldboy, featurette with Directors Kim Jee-woon and Ryoo Seung-wan
- Photographer of Time, an interview with stills photographer Han Se-jun
- Autobiography of Oldboy, a three-and-a-half-hour video diary of the making of Oldboy
- Deleted scenes with optional director commentary
- Behind the scenes featurettes
- Extensive cast and crew interviews
- The Making of Oldboy, lengthy two-part featurette on the film’s production
- Le Grand Prix at Cannes, featurette about the film’s success at the 2004 film festival
- “Bring My Love” music video by Starsailor, using clips of the film
- Trailers, teasers and TV spots
- Image gallery
- Double-sided fold-out poster
- Limited edition 100-page hardbound book featuring new writing by Simon Abrams, Kat Ellinger, and original reviews
- Limited edition packaging featuring newly commissioned artwork by Matt Ryan Tobin
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OLDBOY (UK) BLU-RAY TWO-DISC SPECIAL EDITION: OLDBOY + OLD DAYS
Often cited as one of the best films of the 2000s and possibly the definitive example of extreme Asian cinema, Oldboy is a brutal, lyrical modern classic of the revenge genre.
Based on the Japanese manga of the same name, the film tells the horrific tale of Oh Dae-su (Choi Min-sik), a businessman who is inexplicably kidnapped and imprisoned in a grim hotel room-like cell for 15 years, without knowing his captor or the reason for his incarceration. Eventually released, he learns of his wife’s murder and embarks on a quest for revenge whilst also striking up a romance with a young, attractive sushi chef, Mi-do (Kang Hye-jung). He eventually finds his tormentor, but their final encounter will yield yet more unimaginable horrors...
Directed with immense flair by Park Chan-wook (The Handmaiden) as the second instalment of his Vengeance Trilogy, Oldboy blazed a trail at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival where it was lauded by the President of the Jury, director Quentin Tarantino. The film went on to become a huge international smash, blowing audiences minds with its concoction of filmmaking virtuosity, ingenious plotting, violence and pathos. Now, this masterpiece has been newly mastered in 4K and is presented here in a two-disc set with a wide array of extras, including the feature-length documentary Old Days.
SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS
- Brand new 4K restoration from the original camera negative supervised by director Park Chan-wook
- High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
- Original 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio and 2.0 stereo
- Original Korean and English soundtracks
- Music and effects track
- Newly translated, optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing for the English soundtrack
- Newly translated English subtitles for the Korean soundtrack
- Audio commentary with director Park Chan-wook
- Audio commentary with Park Chan-wook and cinematographer Jung Jung-hoon
- Audio commentary with Park Chan-wook, and actors Choi Min-sik, Yu Ji-tae, Kang Hye-jung
- Audio commentary by Film critic Shin Hyung-chul
- Audio commentary by Film critic Kim Young-jin
- Old Days: An Oldboy Story, acclaimed feature-length 2016 documentary about Park Chan-wook's masterpiece
- New introduction to the film by director Park Chan-wook
- Film Critics on Oldboy, featurette with Oh Dong-jin, Lee Dong-jin, Darcy Paquet and Chris Fujiwara
- Filmmakers on Oldboy, featurette with Directors Kim Jee-woon and Ryoo Seung-wan
- Photographer of Time, an interview with stills photographer Han Se-jun
- Autobiography of Oldboy, a three-and-a-half-hour video diary of the making of Oldboy
- Deleted scenes with optional director commentary
- Behind the scenes featurettes
- Extensive cast and crew interviews
- The Making of Oldboy, lengthy two-part featurette on the film’s production
- Le Grand Prix at Cannes, featurette about the film’s success at the 2004 film festival
- “Bring My Love” music video by Starsailor, using clips of the film
- Trailers, teasers and TV spots
- Image gallery
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Justin Erickson
FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Fully illustrated collectors’ booklet with full credits and with new writing by Simon Abrams