Arrow Films

[John Doe]

Remastered Withnail and I is also forthcoming.

[eerik]

Remastered Withnail and I is also forthcoming.

So is it safe to assume there's even more titles from the HandMade Films coming next year?

[MichaelB]

So is it safe to assume there's even more titles from the HandMade Films coming next year?

Very. James White said he was working on more HandMade restorations in his recent interview. And reading between the lines it's pretty safe to assume that they'll all be from the original camera neg/interpos, as Time Bandits was.

Which is excellent news, as the HandMade catalogue really hasn't been served well on any digital format thus far - remember Criterion's non-anamorphic Time Bandits and Withnail, the latter released after they'd gone anamorphic because they couldn't get anything better?

[Minkin]

The Abominable Dr. Phibes[/spoiler]

Excellent news! Another Price title (thus another further reason to avoid the Shout set). I do hope (unlike Shout) that they include the excellent sequel as well. The sequel might be fun, but I can't see any company releasing it on its own, so one might expect/hope a boxset/multidisc-set is forthcoming.

[Orlac]

Regarding the Argento titles, The Blue Underground releases are preferable to the Arrow because the BU have better encoding. It is a shame that they are marred by masters that range from ok, Deep Red, to abysmal, Cat O'Nine Tails. Actually, Cat may be so bad that it doesn't matter which one you pick up.

VCI will be issuing their own The Bird with the Crystal Plumage Blu next month that will use the Blue Underground master, so it will be in the proper aspect ratio, but they've done some additional work on it, so, there is no telling what it looks like.

Arrow's Tenebrae may be one of the worst Blu-rays ever. The French release looks really good, but has forced subtitles. Synapse will be using the same master as the French Blu when they release their Blu-ray next year.

Arrow's Phenomena Blu is currently the best release of that film, but it does have some audio errors caused by sloppily joining the English dub to the longer version presented on the Blu. Synapse will also be releasing this next year, and they have access to the master that Arrow used and a French master of the shorter, Argento preferred, international cut, that was, supposedly,supervised and approved by Argento and the Romano Albani, so you might want to wait.

How do you rate the Blue Underground Strip Nude for your Killer?

[dwk]

I haven't seen BU's Strip Nude, but I think the consensus is that its video is a 2.5 or 3 out 5. Not as good as Deep Red. but not as bad as Cat O'Nine Tails. The DVD Talk review has a couple of screenshot comparisons between the DVD and the Blu.

[Feego]

What company owns Paul Morrissey's Blood for Dracula and Flesh for Frankenstein in the UK? I would love to see these two films released by Arrow, and it looks like both are currently OOP in both the UK and USA.

[Minkin]

Got the Monday blues? We think we can help. We are very pleased to announce that we be releasing Jack Hill's PIT STOP next year!

[JamesF]

Not only that, but Jack Hill will be participating in a Q&A in London on Saturday with a double bill of Spider Baby and Pit Stop:

http://www.picturehouses.co.uk/cinema/R ... _Hill_Q_A/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[antnield]

Arrow Blu-rays of Sullivan's Travels and The Killers are being advertised in the London Film Festival programme.

[JamesF]

And Koyannisqatsi...

[Forrest Taft]

Does anyone here have any experience ordering directly from Arrow? Do they ship early a la Eureka? Do they send out shipping confirmation? And is it normal that orders don't show when you view your order history at their site?

[chatterjees]

You will actually get a confirmation email stating the detail of your order with pricing! But, I was never able to see the order information @ the site!!! So, I always save such emails.
If you are ordering from out side UK using a credit card, you will also get an email from worldpay or something, which just states the detail of the transaction, that's all.

[tenia]

Do they ship early a la Eureka? Do they send out shipping confirmation? And is it normal that orders don't show when you view your order history at their site?

They usually ship early. I received Time Bandits and House of Usher a few days before their release date, so a week earlier than if I would have bought them from Amazon.

They don't send shipping confirmation. You usually have to look on their facebook or twitter account, they tend to write a not when they receive stocks for their store.

I'm not sure about order history, since I prefer to keep the mails rather than looking at their website.

[Forrest Taft]

Thanks for the replies chatterjees and Tenia! Good to know I can expect the october releases I've pre-ordered to arrive early.

[tenia]

Thanks for the replies chatterjees and Tenia! Good to know I can expect the october releases I've pre-ordered to arrive early.

Glad to help.
However, be aware that this earliness has varied. Sometimes, it can be very early (I always tell how I got Knightriders 2-3 weeks before the release date), but I also sometimes received the releases very close to the release date, only 1-2 days before.

But having 5 days early in mind is mostly realistic.

[MichaelB]

Basically, they ship them when they arrive. But when they arrive depends on a variety of factors closely related to when the project is ultimately signed off.

[Finch]

Dressed To Kill arrived a month (!) early and Runaway Train about 2 weeks prior to shipping date. Add to that the low preorder prices which I'd be surprised to see Amazon and co price-match, I'm most happy with ordering from Arrow themselves.

[MichaelB]

Arrow have just announced their December releases:

Big Trouble in Little China (Standard and Steelbook Editions)

Following Escape from New York and The Thing, John Carpenter and Kurt Russell re-unite for this mystical, action, adventure, comedy, kung-fu, monster, ghost story!

Russell plays Jack Burton, a reasonable guy who is about to experience some unreasonable things in San Francisco’s Chinatown. As his friend’s fiancée is kidnapped Jack becomes embroiled in a centuries-old battle between good and evil. At the root of it all is Lo Pan, a 2000-year-old magician who rules an empire of evil spirits. Jack goes to the rescue dodging demons, goblins and the unstoppable Three Storms as he battles through Lo Pan’s dark domain.

One of Carpenters most enjoyable and best loved films, Big Trouble in Little China brilliantly juggles delirious set-pieces, comedy and kung-fu action with a razor sharp script of corking one-liners, as Jack would say “It’s all in the reflexes”.

Special Features:
- High Definition presentation of the film from a digital transfer prepared by Twentieth Century Fox
- Optional 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio and uncompressed Stereo 2.0 Audio
- Isolated 5.1 DTS-HD Isolated Score Soundtrack
- Optional English SDH subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- Audio Commentary with director John Carpenter and star Kurt Russell
- Return to Little China – A brand new interview with John Carpenter
- Being Jack Burton – A brand new interview with Kurt Russell
- Carpenter and I – A brand new interview with cinematographer Dean Cundey
- A new interview with producer Larry Franco
- Interview with visual effects producer Richard Edlund
- Vintage Making-of featurette featuring cast and crew
- Extended Ending
- Deleted Scenes
- Music Video
- Gallery of behind-the-scenes images
- 3 original trailers
- TV Spots
- Reversible Sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Jay Shaw
- Booklet featuring new writing on the film by John Kenneth Muir, author of The Films of John Carpenter, a re-print of an article on the effects of the film from American Cinematographer, illustrated with archive stills and posters

Released 2nd December
Region B

The Long Goodbye (Arrow Academy)

NOTHING SAYS GOODBYE LIKE A BULLET

When private eye Philip Marlowe (Elliott Gould) is visited by an old friend, this sets in train a series of events in which he’s hired to search for a missing novelist (Sterling Hayden) and finds himself on the wrong side of vicious gangsters.

So far so faithful to Raymond Chandler, but Robert Altman’s inspired adaptation of the writer’s most personal novel takes his legendary detective and relocates him to the selfish, hedonistic culture of 1970s Hollywood, where he finds that his old-fashioned notions of honour and loyalty carry little weight, and even his smoking (universal in film noir) is now frowned upon.

Widely misunderstood at the time, The Long Goodbye is now regarded as one of Altman’s best films and one of the outstanding American films of its era, with Gould’s shambling, cat-obsessed Marlowe ranking alongside more outwardly faithful interpretations by Humphrey Bogart and Robert Mitchum.

- High Definition presentation of the film from a digital transfer by MGM Studios
- Original uncompressed mono 2.0 PCM audio
- Optional English SDH subtitles for the deaf and hearing impaired
- Rip Van Marlowe – An interview with director Robert Altman and star Elliott Gould
- Vilmos Zsigmond Flashes The Long Goodbye – An interview with the legendary cinematographer
- Giggle and Give In – Paul Joyce’s acclaimed documentary profile of Robert Altman, with contributions from Altman, Elliott Gould, Shelley Duvall, assistant director Alan Rudolph and screenwriter Joan Tewkesbury
- David Thompson on Robert Altman - David Thompson, editor of 'Altman on Altman' and producer of the BBC’s 'Robert Altman in England', talks about The Long Goodbye ‘s place in Altman's filmography
- On Raymond Chandler - Raymond Chandler’s biographer, Tom Williams, outlines the author's life and work and discusses Altman’s adaptation of The Long Goodbye
- On Hard Boiled Fiction - Crime writer and critic Maxim Jakubowski discusses the emergence of hard boiled detective characters from the pages of the pulp magazines from the 1920s through to the 1950s.
- Original Theatrical Trailer
- Radio Spots
- Booklet featuring new writing on the film by Brad Stevens, a new interview with assistant director Alan Rudolph and an extract from American Cinematographer discussing Zsigmond’s unique treatment of the film, illustrated with original archive stills and posters

Released 2nd December
Region B

Lust in the Dust (Arrowdrome)

The sun beats down hard on the town of Chili Verde, New Mexico – where temperatures flare and passions reach boiling in the midday heat. The locals spend their days downing Tequila and breaking bottles over heads… and that’s just the womenfolk!

When Abel Wood, an enigmatic lone cowboy type, comes riding into town, the locals immediately suspect that he has come in search of the legendary buried gold. Quick on the draw and tall in the saddle he may be, but Abel faces stiff competition if he’s to get his hands on the prized booty.

From the legendary Paul Bartel (Death Race 2000, Eating Raoul) Lust in the Dust is a treat for both fans of Westerns and lovers of John Waters-type subversive humour, featuring the inimitable Divine (Hairspray, Pink Flamingos) in a typically larger-than-life performance; whilst Tab Hunter, in the role of Abel, delivers a sharp-shooting, gun-toting turn worthy of Clint himself.

ARROWDROME IS A FLEAPIT SELECTED LIBRARY OF CULT FILMS; VIOLENT, HORRIFIC, SLEAZY, EXPLOITATIVE. TO EXPLORE STEP IN TO THE CULT ARENA! EVERY ARROWDROME RELEASE INCLUDES A REVERSIBLE SLEEVE OF ORIGINAL ARTWORK AND A COLLECTOR’S BOOKLET!

ALSO INCLUDES ORIGINAL THEATRICAL TRAILER AND A COLLECTOR’S BOOKLET

Released December 9th
Region 2

Tenebrae (Remastered Steelbook Edition)

TERROR BEYOND BELIEF!

A notorious horror classic returns in all its depraved glory. This infamous video nasty updated the classic Giallo blueprint for the gorified 80s, courting controversy and drenching the viewer in crimson arterial spray.

A razor-wielding psycho is stalking the horror writer Peter Neal, in Rome to promote his latest work, Tenebre. But the author isn’t the obsessive killer’s only target, the beautiful women who surround him are doomed as one by one, they fall victim to the murderer’s slashing blade…

Will fiction and reality blur as fear and madness take hold? Watch in terror as by turns the cast fall victim to the sadistic imagination of Dario Argento, Italy’s master of horror.

SPECIAL FEATURES:
- Limited Edition SteelBook™ packaging featuring original artwork
- Newly remastered High Definition digital transfer of the film
- Presented in High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD
- Optional original English & Italian Mono Audio tracks (uncompressed PCM Mono 2.0 Audio on the Blu-ray)
- Optional English subtitles for Italian audio and English SDH subtitles for English audio for the deaf and hard of hearing
- Audio Commentary with authors and critics Kim Newman and Alan Jones
- Audio Commentary with Argento expert Thomas Rostock
- Introduction by star Daria Nicolodi
- The Unsane World of Tenebrae: An interview with director Dario Argento
- Screaming Queen! Daria Nicolodi remembers Tenebrae
- A Composition for Carnage: Composer Claudio Simonetti on Tenebrae
- Goblin: ‘Tenebrae’ and ‘Phenomena’ Live from the Glasgow Arches
- Original Trailer
- Exclusive collector’s booklet featuring brand new writing by Alan Jones, author of Profondo Argento
- More to be announced!

Released December 16th
Region B

[Finch]

No need for the Synapse release now, glad to see Arrow are redoing Tenebrae. Lust in the Dust sounds intriguing.

edit: their press release does explicitly state it's a new HD transfer but Arrow have confirmed again on Facebook it's a whole new disc.

[What A Disgrace]

December will be Arrow month for me.

[knives]

No need for the Synapse release now, glad to see Arrow are redoing Tenebrae. Lust in the Dust sounds intriguing.

edit: their press release does explicitly state it's a new HD transfer but Arrow have confirmed again on Facebook it's a whole new disc.

Lust in the Dust is absolute trashy fun. Really a combination of personalities you didn't know you needed in your life.

[dwk]

Nice to see that they are redoing Tenebrae, which is, without a doubt, the worst Blu-ray they've released. Hopefully, they'll be able to redo some of their other early Argento and Fulci titles.

[Adam X]

The Demolished Man?!
Now that would've been interesting to see.

[Forrest Taft]

It's been a passion project for De Palma for ages, but I think he's given up trying to get the funding for it. Really stoked for both The Fury and Lifeforce. I've never seen the Hooper, and it sounds right up my alley.