Arrow Video and Arrow Academy have announced details of their September lineup, packed with must have discs for cinephiles.
September means back to the old-school for Arrow Video with a massive helping of cult classics arriving on Blu-Ray, DVD and Dual Format releases!
Lovers of camp’s lord and master, Russ Meyer, get a double portion of his studio hits with Beyond the Valley of the Dolls coming to Blu-Ray with all its sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll, while the lesser-seen but brilliant censorship drama, The Seven Minutes, lands on DVD.
Fans of William Castle-style exploitation will want to get their hands on Matinee, Joe Dante’s take on the sci-fi and horror features of the 1950s and 1960s, starring John Goodman. If your tastes are more psychological thriller, however, September also sees the Arrow Video edition of Brian De Palma’s iconic John Lithgow vehicle, Raising Cain.
Cinephiles who can’t get enough of Ozploitation should check out Dead-End Drive-In and its vision of a not-too-distant dystopian future from Quentin Tarantino favourite, Brian Trenchard-Smith. Last but not least, the gross-out creature feature Slugs comes slithering along, with its squirm-tastic monster effects.
Each release features a range of special features to please even the most ardent cult fans.
Beyond the Valley of the Dolls - on Blu-Ray on 5 September
When Easy Rider rewrote the box-office rulebook in 1969, Hollywood scrambled to catch up and 20th Century Fox noticed that one particular independent filmmaker was seeing impressive returns from tiny investments. So what would happen if he was given a decent budget and the run of a Hollywood studio and told to make the ultimate Russ Meyer film?
Well, this is the result: an initially X-rated cult camp classic about an all-female rock band trying to parlay Midwestern success into a Hollywood contract with the aid of a hefty inheritance. But will they be able to maintain their trademark apple-pie wholesomeness under their new manager, the notorious Ronnie Z-Man Barzell? Take a wild guess.
Co-scripted by film critic Roger Ebert, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls is a merciless satire of Hollywood and the music business, a no-holds-barred psychedelic thrill-ride that gleefully stirs sex, drugs, rock n roll, fashion, lesbianism, transvestism and Nazis into one of the most riotously unhinged mainstream films ever made.
SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS
High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
Original uncompressed PCM mono audio
Separate music and effects track
Audio commentary by co-screenwriter Roger Ebert
Audio commentary by cast members Dolly Read, Cynthia Myers, Harrison Page, John La Zar and Erica Gavin
Introduction by John La Zar
Above, Beneath and Beyond the Valley: The Making of a Musical-Horror-Sex-Comedy
Look On Up at the Bottom, with composer Stu Phillips discussing the film’s music
The Best of Beyond, favourite moments selected by cast and crew members
Sex, Drugs, Music & Murder: Signs of the Time, Baby!, a look at the late 1960s culture that spawned Beyond the Valley of the Dolls
Casey & Roxanne: The Love Scene, discussed by participants Erica Gavin and Cynthia Myers
Screen tests for Michael Blodgett, Cynthia Myers, Harrison Page, Marcia McBroom
High Definition photo galleries
Multiple trailers
Reversible sleeve featuring two original artworks
The Seven Minutes - on DVD on 5 September
When Twentieth Century Fox signed sexploitation maestro Russ Meyer to a multi-picture deal, this resulted in two films. The first was the legendary Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. The second was the little-seen The Seven Minutes, about a subject that could hardly have been closer to Meyer’s heart.
Based on the best-selling novel by Irving Wallace, The Seven Minutes is also the title of a notorious 1930s book whose belated publication in the US triggers an obscenity lawsuit, prompted by a hitherto clean-living young man raping a fellow student and leaving her for dead. But is the resulting trial a sincere exploration of links between (alleged) pornography and real-life violence or an attempted Kafkaesque stitch-up involving a shady businessman, ambitious politicians in search of a populist bandwagon, and even the Vatican?
With a dazzling cast including cult legends John Carradine, Yvonne De Carlo (The Munsters), Jay C. Flippen (The Killing), Wolfman Jack (Motel Hell), Charles Napier (The Blues Brothers) and future star Tom Selleck (Magnum P.I.), The Seven Minutes is an absorbing, intelligent and thought-provoking drama.
SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS
DVD presentation of the longer cut of The Seven Minutes, including the notorious sex-film studio scene
Dolby Digital 1.0 sound, with optional English subtitles for the deaf and hearing-impaired
Sinister Image, an interview with Russ Meyer and his former model Yvette Vickers
Theatrical trailer
Matinee - on Dual Format Blu-Ray + DVD on 12 September
HALF MAN... HALF ANT... ALL TERROR!
So says the advertising campaign for Mant!, the latest low-budget schlock-horror classic from cigar-chomping producer Lawrence Woolsey (John Goodman, The Big Lebowski), who more than makes up for his films' lack of production values by festooning them with gimmicks that would turn even William Castle (The Tingler) green with envy.
But the most potent gimmick of all is accidental: Woolsey schedules a sneak preview of Mant! in Key West, Florida, in October 1962, unaware that the Cuban missile crisis is about to flare up. Will the threat of genuine nuclear war distract the locals from the movie, or will they find it doubly terrifying?
Directed by the legendary Joe Dante (The Burbs), this delightful film isn’t just an affectionate love-letter to the sci-fi and horror films that he grew up with in the 1950s and 60s, it’s also a witty and intelligent exploration of the way that the most successful genre films worked by preying on the very real fears of their audiences about everything from Soviet satellite launches to atomic mutation.
SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS:
High definition digital transfer supplied by NBC Universal
Lossless stereo audio
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
Paranoia in Ant Vision, a discussion with director Joe Dante about the making of the film
Mant!, the full length version of the film-within-a-film
Discussion with Joe Dante on the effects of Mant!
Vintage making of featurette
Rare on-set footage, sourced from Joe Dante’s personal collection
Original theatrical trailer
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphreys
Raising Cain - on Dual Format Blu-Ray + DVD on 12 September
Having spent the latter half of the eighties trying out new styles of filmmaking - Wise Guys: knockabout comedy, The Untouchables: prestige gangster pic, Casualties of War: Vietnam movie, and The Bonfire of the Vanities: satirical misfire - Brian De Palma returned to what he knew best, the Hitchcockian psycho-thriller, for Raising Cain.
John Lithgow plays three roles: child psychologist Carter, his evil twin brother Cain, and their Norwegian father, Dr Nix, who likes to experiment on the young. Carter’s wife is concerned that her husband isn’t quite paying their daughter the right kind of attention; she’s also having an affair upon discovery of which, threatens to send him into a psychotic rage...
A relentless blend of murder, multiple personalities, cross-dressing, crazed parents, bizarre dream sequences and stunning cinematic assurance, Raising Cain harks back to those twin masterpieces Psycho and Peeping Tom, but is pure unadulterated De Palma.
SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS
Brand new 2K restoration from original film materials
High Definition (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD Presentations
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
Brand new interview with John Lithgow
Theatrical trailer
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Nathanael Marsh
MORE TO BE ANNOUNCED
First pressing only: Collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Anne Billson
Dead-End Drive-In - on Blu-Ray and DVD on 19 September
One of Quentin Tarantino’s favourite directors, Brian Trenchard-Smith was a key figure in the Ozploitation movement, responsible for The Man from Hong Kong, Stunt Rock, Turkey Shoot, BMX Bandits... and dystopian cult classic Dead-End Drive-In!
Set in a near-future where the economy has crumbled and violent gangs play havoc in the streets, the powers-that-be have decided to lure the delinquent youth into drive-in cinemas and keep them there. No longer just a place to watch trashy movies and make out, these outdoor picture shows have become concentration camps for the unruly and unwanted.
With its day-glo colour scheme, new wave soundtrack and extraordinary stunt work, Dead-End Drive-In is in the tradition of Ozploitation milestones Mad Max and The Cars That Ate Paris, only very, very eighties.
SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS
Brand new 2K restoration from original film materials
High Definition (1080p) Presentation on Blu-Ray edition
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
Audio commentary by director Brian Trenchard-Smith
The Stuntmen, Trenchard Smith’s classic television documentary on Grant Page (Mad Max, Road Games) and other Australian stunt performers
Hospitals Don’t Burn Down, Trenchard-Smith s 1978 public information film told in pure Ozploitation fashion
Theatrical trailer
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Chris Malbon
First Blu-Ray pressing only: fully-illustrated collector’s booklet containing writing on the films by Cullen Gallagher and Neil Mitchell
Slugs - on Blu-Ray and DVD on 26 September
From celebrated Spanish director Juan Piquer Simón, the man behind the truly demented slasher flick Pieces (1982), comes a terrifying tale of mutant slugs on the rampage in small-town America.
The townsfolk of a rural community are dying in strange and gruesome circumstances. Following the trail of horrifically mutilated cadavers, resident health inspector Mike Brady is on the case to piece together the mystery. He soon comes to a terrifying conclusion giant slugs are breeding in the sewers beneath the town, and they’re making a meal of the locals!
Based on the novel by acclaimed British horror author Shaun Hutson, Slugs outdoes its creature feature peers by adding an extra dose of gross-out gore into the equation, culminating in one of the most squirm-inducing animal attack movies ever to slither its way across screens.
SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS
Brand new restoration from original film elements
High Definition (1080p) presentation on Blu-Ray edition
Original Uncompressed PCM Stereo audio on Blu-Ray
Original Stereo audio on DVD
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
Audio commentary by writer and filmmaker Chris Alexander
Here’s Slugs In Your Eye, an interview with actor Emilio Linder
They Slime, They Ooze, They Kill: The Effects of Slugs, an interview with special effects artist Carlo De Marchis
Invasion USA, an interview with art director Gonzalo Gonzalo
The Lyons Den, an interview and locations tour with production manager Larry Ann Evans 1988 Goya Awards promo reel
Original Theatrical Trailer
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Wes Benscoter Fully-illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing by writer Michael Gingold
Whether your love is for the comedies of Woody Allen, or the dark shadows of classic film noir, Arrow Academy has a Blu-Ray release for you this September.
First up are three Woody Allen releases that should be part of any fan’s collection. Woody Allen: Six Films 1971 - 1978 is a box set release that showcases six of the director’s earliest films, allowing you to chart his development from screwball comedies to mature humour and drama. It also includes a fabulous 100-page hardback book with writings from Allen himself as well as a host of critics.
September also sees the stand-alone Blu-Ray release of Bananas, Allen’s hilarious comedy that sees his character kidnapped only to become the FBI’s most wanted man as he is made president of a Central American republic. Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* But Were Afraid to Ask, meanwhile, answers a host of important questions including “Do aphrodisiacs work?” and “What are sex perverts?”.
If your tastes delve into the darker side of cinema, Arrow Academy is bringing two classic film noirs to Blu-Ray. The Glass Key sees the first collaboration between Hollywood icons Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake, while The Blue Dahlia sees them team up under director George Marshall to create their noir masterpiece.
Woody Allen: Six Films 1971 - 1978 - on Blu-Ray on 5 September
With these six films, Woody Allen made one of the most remarkable transitions ever seen in American cinema, from the slapstick buffoonery of the early, funny films to the Oscar-winning breakthrough of Annie Hall and the wholly serious Interiors.
Along the way there’s the Latin American revolutionary satire Bananas, genre-bending sex-education spoof Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex and hilarious time-travelling trips to a future America (Sleeper) and Napoleon-era Russia (Love and Death). All these early films star Allen himself, usually as a hapless victim of unfortunate events, aided by the likes of Diane Keaton (several times), John Carradine, Jessica Harper, Louise Lasser, Lynn Redgrave, Burt Reynolds, Gene Wilder and Daisy the sheep.
But the mature Woody Allen was first revealed in Annie Hall, a film firmly of its time and place (mid-1970s Manhattan) but also universal in its wry and witty examination of the foibles of human relationships. The claustrophobically Bergmanesque family drama Interiors once seemed like a startling change of direction, but now anticipates much of what came later.
COLLECTION INCLUDES
Bananas (1971)
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex ★But Were Afraid to Ask (1972)
Sleeper (1973)
Love and Death (1975)
Annie Hall (1977)
Interiors (1978)
Exclusive to this collection: Annie Hall and a 100-page hardback book featuring new and archive writing on all the films by Woody Allen, Michael Brooke, Johnny Mains, Kat Ellinger, John Leman Riley, Hannah Hamad and Brad Stevens.
The Blue Dahlia - on Blu-Ray on 19 September
Hollywood legends Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake (The Glass Key, This Gun For Hire) team up for a masterfully told tale of suspense and intrigue in the classic noir tradition.
When discharged navy officer Johnny Morrison (Ladd) comes home from war to his old stomping ground in the Hollywood Hills, he is shocked to discover his wife Helen (Doris Dowling) having an affair with the proprietor of the glamorous Blue Dahlia nightclub. But when Helen is murdered and Johnny is fingered as the prime suspect, he is forced to prove his innocence, aided by a woman harbouring a dark secret, the beautiful and enigmatic Joyce (Lake).
Directed by George Marshall (Destry Rides Again, How the West Was Won) from a script by acclaimed hard-boiled novelist Raymond Chandler – his only produced original screenplay – The Blue Dahlia sparkles with wit and old Hollywood glamour, showcasing some of the most celebrated talent of the golden age of the silver screen at their iconic best, making its high definition debut in this feature-packed release from Arrow Academy.
SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS
High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
Original uncompressed PCM mono audio
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
Selected scene commentary by Frank Krutnik, author of In a Lonely Street: Film Noir, Genre, Masculinity
Introduction to the film by Frank Krutnik
Rare 1949 half-hour radio dramatization of The Blue Dahlia by The Screen Guild Theater, starring Veronica Lake and Alan Ladd
Original theatrical trailer
Extensive gallery of vintage stills and promotional materials
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Tonci Zonjic
First pressing only: collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Adrian Wootton, CEO of Film London
The Glass Key - on Blu-Ray on 19 September
Twists, double-crosses and political intrigue abound in this classic thriller starring the golden couple of film noir, Veronica Lake and Alan Ladd (The Blue Dahlia, This Gun For Hire).
A crooked political boss, Paul Madvig (Brian Donlevy), falls for Janet Henry (Lake), daughter of a prospective Baltimore governor, and decides to mend his ways. However, when Janet’s no-good brother turns up dead, Madvig’s colourful past returns to haunt him as he is fingered as the likely suspect. Which of his many enemies conspired to frame him? And can he, with the assistance of right-hand man Ed Beaumont (Ladd), prove his innocence before he is sent down for murder?
The earliest collaboration between Lake and Ladd, The Glass Key boasts a screenplay adapted from the novel by Dashiell Hammett (The Maltese Falcon), father of hard-boiled crime. Now appearing for the first time ever on Blu-ray in the UK, this timeless noir thriller shines like never before.
SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS
High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
Original uncompressed PCM mono audio
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
Audio commentary by Adrian Wootton, CEO of Film London
New visual essay on the film by Alastair Phillips, co-author of 100 Film Noirs
Rare 1946 half-hour radio dramatization of The Glass Key by The Screen Guild Theater, starring Alan Ladd, Marjorie Reynolds and Gene Kelly
Original theatrical trailer
Extensive gallery of vintage stills and promotional materials
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Tonci Zonjic
First pressing only: collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by critic Kat Ellinger