New from Arrow Video US
RE-ANIMATOR [LIMITED EDITION] (July 25)
via MVD Entertainment Group
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The summer fun continues for film fans in July, as Arrow deliver a bulging picnic basket packed with splatter flicks, J-Horror, crime classics, superior sequels and unmissable documentaries.
Firstly, J-Horror fans are in for a big treat with a Dual Format release of Kiyoshi Kurosawa's haunting Pulse, which sees people in Tokyo compelled to commit suicide after visiting a mysterious website. The special edition features a High Definition transfer and brand new interviews with the filmmakers.
July sees two fantastic releases for connoisseurs of crime cinema. Firstly, the arrival on Dual Format of Mike Figgis' acclaimed 1988 'UK Geordie noir', Stormy Monday, starring Sean Bean, Melanie Griffith, Tommy Lee Jones and Sting. Set in Newcastle, the film sees Bean as a nightclub janitor caught in a dangerous love triangle with Griffith and Jones.
Then there is the Dual Format release of New Battles Without Honour and Humanity - The Complete Trilogy, the 1970s Japanese crime classic series making its UK English-language home video debut. From legendary Battle Royale director Kinji Fukasaku, starring Bunta Sugawara in three separate yakuza stories set in various parts of Japan, the films are hard-boiled and action packed, and the limited edition set features new subtitle translations, a host of extras and a collectible book.
And finally, Re-Animator... One of the most wildly popular horror movies of all-time! Stuart Gordon's enduring splatter-comedy classic returns to Blu-ray in a stunning restoration packed with tons of special features including an array of interviews, audio commentaries, a brand new featurette entitled "A Guide to Lovecraftian Cinema," plus the original 1991 comic book adaptation, reprinted in its entirety.
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PULSE [BLU-RAY/DVD] (July 11)
Award-winning filmmaker Kiyoshi Kurosawa delivered one of the finest entries in the "J-Horror" cycle of films with this moody and spiritually terrifying film that delivers existential dread along with its frights. Setting his story in the burgeoning internet and social media scene in Japan, Kurosawa's dark and apocalyptic film foretells how technology will only serve to isolate us as it grows more important to our lives.
A group of young people in Tokyo begin to experience strange phenomena involving missing co-workers and friends, technological breakdown, and a mysterious website which asks the compelling question, "Do you want to meet a ghost?" After the unexpected suicides of several friends, three strangers set out to explore a city which is growing more empty by the day, and to solve the mystery of what lies within a forbidden room in an abandoned construction site, mysteriously sealed shut with red packing tape.
Featuring haunting cinematography by Junichiro Hayashi (Ring, Dark Water), a dark and unsettling tone which lingers long after the movie is over, and an ahead-of-its-time story which anticipates 21st century disconnection and social media malaise, Pulse is one of the greatest and most terrifying achievements in modern Japanese horror, and a dark mirror for our contemporary digital world.
Features
- High Definition digital transfer
- High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentations
- Original 5.1 audio (DTS-HD on the Blu-ray)
- New optional English subtitle translation
- New interview with writer/director Kiyoshi Kurosawa
- New interview with cinematographer Junichiro Hayashi
- The Horror of Isolation: a new video appreciation featuring Adam Wingard & Simon Barrett (Blair Witch, You're Next)
- Archive 'Making of' documentary, plus four archive behind-the-scenes featurettes
- Premiere footage from the Cannes Film Festival
- Cast and crew introductions from opening day screenings in Tokyo
- Trailers and TV Spots
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Tommy Pocket
FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film by critic Chuck Stephens
Specs
Street Date: 07/11/17
Label: Arrow Video Genre: Cult Run Time: 119 mins Number of Discs: 2 Audio: STEREO Year of Production: 2001 Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa Actors: Haruhiko Katô, Kunmiko Asô, Kuyuki Territory: US Language: English
SRP: $39.95
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STORMY MONDAY [BLU-RAY/DVD] (July 11)
In 1988, Mike Figgis (Internal Affairs, Leaving Las Vegas) made his feature directorial debut with
Stormy Monday, a taut, noir-influenced gangster movie that drew on his key formative influences, including his youth in the Newcastle of the late '50s and early '60s, and the city's vibrant jazz scene.
Sean Bean (Ronin) plays Brendan, a young loafer taken under the wing of jazz club owner Finney (Sting, Quadrophenia), who's under pressure from American mobster Cosmo (Tommy Lee Jones,
The Fugitive) to sell up in exchange for a cut of a local land development deal. Brendan just wants to earn an honest crust, but his burgeoning relationship with Cosmo's ex-lover Kate (Melanie Griffith, Body Double) threatens to drag him into the middle of the impending showdown...
A romantic crime thriller with genuine heart, Stormy Monday features striking, rain-drenched cinematography by Roger Deakins (The Big Lebowski, No Country for Old Men) and a seductive jazz score provided by the director himself. Presented here for the first time in high definition in the US, there has never been a better time to discover one of this iconic filmmaker's most assured and uniquely haunting efforts.
Features
- High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentations
- Original stereo audio (uncompressed on the Blu-ray Disc)
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- Audio commentary with Mike Figgis, moderated by critic Damon Wise
- New video appreciation by critic Neil Young, and a "then and now" tour of the film's Newcastle locations
- Theatrical trailer
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Jacey
FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Booklet featuring new writing by critic Mark Cunliffe
Specs
Street Date: 07/11/17
Label: Arrow Video
Genre: Cult
Run Time: 93 mins
Number of Discs: 2
Audio: STEREO
Year of Production: 1988
Director: Mike Figgis
Actors: Tommy Lee Jones, Sting, Sean Bean, Melanie Griffith
Territory: US
Language: English
SRP: $29.95
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NEW BATTLES WITHOUT HONOR AND HUMANITY [LIMITED EDITION] (July 18)
In the early 1970s, Kinji Fukasaku's five-film Battles Without Honor and Humanity series was a massive hit in Japan, and kicked off a boom in realistic, modern yakuza films based on true stories. Although Fukasaku had intended to end the series, Toei Studio convinced him to return to the director's chair for this unconnected, follow-up trilogy of films, each starring Battles leading man Bunta Sugawara and telling separate, but fictional stories about the yakuza in different locations in Japan.
In the first film, Bunta Sugawara is Miyoshi, a low-level assassin of the Yamamori gang who is sent to jail after a bungled hit. While in stir, family member Aoki (Lone Wolf and Cub's Tomisaburo Wakayama) attempts to seize power from the boss, and Miyoshi finds himself stuck between the two factions with no honorable way out.
In the second entry, The Boss's Head, Sugawara is Kuroda, an itinerant gambler who steps in when a hit by drug-addicted assassin Kusunoki (Tampopo's Tsutomu Yamazaki) goes wrong, and takes the fall on behalf of the Owada family, but when the gang fails to make good on financial promises to him, Kuroda targets the family bosses with a ruthless vengeance.
And in Last Days of the Boss, Sugawara plays Nozaki, a laborer who swears allegiance to a sympathetic crime boss, only to find himself elected his successor after the boss is murdered. Restrained by a gang alliance that forbids retributions against high-level members, Nozaki forms a plot to exact revenge on his rivals, but a suspicious relationship with his own sister (Chieko Matsubara from Outlaw: Gangster VIP) taints his relationship with his fellow gang members.
Features
- High Definition digital transfers of all three films
- High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentations
- Original uncompressed mono audio
- New optional English subtitle translation for all three films
- Beyond the Films: New Battles Without Honor and Humanity, a new video appreciation by Fukasaku biographer Sadao Yamane
- New Stories, New Battles and Closing Stories, two new interviews with screenwriter Koji Takada, about his work on the second and third films in the trilogy
- Original theatrical trailers for all three films
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Reinhard Kleist
- Illustrated collector's book featuring new writing on the films, the yakuza genre and Fukasaku's career, by Stephen Sarrazin, Tom Mes, Hayley Scanlon, Chris D. and Marc Walkow
Specs
Street Date: 07/18/17
Label: Arrow Video
Genre: Action/Adventure
Run Time: 98 mins
Number of Discs: 6
Audio: STEREO
Year of Production: 1974
Director: Kinji Fukasaku
Actors: Bunta Sugawara
Territory: US
Language: Japanese
SRP: $99.95
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