Arrow Video/Academy November Slate Is Weird, Wild And Oscar Worthy!

2020 has been a write off for majority of us, Autumn is coming and Arrow have got your back covered. Winter chill may come in November but Arrow Video and Arrow Academy bring the heat with a great slate.

The month will include the definitive editions of two superb European arthouse masterworks, a new horror comedy that has to be seen to be believed, a truly gritty crime masterpiece like you’ve never seen it before, wild Japanese sci-fi, an astounding boxset of the work of a neglected exploitation master, and a stunning uncut Blu-ray release of a disturbingly brilliant and bona fide transgressive classic.

Arrow Academy presents The Sheltering Sky, Academy Award-winning director Bernardo Bertolucci’s stunning adaptation of Paul Bowles’ classic novel, that Vincent Canby in The New York Times called “a long, beautifully modulated cry of despair… the sort of dark, romantic movie that only Mr. Bertolucci could bring off.” A distinguished and emotive follow up to his Best Picture-winning The Last Emperor (Academy Awards 1988) and a highlight in an extraordinary filmmaking career, The Sheltering Sky won a BAFTA for Vittorio Storaro’s outstanding cinematography and a Golden Globe for Ryuichi Sakamoto’s haunting original score.

Also from Arrow Academy comes Cinema Paradiso, winner of awards across the world including Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, 5 BAFTA Awards, the Grand Prize of the Jury at the Cannes Film Festival and many more. The original award-winning theatrical version of Guiseppe Tornatore’s classic is presented here for the first time on 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray, as well as Blu-ray and DVD, replete with a host of extras.

Everything starts with a special edition of Lake Michigan Monster, an action-packed tale of nautical derring-do and monster mayhem – winner of the Audience Award for Best International Feature at the 2019 Fantasia Film Festival. Shot in gloriously retro black and white on a shoestring budget, Lake Michigan Monster is an inventive, irreverent and riotously entertaining ode to the classic monster movies of yesteryear: an absurdist urban legend guaranteed to appeal to the big kid in all of us.

Next in November from Arrow Video comes Burst City, an explosive Molotov cocktail of dystopian sci-fi, Mad Max-style biker wars against yakuza gangsters and the police, and riotous performances from of the real-life Japanese punk bands The Stalin, The Roosters, The Rockers and Inu. This extraordinary celebration of Japan’s punk music scene of the early 1980s is regularly cited as an early landmark in Japanese cyberpunk cinema.

Also released is King of New York, arguably maverick filmmaker Abel Ferrara’s most accessible and explosive film, an urban gangster classic with a magnetic, career-best central performance by Christopher Walken, as well as riveting from Laurence Fishburne, Wesley Snipes, Giancarlo Esposito, Steve Buscemi and David Caruso. Still just as relevant and incendiary now as it was three decades ago, King of New York returns with guns blazing in this definitive special edition, including a new director-approved 4K restoration in UHD, as well as Blu-ray and DVD editions.

Towards the end of November, Arrow Video is releasing the first ever collection of works by William “Wild Bill” Grefé, the maverick filmmaker who braved the deep, dark depths of the Florida everglades to deliver some of the most outrageous exploitation fare ever to go-go dance its way across drive-in screens. As well as seven wild and weird films on four discs, this lavish limited edition boxset includes a definitive documentary on William Grefé,

Finally there is Crash, where technology and sexuality meet in a head-on collision in director David Cronenberg’s controversial adaptation of writer J.G. Ballard’s hugely transgressive 1973 novel, starring James Spader and Holly Hunter. Awarded the Special Jury Prize at the 1996 Cannes Film Festival for originality, daring and audacity, Crash remains an incredibly subversive and confrontational piece of cinema – Cronenberg himself describes it as “a dangerous film” – now newly refurbished in a stunning, uncut 4K restoration.

THE SHELTERING SKY 2ND NOVEMBER

In the hopes of rekindling their marriage, sophisticated American couple Port and Kit Moresby (John Malkovich and Debra Winger) set off for North Africa intending to travel through Algeria – uncertain of exactly where they are heading but determined to leave the modern world behind. They are instead tested to their limits by the unfathomable emptiness and imive cruelty of the desert.

SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS

• High Definition Blu-ray™ (1080p) presentation
• Original uncompressed stereo audio
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• Archival audio commentary with director Bernardo Bertolucci, producer Jeremy Thomas, and screenwriter Mark Peploe
• Desert Roses (47 mins) – archival featurette
• Brand new video essay by David Cairns & Fiona Watson
• Brand new interview with art director Andrew Sanders
• Archival interviews with cast and crew (10 mins)
• Image Gallery
• Original Trailer
• Reversible sleeve featuring original theatrical artwork

FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Kat Ellinger

CINEMA PARADISO 23RD NOVEMBER
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Giuseppe Tornatore’s loving homage to the cinema tells the story of Salvatore, a successful film director, returning home for the funeral of Alfredo, his old friend who was the projectionist at the local cinema throughout his childhood. Soon memories of his first love affair with the beautiful Elena and all the highs and lows that shaped his life come flooding back, as Salvatore reconnects with the community he left 30 years earlier.

4K UHD SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS:

• 4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible) of the 124 minute theatrical version
• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation of the 174 minute Director’s Cut
• Uncompressed original stereo 2.0 Audio and 5.1 surround sound options
• Optional English subtitles
• Audio commentary with director Giuseppe Tornatore and Italian cinema expert critic Millicent Marcus
• A Dream of Sicily – A 52-minute documentary profile of Giuseppe Tornatore featuring interviews with the director and extracts from his early home movies as well as interviews with director sco Rosi and painter Peppino Ducato, set to music by the legendary Ennio Morricone
• A Bear and a Mouse in Paradise – A 27-minute documentary on the making of Cinema Paradiso and the characters of Toto and Alfredo, featuring interviews the actors who play them, Philippe Noiret and Salvatore Cascio as well as Tornatore
• The Kissing Sequence – Giuseppe Tornatore discusses the origins of the kissing scenes with clips identifying each scene
• Original Director’s Cut Theatrical Trailer and 25th Anniversary Re-Release Trailer

LAKE MICHIGAN MONSTER 2ND NOVEMBER

On the shores of Lake Michigan, the eccentric Captain Seafield (Ryland Brickson Cole Tews, who also writes and directs) enlists a colourful crew of misfits in a bid to slay the hellish sea monster that prowls the murky depths. But as Seafield’s obsession with exacting revenge on the creature that killed his father threatens to consume him, can weapons expert Sean Shaughnessy (Erick West), sonar whiz Nedge Pepsi (Beulah Peters) and former N.A.V.Y. ¬– Nautical Athletes and adVenture Yunit – officer Dick Flynn (Daniel Long) hold the show together?

SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS

• High Definition Blu-ray™ (1080p) presentation
• Original lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and PCM 2.0 stereo soundtracks
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• Two cast and crew audio commentaries featuring writer/director/actor Ryland Tews and actors Daniel Long, Beulah Peters, Erick West and editor Mike Cheslik – one sober, one drunk!
• Critics’ audio commentary with Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and Emma Westwood
• Effects Breakdown comparison of the film’s underwater sequence, including storyboards and pre-composited footage
• Dear Old Captain Seafield – the Captain Seafield theme song, performed by the Seafield Monster Sextet
• Interview in a Cabin – interview with Ryland Tews and Daniel Long at the Fantasia International Film Festival
• Interview in a Bar – interviews with the cast and crew at the Beloit International Film Festival
• Interview by a Fire – interview with Mike Cheslik on Mark Borchardt’s Cinema Fireside radio show
• The first season and pilot episode of L.I.P.S., Ryland Tews and Mike Cheslik’s hybrid animation/live action sci-fi comedy web series
• Theatrical trailer
• Behind the scenes photos
• Reversible sleeve featuring original artwork by Jade Watring and newly commissioned artwork by Colin Murdoch

FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Barry Forshaw

BURST CITY 9TH NOVEMBER

In a derelict industrial wasteland somewhere on the outskirts of Tokyo, two rival punk bands and their unruly mobs of fans gather for a Battle of the Bands-style protest against the construction of a nuclear power plant, bringing them head to head with the yakuza industrialists behind the development of their turf.

SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS

• High Definition Blu-rayTM (1080p) presentation
• Original lossless mono Japanese soundtrack
• Optional English subtitles
• Brand new audio commentary by Japanese film expert Tom Mes
• The Punk Spirit of ’82: Sōgo Ishii on Burst City, an exclusive new 56-minute interview with the director
• Bursting Out, an exclusive 27-minute interview with the academic and independent filmmaker Yoshiharu Tezuka on jishu eiga and the making of Burst City
• Original Trailer
• Image Gallery
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Chris Malbon

KING OF NEW YORK 16TH NOVEMBER

After years inside, drug lord Frank White (Christopher Walken) is fresh out of jail and back on the streets of New York City. Seeing himself as half Scarface, half Robin Hood, Frank and his enforcers brutally take back control of the city, turf by turf – with starry dreams of using the millions to benefit the community and save a local hospital. Before Frank can fulfil his ruthless lust for power, though, he’s got to get past the crooked cops determined to take him down, and the criminal competition that won’t bend to his will.

4K ULTRA HD SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS:

• New 4K restoration from the original negative by Arrow Films, approved by director Abel Ferrara and cinematographer Bojan Bazelli
• 4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)
• LPCM original stereo and remixed DTS-HD MA 5.1 surround audio options
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• Audio commentary by director Abel Ferrara
• Audio commentary with composer Joe Delia, producer Mary Kane, casting director Randy Sabusawa and editor Anthony Redman
• Interview with director Abel Ferrara
• Interview with producer Augusto Caminito
• Abel Ferrara: Not Guilty, a documentary on the director from the French TV show Cinéastes de notre temps
• A Short Film About the Long Career of Abel Ferrara, a documentary looking back at the director’s career, including interviews with his key collaborators
• Original theatrical trailers and TV spots
• Image gallery
• Reversible sleeve featuring newly commissioned artwork by Tracie Ching

FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collectors’ booklet containing essays on the film by Iain Sinclair and Abel Ferrara biographer Brad Stevens

He Came from the Swamp: The William Grefé Collection 23RD NOVEMBER

Bringing together seven of Grefé’s most outlandish features, all new to Blu-ray, this boxset packs in a macabre menagerie of demented jellyfish men (Sting of Death), zombified witch doctors (Death Curse of Tartu), homicidal hippies (The Hooked Generation) and seductive matrons (The Naked Zoo) – not to mention such titles as The Psychedelic Priest, Mako: Jaws of Death and Whiskey Mountain – to create one of the most wildly entertaining box-sets of all time!

LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS

• Seven William Grefé films, all newly restored from the best surviving film elements: Sting of Death (1966), Death Curse of Tartu (1966), The Hooked Generation (1968), The Psychedelic Priest (1971), The Naked Zoo (1971), Mako: Jaws of Death (1976) and Whiskey Mountain (1977)
• Brand new, extended version of Ballyhoo Motion Pictures’ definitive documentary They Came from the Swamp: The Films of William Grefé
• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentations on 4 Blu-ray discs
• Original uncompressed mono audio for all films
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• Fully illustrated collector’s booklet featuring an extensive, never-before-published interview with William Grefé and a new foreword by the filmmaker
• Reversible poster featuring newly commissioned artwork by The Twins of Evil
• Reversible sleeves featuring newly commissioned artwork for each of the films by The Twins of Evil

STING OF DEATH (1966) + DEATH CURSE OF TARTU (1966)
• Brand new introductions to the films by director William Grefé
• Archival audio commentaries for both films with William Grefé and filmmaker Frank Henenlotter
• Sting of Death: Beyond the Movie – Monsters a-Go Go! – a look into the history of rock & roll monster movies with author/historian C. Courtney Joyner
• The Curious Case of Dr. Traboh: Spook Show Extraordinaire – a ghoulish look into the early spook show days with monster maker Doug Hobart
• Original Trailers
• Still and Promotion Gallery

THE HOOKED GENERATION (1968) + THE PSYCHEDELIC PRIEST (1971)
• Archival audio commentaries for both films with director William Grefé and filmmaker Frank Henenlotter
• Hooked Generation behind-the-scenes footage
• Hooked Generation Original Trailer
• Still and Promotion Gallery

THE NAKED ZOO (1971) + MAKO: JAWS OF DEATH (1976)
• William Grefé’s original Director’s Cut of Naked Zoo
• Alternate Barry Mahon re-release cut of Naked Zoo
• Original Mako: Jaws of Death Trailer and Promo
• Still and Promotion Gallery

WHISKEY MOUNTAIN (1977) + THEY CAME FROM THE SWAMP: EXTENDED CUT (2020)
• Whiskey Mountain Original Trailer
• Still and Promotion Gallery
• They Came from the Swamp: The Films of William Grefé – the definitive documentary presented for the first in High-Definition and in a brand new, extended cut

CRASH 30TH NOVEMBER

James Spader stars as James Ballard, an advertising executive whose deviant sexual desires are awakened by a near fatal automobile accident with Dr Helen Remington (Hunter). Soon the pair, alongside Ballard’s wife Catherine (Deborah Kara Unger), are drawn into an underground world of car crash fetishism presided over by renegade scientist Vaughan (Elias Koteas). Danger, sex and death become entwined as eroticism and technology together in a disturbing, deadly union.

ULTRA HD 4K BLU-RAY LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS:

Brand new 4K restoration of the uncut NC-17 version from the original 35mm camera negative, supervised by writer-director David Cronenberg and director of photography Peter Suschitzky
4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray presentation in High Dynamic Range
• 5.1 and 2.0 Stereo DTS-HD Master Audio
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• Brand new audio commentary with film scholar Adrian Martin
• Cronenberg Challenge – new interview with director of photography Peter Suschitzky
• Mechanical Animals – new interview with executive producer Jeremy Thomas
• The Shore Thing – new interview with composer Howard Shore
• License to Drive – new interview with casting director Deirdre Bowen
• Archival “Behind the Scenes” featurette
• Archival interviews with David Cronenberg, J.G. Ballard and actors James Spader, Holly Hunter, Deborah Kara Unger and Elias Koteas
• Cronenberg: Concrete Cowboy – brand new video essay by Caelum Vatnsdal on Cronenberg’s use of Toronto as a filming location
• Original Trailers
• Fully illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Vanessa Morgan and Araceli Molina, alongside a reprinted excerpt from Cronenberg on Cronenberg
• Fold-out double-sided poster featuring original and newly commissioned artwork
• Limited edition packaging with reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Gilles Vranckx