UK residents have been enjoying Arrow Video Blu-ray releases of cult films like Maniac Cop and The Funhouse for years, and soon horror hounds living stateside can enjoy the diligent distributor's offerings now that Arrow Video is expanding to the US. To commemorate their growth, Arrow Video has announced upcoming North American Blu-ray releases of Mark of the Devil, Blind Woman’s Curse, and more.
Making their Blu-ray debuts in the US, 1970's Mark of the Devil will come out on March 17th and 1971's Blind Woman’s Curse (aka Black Cat’s Revenge on March 24th. Arrow Video will also release the Blu-ray of Blood and Black Lace on April 14th and The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Miss Osbourne to Blu-ray on April 21st. All four releases will include a DVD copy, as well. We have the official press release with full details, as well as the special features and cover art for the four films.
"London, 14th January
Arrow Films are excited to reveal further plans on the expansion of its celebrated Arrow Video label into North America this coming March.
Lauded with positive feedback from a loyal fan base for its great success in releasing various acclaimed restorations of cult and horror releases, Arrow Video have in recent years won several prestigious ‘Label of the Year’ awards by such notable outlets such as broadsheet newspaper The Guardian (2011, 2013) and Home Cinema Choice Magazine (2010/2013/2014) as well as awards from other institutions and festivals around the world.
By popular demand Arrow Video will launch into North America with a host of cult titles, receiving deluxe treatment in video, audio, supplements and artwork. Launch titles include Tonino Valerii’s Spaghetti Western Day of Anger [I Giorni dell’ira, aka Gunlaw] starring genre icons Lee Van Cleef and Giuliano Gemma; Michael Armstrong’s bloody and brutal critique of state-funded religious corruption Mark of the Devil in a director-approved release; and the thrillingly bizarro yakuza-samurai-ghost story-horror hybrid from Teruo Ishii, Blind Woman’s Curse (1971, also known as Black Cat’s Revenge). Future releases include films never-before-released on DVD and/or Blu-ray from European and Japanese cult directors.
The launch will kick-off with North American Blu-ray premieres of Mark of the Devil on 17th March, followed by Blind Woman’s Curse on 24th March and Day of Anger on 31stMarch. Massacre Gun, Blood and Black Lace and The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Miss Osbourne will follow in April 2015 with further titles to be announced and released throughout 2015.
About Arrow Video:
Started as an offshoot label of Arrow Films in 2009, the label began with two cult titles: Lucio Fulci’s The House by the Cemetery (1981) and Lamberto Bava’s Macabre (1980). The label ethos was ‘The Art of Cult Films is Back!’ a philosophy which is upheld and still features on the packaging today. Arrow Video releases hark back the video store glory days when VHS covers were lurid and exciting. The Label employs top illustrative artists to create brand-new oil-painting covers featuring reversible original key art as an alternate option. The label releases definitive editions that include complete uncut versions, multiple audio tracks, copious extras, cutting edge design and informative booklets. The collection now spans more than 100 releases and includes films by a host of major auteurs from Argento to Yuzna!About Arrow Films
Arrow Films is a multi-tiered, all-rights entertainments company that is committed to deliver exceptional content via innovative and pioneering marketing solutions, best of breed technical achievements and world class customer engagement. Combining State-of-the-Art restoration with bespoke, striking and unique packaging including world first personalised releases, Arrow is the global market leader in the Premium Home Entertainment market. Separately, Arrow is focussed in developing its own internationally iconic brands across multiple platforms, including physical media, theatrical, digital, publishing and at dedicated fan events. From TV Series to Feature Films, Arrow delivers content to customers at the forefront of new technology in the ever-changing media landscape. Arrow is a friendly, family-based and respected entertainment company with a strong heritage and increasing global footprintArrow Video will be distributed in the United States by Music Video Distributors.
ABOUT MVD ENTERTAINMENT GROUP
MVD Entertainment Group is a full service music and movie distribution firm, exclusively representing thousands of audio and visual products for DVD, Bluray, CD, vinyl, and digital rights, worldwide. MVD also exclusively distributes a growing line of merchandise including limited edition collectibles, tee shirts, and more. MVD stays on the cutting edge of new media with a huge catalog of audio and visual digital rights, and by nurturing its direct relationships with the major digital and VOD platforms. MVD works with a variety of up-and-coming platforms as well and actively pursues new relationships. After 30 years of business, MVD is still family owned and operated and 100% debt free. Serving Artists and Audiences, the driving principle, allows for a wide spectrum of opportunities and change with an ever-evolving industry."
Mark of the Devil:
"Once proclaimed as "positively the most horrifying film ever made", Mark of the Devil arrives in a director-approved edition featuring a new restoration of the feature. A bloody and brutal critique of religious corruption, Mark of the Devil sees horror icon Udo Kier (Flesh for Frankenstein, Suspiria) play a witchfinder's apprentice whose faith in his master (Herbert Lom) becomes severely tested when they settle in an Austrian village. Presided over by the sadistic Albino (a memorably nasty turn from Reggie Nalder), the film presents its morality not so much in shades of grey as shades of black. Written and directed by Michael Armstrong, who would later pen Eskimo Nell, The Black Panther and House of the Long Shadows, this classic shocker has lost none of its power over the years."
Bonus Materials (via Amazon):
Blind Woman's Curse:
"Blind Woman's Curse is a thrilling Yakuza film featuring eye-popping visuals, sensational fight sequences and the gorgeous Meiko Kaji (Lady Snowblood, Stray Cat Rock), in her first major role. Akemi (Kaji) is a dragon tattooed leader of the Tachibana Yakuza clan. In a duel with a rival gang Akemi slashes the eyes of an opponent and a black cat appears, to lap the blood from the gushing wound. The cat along with the eye-victim go on to pursue Akemi's gang in revenge, leaving a trail of dead Yakuza girls, their dragon tattoos skinned from their bodies. A bizarre blend of the female Yakuza film and traditional Japanese ghost story, with a strong dash of grotesque-erotica (the same movement was a sensibility of Edogawa Rampo whose works were adapted by Ishii in Horrors of Malformed Men), Blind Woman's Curse is a delirious mash-up of classic genre tropes, of which Ishii was no stranger, having directed everything from Super Giant films to Biker movies!"
Bonus Materials (via Amazon):
Blood and Black Lace:
Synopsis: "SIX MODELS. SIX VICTIMS FOR A CRAZED MASKED KILLER.
The Cristiana Haute Couture fashion house is a home to models… and backstabbing… and blackmail… and drug deals… and MURDER.
Having established a template for the giallo with The Girl Who Knew Too Much, Mario Bava set about cementing its rules with Blood and Black Lace. In doing so he created one of the most influential films ever made – an Italian classic that would spearhead the giallo genre, provide a prototype for the slasher movie, and have a huge effect on filmmakers as diverse as Dario Argento and Martin Scorsese.
Newly restored from the original camera negative and presented here in its original, uncut Italian form, this dual-format release allows fans to see Blood and Black Lace afresh and offers newcomers the ideal introduction to a major piece of cult filmmaking."
Bonus Materials (via Arrow Video):
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Miss Osbourne:
Synopsis: "“Potent and poetic, mischievous and macabre, Borowczyk’s film shows how many imaginative worlds the horror movie can open up when the right artist holds the keys” (Nigel Andrews, Financial Times)
It’s the engagement party for brilliant young Dr Henry Jekyll (Udo Kier) and his fiancée, the beautiful Fanny Osbourne (Marina Pierro), attended by various pillars of Victorian society, including the astonishing Patrick Magee in one of his final roles. But when people are found raped and murdered outside and ultimately inside the house, it becomes clear that a madman has broken in to disrupt the festivities – but who is he? And why does Dr Jekyll keep sneaking off to his laboratory?
We know the answer, of course, but Walerian Borowczyk’s visually stunning adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s much-filmed tale is crammed with wildly imaginative and outrageously perverse touches characteristic of the man who scandalised audiences with Immoral Tales and The Beast, not least the explicitly sexualised nature of Mr Hyde’s primal urges."
Bonus Materials (via Arrow Video):
Raised on a steady diet of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps books and Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Derek has been fascinated with fear since he first saw ForeverWare being used on an episode of Eerie, Indiana.
When he’s not writing about horror as the Senior News Reporter for Daily Dead, Derek can be found daydreaming about the Santa Carla Boardwalk from The Lost Boys or reading Stephen King and Brian Keene novels.
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