Upcoming Arrow Video Releases

J.J.GITTES

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British distributors Arrow Video have revealed that they are planning to add a number of very exciting releases to their growing Blu-ray catalog. Amongst them are Elio Petri's directorial debut The Assassin(1961), Philippe Mora's The Beast Within (1982), Joe Dante's The 'Burbs (1989), and Brian De Palma's Sisters (1973).

The Assassin

Arrow Academy is proud to present L'Assassino, the debut feature of the late Italian director Elio Petri, a man whose films have often been unjustly overlooked in favour of other more heralded filmmakers.

L'Assassino tells the story of 30-something antiques dealer Alfredo Martelli (Marcello Mastroianni) who, at the film's outset, finds himself under suspicion for murdering his wealthy older lover. As the investigation presses on, a series of flashbacks gives us an insight into Alfredo's character and the nature of his relationship with his now deceased lover Adalgisa (Micheline Presle).

With its Kafkaesque mood and distincly political bent, Petri's first film bears many of the hallmarks of his later work. In the director's own words, "L'Assassino reflected the changes wrought by the early 60s. [What it was about] was a new generation of upstarts who lacked any kind of moral scruple."

Special Features:
  • New 2K digital restoration from the Cineteca di Bologna
  • Newly created exclusive content
  • Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork
  • Collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film, archive content and more!
  • More to be announced closer to the release date
STREET DATE: MAY 19TH.

The Pit and the Pendulum

A horse-drawn carriage pulls up on a deserted beach. A sombre figure dismounts and gazes up towards his destination – a foreboding cliff-top castle perched high above the crashing waves. Thus the perfect Gothic scene is set for Pit and the Pendulum, the second of Roger Corman's celebrated Poe adaptations once again starring the ever-reliable Vincent Price (The Fall of the House of Usher, Theatre of Blood) alongside the bewitching Barbara Steele (Black Sunday).

Having learned of the sudden death of his sister Elizabeth (Steele), Francis Barnard (John Kerr) sets out to the castle of his brother-in-law, Nicholas Medina, to uncover the cause of her untimely demise. A distraught, grief-stricken Nicholas (Price) can offer only the vaguest explanations as to Elizabeth's death – at first citing "something in her blood", but later asserting that she quite literally "died of fright". What sort of unspeakable horrors are buried within the walls of this castle that could cause one's heart to stop so? With Francis determined to get to the bottom of this mystery, the terrible truth will not stay buried for long.

Right from its brooding kaleidoscopic opening titles, Pit and Pendulum draws you into its world of cobwebs, secret passageways and dusty suits of armour. All the necessary elements are present and correct and, along with one of Vincent Price's most tortured performances, make Pit and the Pendulum every inch the Gothic melodrama.

Special Features:
  • Limited Edition SteelBook packaging
  • High Definition digital transfer
  • Newly created exclusive content
  • Collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film, archive content and more.
  • More to be announced closer to the release date
STREET DATE: MAY 12TH.

Milano Calibro 9

Perhaps the one true film noir to emerge from Italy, Milano Calibro 9 is a gritty, ultra-violent masterpiece and an essential entry in the cannon of Italian crime cinema. Centering on the character of ex-con Ugo Piazza (played with stone-cold precision by Gastone Moschin) the film also benefits from the presence of giallo regular Barbara Bouchet and her considerable charms.

Released after a three-year term in prison for a bungled robbery, Ugo Piazza plans to lead the straight life for a while. But no sooner is he back on the street than he's picked up by a bunch of hoodlums under the employ of his former boss, the 'Americano' – among them, the psychopathic Rocco – who are convinced that Ugo stole $300,000 before his incarceration. The gang forces Ugo to resume working for them in the hope that he'll eventually lead them to their missing cash.

The first part in director Fernando Di Leo's Milieu Trilogy, Milano Calibro 9 is an early example of the poliziotteschi – Italian crime films –which proliferated in the 1970s. Di Leo eschews the sleazy, more exploitative approach of some his contemporary filmmakers for a more serious take on his subject matter – although he's not averse to show-stopping gun fights and long, lingering shots of the lovely Barbara Bouchet.

Special Features:
  • High Definition digital transfer
  • Newly created exclusive content
  • Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork
  • Collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film, archive content and more
  • More to be announced closer to the release date
STREET DATE: JUNE 16TH.

The Complete Dr Phibes

Horror legend Vincent Price (The Fall of the House of Usher, Theatre of Blood) is Dr. Phibes, former musician, current murderer. Seeking revenge from the medical staff that left his wife for dead, he sets about knocking them off one-by-one in a series of elaborate murders based upon a Ten Plagues of Egypt. Death by bats, by boils, by blood and more await the nurse and surgeons who failed to save the life of the beloved Victoria Regina Phibes!

A camp classic, The Abominable Dr. Phibes sets itself apart from the seventies horror crowd with its knowing humour and art deco sets, and also prefigures the Saw movies with its increasingly fiendish set of murder devices.

Pairing the original film with sequel Dr. Phibes Rises Again, The Complete Dr. Phibes provides viewers with a double diabolical dose of macabre thrills and black comedy.

Special Features:
  • High Definition digital transfers of both films
  • Newly created exclusive content
  • Deluxe Edition collector's Box featuring original artwork
  • 100-Page Collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film, archive content and more
  • More to be announced closer to the release date
STREET DATE: JUNE 9TH.

The 'Burbs

The films of director Joe Dante have taken us to some strange places – a mysterious Chinatown antique store in Gremlins; a secluded resort populated by werewolves in The Howling; even deep inside the human body in Innerspace. But now he takes us to the strangest place of all – surburbia!

Family man Ray Peterson (Tom Hanks) is looking forward to a week of putting his feet up at home in the quiet, leafy cul-de-sac of Mayfield Place. But his plans are scuppered by the arrival of new next-door neighbours, The Klopeks, whose behaviour and habits are more than just a little kooky. But things go from kooky to downright sinister when local old boy Walter disappears, leading Ray and his buddies to suspect their new neighbours of killing and eating him! Sure, the Klopeks are a strange bunch what with their digging up the backyard in the middle of the night – but they're not devil-worshipping cannibal killers… are they?

If you're looking for a knowing slice of tongue-in-cheek terror then look no further than The 'Burbs. A standout horror comedy from a director who has given us more than his fair share of fun frighteners, The 'Burbs assembles a superb cast including Tom Hanks, Bruce Dern, Carrie Fisher and Corey Feldman in a tall tale of small-town terror. You'll never look at those eccentric neighbours in the same way again!

Special Features:
  • High Definition digital transfer
  • Newly created exclusive content
  • Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphreys
  • Collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film, archive content and more
  • More to be announced closer to the release date
STREET DATE: JUNE 23RD.

Camera Obscura: The Walerian Borowczyk Collection

This groundbreaking collection brings together Walerian Borowczyk's key films from a twenty-five-year period stretching from 1959 through to 1984.

This unique release includes five of Borowczyk's provocative feature films: Theatre de M et Mme Kabal, Goto, l'ile d'amour, Blanche, Contes Immoraux and La Bete as well as his groundbreaking short films from this period.

Not only are many of these films available on Blu-ray and DVD for the first time, but also in new digital high definition restorations approved by the director's widow, Ligia Branice.

In addition to exclusive documentaries featuring cast and crew, an hour long portrait of Borowczyk is to be included, featuring the director's musings on painting, animation and sex.

Accompanying this seminal release is a book edited by Borowczyk experts Daniel Bird and Michael Brooke featuring newly commissioned essays on Borowczyk's films and art, as well as an account of the meticulous restoration process involved.

To round off the release is, for the first time, an English translation of Borowczyk's 1992 collection of short stories, Anatomy of the Devil, translated by the director's assistant, Michael Levy.

Arrow Academy's Walerian Borowczyk Collection is a vital addition to anyone interested in either world cinema, animation or experimental film.

Limited Edition collection featuring five feature films:
- Theatre of Mr & Mrs Kabal (1967)
- Goto, Isle of Love (1968)
- Blanche (1971)
- Immoral Tales (1974)
- The Beast (1975)
- And the short films:
- The Astronauts (1959)
- The Concert (1962)
- Grandmother's Encyclopaedia (1963)
- Renaissance (1963)
- Angels' Games (1964)
- Joachim's Dictionary (1965)
- Rosalie (1966)
- Gavotte (1967)
- Diptych (1967)
- The Phonograph (1969)
- A Private Collection (1973)
- Venus on the Half-Shell (1975)
- The Greatest Love of All Time (1978)
- Scherzo Infernal (1984)

Special Features:
  • Brand new 2K restorations of Borowczyk's films
  • Newly created exclusive content
  • Extensive collector's booklet featuring limited edition exclusive content, new writing on the film, archive content and more!
  • More to be announced closer to the release date
RELEASE DATE: JUNE 30TH

Porky's

Long before American Pie and Superbad came the original and best sex comedy. A firm favourite of teen movie fans, Porky's introduced audiences to Kim Cattrall (Police Academy, Big Trouble in Little China) and made an absolute killing at the box-office.

It's 1954 and the sex-obsessed boys of Angel Beach High School are looking to get laid. Porky's is their destination, local nightclub and whorehouse. Only its redneck owner has other plans, as does his sheriff brother. Will Meat, Mickey, Tommy and the other guys in the gang get their own back? And will the barely-endowed Pee Wee finally lose his virginity?

Having established his credentials as one of Canada's top horror filmmakers with the likes of Black Christmas and Dead of Night, Bob Clark took an unexpected turn into the world of the teenage sex comedy and inadvertently made the most successful Canadian motion picture of all time, an honour it still holds today.

Special Features:
  • Limited edition SteelBook packaging
  • High Definition digital transfer
  • Newly created exclusive content
  • Collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film, archive content and more
  • More to be announced closer to the release date
STREET DATE: MAY 26TH.

The Beast Within

Late one full moon-lit night, a woman stands alone on the roadside waiting for her husband to return to their broken-down car. Suddenly she's pounced upon, dragged into the dark woods and savaged by a barely-glimpsed assailant – something barely human. But this is only the beginning of the terrors in The Beast Within…

Seventeen years on, and the devoted parents of teenager Michael are at their wits end. Their son lies in a hospital bed, his body wracked by a mysterious illness. With doctors unable to offer any diagnosis, Michael's desperate parents are forced to seek out the answer themselves – by digging up traumatic past events and confronting the true nature of their son's conception.

The Beast Within stands apart from other creature features due to its decidedly grim tone – the scenes in which the monster violates his victims have proven too strong for some critics – and standout transformation sequence courtesy of makeup artist Tom Hoerber (My Bloody Valentine). Add to these the strong lead performances from Paul Clemens and Ronny Cox (Deliverance, The Car, RoboCop), alongside a stunning score by the late, great Les Baxter, and you have yourself one absolute beast of a movie!

Special Features:
  • High Definition digital transfer
  • Newly created exclusive content
  • Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Marc Schoenbach of Sadist Art Designs
  • Collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film, archive content and more
  • More to be announced closer to the release date
STREET DATE: MAY 5TH.

Theatre of Blood

It's never been tougher to be a critic than in THEATRE OF BLOOD, one of the greatest horror comedies of all time. Vincent Price gives a career best performance as Edward Lionhart, a veteran Shakespearean actor who, when passed over for the coveted Critic's Circle award for Best Actor takes deadly revenge on the critics who snubbed him.

With one of the greatest ensemble casts ever assembled for a horror film including Diana Rigg, Harry Andrews, Jack Hawkins and Arthur Lowe, THEATRE OF BLOOD is an dementedly funny and deliciously macarbe cult classic.

Special Features:
  • High Definition digital transfer
  • Newly created exclusive content
  • Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork
  • Collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film, archive content and more
  • More to be announced closer to the release date
STREET DATE: APRIL 28TH.

The Delta Force

Cannon Films are known for producing some of the most enjoyable and eccentric action flicks of the '80s – but The Delta Force, which boasts scenes of Chuck Norris flying through the air on a missile-mounted motorbike, surely stands as one of their most entertaining efforts.

American Travel Ways Flight 282 has been hijacked by a group of terrorists claiming to represent the New World Revolutionary Organisation. The Delta Force, under the leadership of Captain Scott McCoy (Chuck Norris), is called in to handle the situation. Still smarting from an ill-fated hostage rescue mission several years prior, this elite squad of special forces are determined to succeed in their mission this time – and assert the might of the American military once and for all.

Drawing on a number of true-life terrorist incidents for inspiration, most notably the 1985 hijacking of TWA Flight 847, The Delta Force is a non-stop thrill ride which culminates in one of the most explosive action flick finales of all time. With Chuck Norris on hand to provide the muscle and gravelly-voiced Lee Marvin (The Killers) in his last ever screen role, The Delta Force is one mission you can't afford not to accept.

Special Features:
  • High Definition digital transfer
  • Newly created exclusive content
  • Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphreys
  • Collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film, archive content and more
  • More to be announced closer to the release date
STREET DATE: APRIL 28TH.

Koyaanisqatsi / Powaqqatsi

Told without dialogue, narration, cast or characters, Koyaanisqatsi and Powaqqatsi are dizzying, hypnotic examples of cinema set to extraordinary scores by Philip Glass. The first instalment concentrates on the United States, contrasting its natural beauty with a population ever more dependent on modern technology. The second switches to the Southern hemisphere and focuses on cultures and traditions that are slowly eroding away as the modern world takes over.

Special Features:
  • New, restored digital transfers of both films, approved by director Godfrey Reggio
  • 5.1 DTS-HD Master audio
  • Newly created exclusive content
  • Collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film, archive content and more
  • More to be announced closer to the release date
STREET DATE: APRIL 21.

Sisters

Before 1973, Brian De Palma was impossible to pigeonhole: he made comedies, political satires and openly experimental pieces. But with Sisters (originally released as Blood Sisters in the UK) he turned to the suspense thriller and discovered his natural home - and a style that would lead directly to later masterpieces like Carrie, Dressed to Kill and Blow Out.

When Danielle (Margot Kidder) meets potential boyfriend Philip (Lisle Wilson) after appearing on the TV show Peeping Toms (a nod to the Michael Powell shocker), she invites him home, only to attract the ire of her twin sister Dominique. From across the courtyard, Rear Window style, reporter Grace (Jennifer Salt) witnesses Philip being murdered by one of the twins - but the police find no body or any physical evidence. Naturally, Grace takes things into her own hands, and discovers more about the sisters' relationship than she bargained for…

Strongly influenced by Alfred Hitchcock and Roman Polanski, and with a score by the great Bernard Herrmann (Citizen Kane, Psycho), Sisters was the first true "Brian De Palma" film.

Special Features:
  • High Definition digital transfer
  • Newly created exclusive content
  • Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphreys
  • Collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film, archive content and more
  • More to be announced closer to the release date
STREET DATE: APRIL 14TH.
 
My eyes lit up when I just read DELTA FORCE !

Fantastic - can't wait for that one :)
 
It's quite a formidable lineup. Here's the list of deal prices at the Arrow shop and when they end. Phibes is a limited ed apparently too.

The 'burbs SteelBook – £14.99 until April 30th

The 'burbs – £12.99 until April 30th

Milano Calibro 9 – £12.99 until April 30th

The Complete Dr. Phibes – £19.99 until April 30th

Porky's SteelBook – £14.99 until March 31st

Porky's – £12.99 until March 31st
L'Assassino – £12.99 until March 31st
The Pit and the Pendulum SteelBook – £14.99 until March 31st
The Pit and the Pendulum – £12.99 until March 31st
The Beast Within – £12.99 until March 31st

Theatre of Blood SteelBook – £14.99 until Feb 28th
Theatre of Blood – £12.99 until Feb 28th

The Delta Force – £12.99 until Feb 28th

Koyaanisqatsi / Powaqqatsi – £17.99 until Feb 28th
Sisters – £12.99 until Feb 28th


Much better than the Upcoming Odeon Entertainment blu-ray lineup which consists of...

THE HILLS HAVE EYES II (1984) in April.

With the catalogue they have I despair........
 
Very excited about the Dr Phibes set and the Theatre of Blood and The Pit and the Pendulum steels - all must buys for me.

Just a question of when to pre-order and whether Amazon will beat those prices above - they seem very reasonably priced to be honest.
 
Arrow take payment immediately for pre-orders but it's also worth noting that they give you reward points worth almost 10% - 10 points per whole pound on your order (ie. £14.99 gets you 140 points) and each point is worth a single shining penny.
 
British distributors Arrow Video have announced that they will add a number of new titles to their Blu-ray catalog in early 2015. Amongst them are Michael Mann's Thief, John Frankenheimer's The Manchurian Candidate, and David Cronenberg's Rabid.

Thief 1981

Synopsis: For his first theatrical feature, Michael Mann (Manhunter, Public Enemies) returned to the rain-soaked streets of his hometown, Chicago, for a stunning piece of neo-noir starring James Caan (The Godfather, Rollerball) at his toughest.

Caan plays Frank, a jewel thief and former convict who is looking to settle down with his girlfriend (Tuesday Weld, Once Upon a Time in America) and begin a family. But when his 'fence' is thrown from a window and the Chicago mafia begin to flex their muscles, his hopes of a quiet life become anything but…

With a sterling supporting cast in the shape of James Belushi, Robert Prosky, Willie Nelson and Dennis Farina, lush electronic score by Tangerine Dream and the assured direction of Mann, Thief is a standout eighties crime flick that paved the way for the his later urban thrillers such as Heat and Collateral as well as Nicolas Winding Refn's Drive.

Special Features:
  • Limited Slipcase Edition [3000 units] featuring two versions of the film
  • High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation of the director's cut from a new 4K film transfer, approved by director Michael Mann, with uncompressed 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
  • High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation of the original theatrical cut [Limited Edition Exclusive] with original uncompressed 2.0 Stereo PCM audio
  • Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • Optional isolated music and effects track on the theatrical cut
  • Audio commentary by writer-director Michael Mann and actor James Caan
  • The Directors: Michael Mann – a 2001 documentary on the filmmaker, containing interviews with Mann, James Belushi, William Petersen, Jon Voight and others
  • Stolen Dreams - a new interview with Caan, filmed exclusively for this release
  • Hollywood USA: James Caan – an episode of the French TV series Ciné regards devoted to the actor, filmed shortly after Thief had finished production
  • The Art of the Heist - an examination of Thief with writer and critic F.X. Feeney, author of the Taschen volume on Michael Mann
  • Theatrical trailer
  • Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by maarko phntm Illustrated collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film by Brad Stevens
Rabid 1977

Synopsis: First come the Shivers… then, you turn RABID! Celebrated Canadian cult auteur David Cronenberg (The Fly, Videodrome) followed up Shivers with this tense and gory thriller which expands upon the venereal disease theme of that film, this time unleashing it on the whole of downtown Montreal – with terrifying consequences.

When beautiful Rose (adult film star Marilyn Chambers) is badly injured in a motorcycle crash, Dr. Keloid, who is in the process of developing a revolutionary new type of skin-graft, seizes the opportunity to test out his as yet unproven methods. The surgery appears successful and Rose seems restored to full health. But all is not as it should be – Rose has been transformed into a contagious blood-sucker, endowed with a bizarre, needle-like protrusion in her armpit with which she drains the blood from those unfortunate enough to be in her vicinity.

An important landmark in the early career of Cronenberg, Rabid sees the director returning to the viral theme of his earlier work but on a much larger (and more assured) scale – where the infection has shifted from the confines of a single apartment block to the expansive shopping centres and motorways of Canada's second largest city.

Special Features:
  • Limited Edition SteelBook packaging
  • New High Definition Digital Transfer
  • High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentation of the feature
  • Original mono audio (uncompressed PCM on the Blu-ray)
  • Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • Audio Commentary with writer-director David Cronenberg
  • Audio Commentary with William Beard, author of The Artist as Monster: The Cinema of David Cronenberg
  • Archive interview with David Cronenberg
  • Brand new interview with executive producer Ivan Reitman
  • Brand new interview with co-producer Don Carmody
  • Make-up Memories: Joe Blasco Remembers Rabid – A short featurette in which Blasco recalls how the film's various gruesome effects were achieved
  • Raw, Rough and Rabid: The Lacerating Legacy of Cinépix – Featurette looking back at the early years of the celebrated Canadian production company, including interviews with author Kier-La Janisse and special makeup artist Joe Blasco
  • The Directors: David Cronenberg – A 1999 documentary on the filmmaker, containing interviews with Cronenberg, Marilyn Chambers, Deborah Harry, Michael Ironside, Peter Weller and others
  • Original Theatrical Trailer
  • Collector's Booklet featuring new writing on the film by Kier-La Janisse, reprinted excerpts of Cronenberg on Cronenberg and more, illustrated with original archive stills and posters.
Withnail and I (with How to Get Ahead in Advertising) 1987 (1989)

Synopsis: Camden Town, the arse-end of the sixties. Two struggling, unemployed actors decide some respite is in order and so depart their miserable flat for a week in the Lake District – one that will involve rain, booze, minimal supplies, a randy bull and an even randier Uncle Monty.

Based on the real-life experiences of former actor turned writer/director Bruce Robinson, WITHNAIL and I has become one of British cinema's most fondly remembered comedies. A cult film in the truest sense that has also become a classic.

Perfectly cast – with career-defining roles for Richard E. Grant, Paul McGann, Richard Griffiths and Ralph Brown – and crammed with irresistibly quotable dialogue, WITHNAIL and I is a sheer delight, even on the umpteenth viewing.

Special Features:
  • New 2K restoration of WITHNAIL and I from the original camera negative, supervised and approved by director of photography Peter Hannan
  • Bruce Robinson's follow-up feature, How to Get Ahead in Advertising, newly transferred from original film elements and approved by director of photography Peter Hannan
  • High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) Presentation of both films
  • Original uncompressed mono 1.0 PCM audio for both films
  • Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
  • Audio commentary by writer-director Bruce Robinson
  • Audio commentary by critic and writer Kevin Jackson, author of the BFI Modern Classic on WITHNAIL and I
  • All four original 'Withnail Weekend' documentaries, first screened on Channel 4 in 1999, including The Peculiar Memories of Bruce Robinson, which looks at the director's career, Withnail & Us, which focuses on the film's making, and two shorter documentaries, I Demand to Have Some Booze and Withnail on the Pier
  • Newly filmed interview with production designer Michael Pickwoad, who discusses his work on Withnail & I
  • An appreciation of Withnail & I by Sam Bain, co-creator of Peep Show and Fresh Meat
  • Theatrical trailers for both films
  • Illustrated collector's booklet containing new writing by Vic Pratt and Frank Collins, an Empire interview with Bruce Robinson, Richard E. Grant, Paul McGann and Ralph Brown and more.
Withnail and I

Special Features:
  • New 2K restoration of WITHNAIL and I from the original camera negative, supervised and approved by director of photography Peter Hannan
  • High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) Presentation
  • Original uncompressed mono 1.0 PCM audios
  • Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
  • Audio commentary by writer-director Bruce Robinson
  • Audio commentary by critic and writer Kevin Jackson, author of the BFI Modern Classic on WITHNAIL and I
  • All four original 'Withnail Weekend' documentaries, first screened on Channel 4 in 1999, including The Peculiar Memories of Bruce Robinson, which looks at the director's career, Withnail & Us, which focuses on the film's making, and two shorter documentaries, I Demand to Have Some Booze and Withnail on the Pier
  • Newly filmed interview with production designer Michael Pickwoad, who discusses his work on Withnail & I
  • An appreciation of Withnail & I by Sam Bain, co-creator of Peep Show and Fresh Meat
  • Theatrical trailers
  • Illustrated collector's booklet containing new writing by Vic Pratt.
The Manchurian Candidate (1962)

Synopsis: After saving the lives of his platoon during the Korean War, Sergeant Raymond Shaw (Laurence Harvey) is hailed as a bona fide American hero. This couldn't have come at a better time for his mother (Angela Lansbury) who is hell-bent on boosting the career of his stepfather, a senator straight from the McCarthyite wing of the US political spectrum with designs on the Presidency.

So far so familiar – but why does Shaw's former captain (Frank Sinatra) have recurring nightmares that suggest that his distinguished comrade-in-arms might not be all that he seems?

Based on the memorably paranoid bestseller by Richard Condon (Prizzi's Honor), this is one of the greatest of all Cold War suspense thrillers, not least for its alarmingly original take on the notion of "the enemy within". Angela Lansbury won multiple awards and an Oscar nomination for her performance as one of the most monstrous mothers in screen history, but perhaps the most unnerving thing about the film is the way that its political satire remains so perfectly on target more than half a century later.

Special Features:
  • High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation of the main feature, transferred from original elements by MGM
  • Uncompressed 1.0 PCM soundtrack
  • Optional English SDH subtitles
  • Audio commentary by director John Frankenheimer
  • The Directors: John Frankenheimer, an hour-long portrait from 2000, including interviews with Frankenheimer, Kirk Douglas, Samuel L. Jackson, Roy Scheider, Rod Steiger and many others Interview with John Frankenheimer, Frank Sinatra and screenwriter George Axelrod from the film's 1988 revival
  • Queen of Diamonds: an interview with Angela Lansbury
  • A Little Solitaire: an appreciation of the film by director William Friedkin (The Exorcist)
  • Stills gallery
  • Theatrical trailer
  • More to be announced!
The Comedy of Terrors (1963)

Synopsis: From Jacques Tourneur, director of numerous horror classics including Cat People, I Walked with a Zombie and Night of the Demon, comes The Comedy of Terrors – a gleefully macabre tale which brings together genre greats Vincent Price, Peter Lorre and Boris Karloff. Price plays Waldo Trumbull, a perpetually inebriated, down-on-his-luck undertaker who has struck on an interesting way to boost business – by hastening the deaths of those whom he buries. When landlord Mr. Black (Basil Rathbone) threatens to put him out on the street for falling behind with the rent, Trumbull, together with his reluctant and bumbling assistant Felix Gillie (Lorre), hatches an ill-advised plan to "kill two birds with one stone", so to speak…

The penultimate directorial effort from Tourneur, The Comedy of Terrors bears many of the hallmarks of the master filmmaker's earlier works, whilst adding a healthy dash of humour to the proceedings. Careful – you might just die laughing!

Special Features:
  • High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentation of the feature, transferred from original film elements by MGM
  • Original Mono 2.0 audio (uncompressed PCM on the Blu-ray)
  • Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • Audio Commentary with Price historian David Del Valle Extensive archive interview with Vincent Price
  • Whispering in Distant Chambers: The Nightfall of Jacques Tourneur – a specially-commissioned video essay by David Cairns, which charts the career of director Tourneur
  • Richard Matheson Storyteller – an archive featurette on the Comedy of Terrors writer
  • Original Theatrical Trailer
  • Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Paul Shipper
  • Collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film by Chris Fujiwara, author of Jacques Tourneur: The Cinema of Nightfall, illustrated with original archive stills and posters.
The Haunted Palace (1963)

Synopsis: Although recognised as part of Roger Corman's Edgar Allan Poe cycle (its title comes from a Poe poem), The Haunted Palace has a much more significant place in film history for being the first high-profile adaptation of the work of H.P. Lovecraft, in this case his novella The Case of Charles Dexter Ward.

Ward is one of two characters played by Vincent Price, the other being Ward's great-great-grandfather Joseph Curwen, burned as a warlock 110 years before. When Ward returns to the village of Arkham to reclaim the family mansion, his striking resemblance to his ancestor is just the first of many macabre events that proceed to unfold, including the screen debut of Lovecraft's legendary Necronomicon.

As before, Corman and his team worked wonders with their modest budget, with Daniel Haller's sets amongst the most elaborate in all the Poe cycle, enhanced by genuinely creepy moments such as the crowd of deformed villagers still living under Curwen's curse.

Special Features:
  • High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation of the feature, transferred from original film elements by MGM
  • Original uncompressed Mono PCM Audio
  • Optional isolated music and effects track
  • Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • Audio commentary by Vincent Price's biographer David Del Valle and writer Derek Botelho
  • Kim Newman on H.P. Lovecraft, a look at the relationship between Lovecraft and the cinema, and the challenges of adapting his work
  • A Change of Poe, an interview with Roger Corman
  • Stills and Poster Gallery
  • Original Theatrical Trailer
  • Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Matthew Griffin
  • Collector's booklet containing new writing on the film by Roger Luckhurst, illustrated with original archive stills
The Tomb of Ligeia (1964)

For the last of his cycle of Edgar Allan Poe adaptations, Roger Corman asked screenwriter Robert Towne (Chinatown) to turn Poe's story 'Ligeia' into another vehicle for Vincent Price, who once again plays a man so haunted by his past that he is unable to function in the present.

In this case the past comes in the form of his now-deceased first wife Ligeia, who casts a long shadow over an ill-advised second marriage to a woman who resembles her (Elizabeth Shepherd), particularly when he becomes convinced that Ligeia's spirit is returning to him in the form of a black cat. But is this actually a delusion on his part?

Although the doom-laden narrative and Price's tormented performance had become well established ingredients in the Corman Poe cycle, the film looks strikingly different from the earlier films, with much of it taking place in broad daylight, and shot in actual English locations (notably Stonehenge and Norfolk's Castle Acre Priory) instead of Hollywood sets.

Special Features:
  • High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation of the feature, transferred from original film elements by MGM
  • Original uncompressed Mono PCM Audio
  • Optional isolated music and effects track
  • Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • Audio commentary by director and producer Roger Corman
  • Audio commentary by star Elizabeth Shepherd
  • All-new interviews with crew members including cowriter/production assistant Paul Mayersberg, first assistant director David Tringham, clapper loader Bob Jordan and composer Kenneth V. Jones
  • Original Theatrical Trailer
  • Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by the Twins of Evil
  • Collector's booklet containing new writing by Julian Upton, illustrated with original production stills.
The Killing / Killer's Kiss 1956/1955

Synopsis: An ex-con, a corrupt cop, a reformed alcoholic, a wrestler, a sharpshooter and a pair of inside men: these seven men intent on executing the perfect robbery and taking a racetrack for two million dollars. But this is the world of film noir, a tough, sour place where nothing quite goes as planned…

For his third feature Stanley Kubrick adapted Lionel White's Clean Break with a little help from hard-boiled specialist Jim Thompson (The Killer Inside Me), and in doing so created a heist movie classic, one to rank alongside John Huston's The Asphalt Jungle and Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs. The robbery itself is one of cinema's great set-pieces, as taut a piece of filmmaking as you'll ever find, expertly controlled by Kubrick, who called The Killing his "first mature work".

Starring Sterling Hayden (Johnny Guitar, The Godfather), perennial fall guy Elisha Cook Jr (The Maltese Falcon, The Big Sleep) and Marie Windsor (The Narrow Margin) as his duplicitous wife, The Killing is quintessential film noir, still as brutal, thrilling and audacious as it was almost six decades ago.

Special Features:
  • High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation of the feature
  • Original uncompressed mono PCM Audio
  • Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • Stanley Kurbrick's second feature, Killer's Kiss (1955), presented in High Definition (1080p)
  • An appreciation by filmmaker Ben Wheatley (Kill List, Sightseers)
  • An extract from the French television series Journal de la cinéma featuring an interview with Sterling Hayden
  • A look at Kubrick's 1950s output with critic Michel Ciment
  • Original theatrical trailers for both films
  • More to be announced!
  • Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Reinhard Kleist
  • Collector's booklet containing new writing by Peter Kramer (author of volumes on Dr. Strangelove, 2001: A Space Odyssey and A Clockwork Orange), Barry Forshaw and filmmaker Ron Peck, illustrated with original archive stills

Upcoming Arrow Video Releases
 
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Hmm, while I appreciate you posting the information, I would appreciate if you could attach the dates in which the films were made in brackets. Cheers mate. Otherwise, thanks for posting :)
 
Hmm, while I appreciate you posting the information, I would appreciate if you could attach the dates in which the films were made in brackets. Cheers mate. Otherwise, thanks for posting :)
I'm not sure why the date they were made should matter but done.
 
I'm not sure why the date they were made should matter but done.

It matters because people need to know exactly what's being released? The Manchurian Candidate has a remake, for example. I wasn't sure if it was the original or remake, mate.
 
It matters because people need to know exactly what's being released? The Manchurian Candidate has a remake, for example. I wasn't sure if it was the original or remake, mate.
Firstly I don't think Arrow would waste any time or money on the remake and secondly if you bother looking beyond the title you'd see the stars listed as Frank Sinatra, Angela Lansbury and Lawrence Harvey.
 
Ok my friend, no problem. Like I said, appreciate that you posted it.
 

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