Even after all of your presents are unwrapped and your tree is packed away (or put on the curb), Arrow Video will continue to give the gift of new horror Blu-ray releases for fans looking to expand their collections. The company just announced their impressive February 2018 slate of Blu-rays, including a limited edition version of Frank Henenlotter's Basket Case, The Gruesome Twosome, and much more!
From Arrow Video: "Time for our new announcements! First up two titles coming from Arrow Records and Books this December…
NEW ARROW BOOK: The Hitcher (Book)
Pre-order now: http://bit.ly/2BqKmWx
Release date: 29th December
Robert Harmon’s 1986 film The Hitcher is a complex beast: reviled at the time of its release, it has been adored in the long term as one of the most intoxicating, unrelenting highway cult films ever made. Starring Rutger Hauer in the title role whose alluring villainy would give his turn as Blade Runner’s Ray Batty a run for its money, The Hitcher – both the film and the character – is simultaneously of its time and of the now, a film about the real and the mythic, and a film that challenges our assumptions about masculinity and femininity. Its horrors unfold as The Hitcher tracks and tortures the film’s protagonists across the highways of Nowhere USA, and the film reveals a tangle of contradictions: it is, at times, simultaneously dense, shallow, obvious, subtle, absurd and deeply intelligent.
The critical paths into The Hitcher that this book explores are rich and plentiful, and through an exploration of its origins and production history, a close analysis of the film itself and a consideration of the immediate fallout following its release and its longer legacies, this book celebrates one of the greatest highway horror movies ever made.Alexandra Heller-Nicholas is a film critic and academic from Melbourne, Australia, who has written four books on cult, horror and exploitation cinema.
Featuring new artwork by Gary Pullin and original stills."
From Arrow Video: "NEW ARROW RECORD: Caltiki the Immortal Monster (Translucent Green Vinyl)
Pre-order now: http://bit.ly/2Bs4IOQ
Release date: 30th December
ARROW RECORDS proudly present the original soundtrack to Riccardo Freda and Mario Bava's sci-fi horror cult classic, CALTIKI, THE IMMORTAL MONSTER!
Previously unpublished on vinyl, CALTIKI is not only one of the earliest Italian horror film soundtracks but also the first of several fruitful collaborations between horror maestro Mario Bava and the talented composer Roberto Nicolosi, whose compositions for the film combine brassy orchestral bombast with unsettling atonal atmosphere.
This limited vinyl edition has been newly mastered from the original 1/4" analogue tapes by James Plotkin and is presented on 180 gram wax, housed inside a 350gsm sleeve. Featuring newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphreys, and accompanying film notes by Tim Lucas."
From Arrow Video: "NEW UK/US TITLE: The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (Blu-ray and DVD releases)
This landmark film has never looked or sounded better in this new, 4K-restored edition
Pre-order from Arrow in the UK on Blu-ray: http://bit.ly/2AbTiAz
Pre-order from Arrow in the UK on DVD: http://bit.ly/2BqZov9
Pre-order from Amazon in the UK on Blu-ray: http://amzn.to/2A8KWKc
Pre-order from Amazon in the UK on DVD: http://amzn.to/2AalPH5
Pre-order on Blu-ray in the US via DiabolikDVD: http://bit.ly/2BqtPBR
Release date: 12/13 FebruaryIn 1970, young first-time director Dario Argento (Deep Red, Suspiria) made his indelible mark on Italian cinema with The Bird with the Crystal Plumage – a film which redefined the ‘giallo’ genre of murder-mystery thrillers and catapulted him to international stardom.
Sam Dalmas (Tony Musante, We Own the Night), an American writer living in Rome, inadvertently witnesses a brutal attack on a woman (Eva Renzi, Funeral in Berlin) in a modern art gallery. Powerless to help, he grows increasingly obsessed with the incident. Convinced that something he saw that night holds the key to identifying the maniac terrorising Rome, he launches his own investigation parallel to that of the police, heedless of the danger to both himself and his girlfriend Giulia (Suzy Kendall, Spasmo)…
A staggeringly assured debut, The Bird with the Crystal Plumage establishes the key traits that would define Argento’s filmography, including lavish visuals and a flare for wildly inventive, brutal scenes of violence. With sumptuous cinematography by Vittorio Storaro (Apocalypse Now) and a seductive score by legendary composer Ennio Morricone (Once Upon a Time in the West), this landmark film has never looked or sounded better in this new, 4K-restored edition from Arrow Video!
Blu-ray SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS
• Brand new 4K restoration of the film from the original camera negative produced by Arrow Video exclusively for this release
• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
• Original lossless mono Italian and English soundtracks
• English subtitles for the Italian soundtrack
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing for the English soundtrack
• New audio commentary by Troy Howarth, author of So Deadly, So Perverse: 50 Years of Italian Giallo Films
• The Power of Perception, a new visual essay on the cinema of Dario Argento by Alexanda Heller-Nicholas, author of Devil’s Advocates: Suspiria and Rape-Revenge Films: A Critical Study
• New analysis of the film by critic Kat Ellinger
• New interview with writer/director Dario Argento • New interview with actor Gildo Di Marco (Garullo the pimp)
• Eva’s Talking, an archival interview with actor Eva Renzi (Monica Ranieri)
• Original Italian and international theatrical trailers
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Candice TrippDVD SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS
• Brand new 4K restoration of the film from the original camera negative produced by Arrow Video exclusively for this release
• Standard Definition DVD presentation
• Original mono Italian and English soundtracks
• English subtitles for the Italian soundtrack
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing for the English soundtrack
• New audio commentary by Troy Howarth, author of So Deadly, So Perverse: 50 Years of Italian Giallo Films
• The Power of Perception, a new visual essay on the cinema of Dario Argento by Alexanda Heller-Nicholas, author of Devil’s Advocates: Suspiria and Rape-Revenge Films: A Critical Study
• New analysis of the film by critic Kat Ellinger
• New interview with writer/director Dario Argento
• New interview with actor Gildo Di Marco (Garullo the pimp)
• Eva’s Talking, an archival interview with actor Eva Renzi (Monica Ranieri)
• Original Italian and international theatrical trailers
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Candice Tripp"
From Arrow Video: "NEW UK/US TITLE: The Gruesome Twosome (Blu-ray)
Herschell Gordon Lewis returned to genre he helped create with the delightfully depraved The Gruesome Twosome!
Pre-order from Arrow in the UK: http://bit.ly/2A9uKIy
Pre-order from Amazon in the UK: http://amzn.to/2Aaoss9
US pre-order links will be live soon!
Release date: 5/6 February
OH, YES… OUR WIGS ARE MADE FROM GENUINE HUMAN HAIR… AND HOW!
After dabbling in the unlikely world of children’s entertainment with the likes of Jimmy, the Boy Wonder and The Magic Land of Mother Goose, in 1967 “Godfather of Gore” Herschell Gordon Lewis returned to genre he helped create with the delightfully depraved The Gruesome Twosome!
The young women of a small-town American college have more than just split-ends to worry about… Down at the Little Wig Shop, the batty Mrs. Pringle and her socially-inept son Rodney are procuring only the finest heads of hair – by scalping the local co-eds! Can they be stopped before they clear the entire campus of luxuriant-haired ladies?
Also including HG Lewis’ Dracula-inspired vampire epic A Taste of Blood as a bonus feature, this is one Gruesome Twosome that’s well worth flipping your wig over!
SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS
• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
• English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• Bonus Feature! 1967’s A Taste of Blood
• Introductions to the films by HG Lewis
• Archive audio commentaries for both films by HG Lewis
• Peaches Christ Flips Her Wig! – San Francisco performer Peaches Christ on The Gruesome Twosome
• It Came from Florida – filmmaker Fred Olen Ray (Scalps, The Alien Dead) on Florida Filmmaking
• HG Lewis vs. the Censors – HG Lewis discusses some of the pitfalls of the blood-and-guts business including local censorship and angry moviegoers
• Trailers and radio spot
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly-commissioned artwork by The Twins of Evil"
From Arrow Video: "UK/US TITLE: Scalpel (Blu-ray)
An exemplary slice of Southern-fried gothic, filled finally rescued from VHS obscurity
Pre-order from Arrow in the UK: http://bit.ly/2Aa8vCc
Pre-order from Amazon in the UK: http://amzn.to/2AcdjHz
US pre-order links will be live soon!
Release date: 19/20 February
HE LOST THE FACE OF THE WOMAN HE LOVED… SO HE GAVE IT TO SOMEONE ELSE.
US television staple Robert Lansing (Star Trek, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Twilight Zone) stars as a deranged surgeon in this twisty-turny psychological thriller from Blood Rage director John Grissmer.
In Scalpel, Lansing plays Dr. Phillip Reynolds, a man whose daughter Heather (Judith Chapman, As the World Turns, General Hospital) has run away from home a year prior following the suspicious death of her boyfriend. When he happens across a young woman one night, her face beaten beyond recognition, the unhinged Reynolds sees his an opportunity to put his trusty scalpel to use - hatching a plan to “reconstruct” her face in the image of his missing daughter, and so claim her sizeable inheritance.
Photographed by celebrated cinematographer Edward Lachman, who would go on to serve as DP on the likes of Erin Brockovich and The Virgin Suicides, Scalpel is an exemplary slice of Southern-fried gothic, filled finally rescued from VHS obscurity in this revelatory new Blu-ray edition from Arrow Video.
DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS
• Brand new 2K restoration from original film elements
• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
• Original Uncompressed Mono Audio Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• Brand new audio commentary by film historian Richard Harland Smith
• Brand new crew interviews
• Original Theatrical Trailer
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by The Twins of EvilFIRST PRESSING ONLY: Collector’s booklet with new writing on the film by Bill Ackerman"
From Arrow Video: "NEW US TITLE: Basket Case (Blu-ray) Limited Edition
A riotous and blood-spattered midnight movie experience, now immortalized in a lavish new 4K restoration by the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)
Pre-order with an enamel pin from DiabolikDVD:http://bit.ly/2BryDab
Release date: 27 FebruaryTHE TENANT IN ROOM 7 IS VERY SMALL, VERY TWISTED, AND VERY MAD.
The feature debut of director Frank Henenlotter (Brain Damage, Frankenhooker), 1982’s Basket Case is perhaps his most revered - a riotous and blood-spattered midnight movie experience, now immortalized in a lavish new 4K restoration by the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA).
Duane Bradley is a pretty ordinary guy. His formerly conjoined twin Belial, on the other hand, is a deformed, fleshy lump whom he carries around in a wicker basket. Arriving in the Big Apple and taking up a room at the seedy Hotel Broslin, the pair set about hunting down and butchering the surgeons responsible for their separation. But tensions flare up when Duane starts spending time with a pretty blonde secretary, and Belial’s homicidal tendencies reach bloody new extremes.
Filmed on a shoestring budget against the backdrop of 1980s New York (where the movie would become a staple of the infamous 42nd Street grindhouse circuit), Basket Case has clawed its way from its humble origins to become one of the most celebrated cult movies of all time.
SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS
• Brand new 4K restoration from the original 16mm negative by MoMA
• 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 writer/director Frank Henenlotter and star Kevin Van Hentenryck
• Basket Case 3-1/2: An Interview with Duane Bradley - Frank Henenlotter revisits Duane Bradley decades after the events of the original Basket Case
• Seeing Double: The Basket Case Twins - a brand new interview with Florence and Maryellen Schultz, the twin nurses from Basket Case
• Brand new making-of featurette containing new interviews with producer Edgar Ievins, casting person/actress Ilze Balodis, associate producer/effects artist Ugis Nigals and Belial performer Kika Nigals
• Blood, BASKET and Beyond - a brand new interview with actress Beverly Bonner
• Belial Goes to the Drive-In - a brand new interview with film critic Joe Bob Briggs
• Outtakes Featurette
• In Search of the Hotel Broslin - archive location featurette
• Slash of the Knife (1972) - short film by Frank Henenlotter
• Belial’s Dream (2017, 5 mins) - brand new Basket Case-inspired animated short by filmmaker Robert Morgan
• Behind-the-scenes of Belial’s Dream
• Trailers, TV Spots and Radio Spots
• Extensive Still Galleries
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Sara DeckFIRST PRESSING ONLY: Collector’s booklet with new writing on the film by Michael Gingold"
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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