As August brings the heat, you’ve got a great reason to stay inside with the sweet air conditioning thanks to Blu-rays from Arrow Video. First is a double scoop for Giallo and Gelato nights at home. Dario Argento’s The Cat O’Nine Tails gets a regular release as we’d already reviewed the previous collector’s edition. This was the third of his animal films with a blind Karl Malden (Streets of San Francisco and American Express commercials) on the trail of a corporate killer. What Have They Done to Your Daughters? is a masterpiece of the genre. Massimo Dallamano directs a timely tale of school girls lured into prostitution. He previously gave us What Have You Done to Solange? (also out from Arrow Video). Both films are perfect for a night of Italian flavored mystery and homicide. Kinji Fukasaku’s Street Mobster is a gritty tale of a low level gangster not liking what the Yakuza expects him to do in Japan. Director Fukasaku (Battle Royale) really gets into the ugliness of being in the underworld. This is so rough and nasty especially the pinkie cutting aspect.
The Gore Gore Girls was one of the last drive-in epics from Herschell Gordon Lewis during his ’60s and early ’70s run. The film deals with the death of a stripper. The king of the one liners, Henny Youngman appears in the film. Tideland is a dark tale from Monty Python’s Terry Gilliam (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas). Jeff Bridges (King Kong) is not father of the year in the movie. Mohsen Makhmalbaf: The Poetic Trilogy boxset is from Iran. Director Makhamalbaf is one of the legends of the country’s small cinema. The trio of films includes Gabbeh, The Silence, and The Gardener. If you like reading there’s Gregg Rickman’s Philip K. Dick On Film about the author behind Blade Runner.
Here’s the press release from Arrow Video:
Spring into summer with the wonderful world of Arrow!
As we approach the dog days of summer, Arrow Video and Arrow Academy keep the heat coming with several new titles arriving on Blu-ray this August. If that’s not enough to keep you comfortable during these hot summer days, the company is also bringing you a brand new book for your reading pleasure.
Arrow Video gets things going by taking us straight to the streets on August 7th with a pivotal work in the career of director Kinji Fukasaku with the release of Street Mobster. A street wise punk with untamed anger and a lack of respect for authority gets caught in a bloody street war in hopes of securing turf for the remnants of a gang he once belonged to.
For fans of Italian horror you’ll want to take note as The Cat O’Nine Tails and What Have They Done to Your Daughters? come to Blu-ray on August 14th. The former is the middle entry in the “Animal Trilogy” from the maestro Dario Argento, and is the tale of a newspaper reporter and retired, blind journalist that join forces to solve a series of killings connected to a pharmaceutical company’s top-secret projects. The latter is director Massimo Dallamano’s story of a police investigation into teen suicide that uncovers the dark details behind a teenage prostitution racket. Both films are landmark entries in Italian genre cinema.
Rounding out the August 14th releases is The Gore Gore Girls. This darkly comedic spatter fest from legendary filmmaker Herschell Gordon Lewis follows a young reporter as she attempts to solve the murder of a Chicago stripper. The last film Lewis would make before returning 30 years later, it marked the first time he submitted one of his films to the MPAA where it would receive an X rating.
“Creepy, exploitative, and self-indulgent,” is how noted film critic A.O. Scott described Tideland, the final Arrow Video release in August. This controversial film from visionary director Terry Gilliam follows a young girl that is left alone in a decrepit country estate where she is forced to live within her own imagination. Responses to this dark fantasy have been divisive across the board, but one thing that can be agreed upon is that you won’t soon forget it.
Arthouse film fans will be offered the chance to explore the work of Mohsen Makhamalbaf, a preeminent Iranian filmmaker known for his ability to explore the relationship between the individual and a larger social and political environment. Arrow Academy brings together three of his most lyrical works – Gabbeh, The Silence, and The Gardener – which Makhamalbaf himself has dubbed as The Poetic Trilogy. All three films are in high definition with a load of special features.
And finally Arrow brings the month to a close with the release of Gregg Rickman’s Philip K. Dick On Film. This brand new book explores how the work of this legendary author has seeped its way into public consciousness by way of numerous television and film adaptations, both big and small.
Street Mobster
A pivotal work in the yakuza movie genre and in the career of director Kinji Fukasaku (Battle Royale, Doberman Cop), Street Mobster presents an abrasive portrait of the rise and fall of a reckless street punk caught in the crossfire of a bloody turf war raging in the mean streets of Kawazaki.
Bonus Materials
High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentation
Original uncompressed PCM mono audio
Optional English subtitles
Audio commentary by Japanese cinema expert Tom Mes
Theatrical trailer
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Chris Malbon
FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writting on the film by Jasper Sharp
BLU-RAY
Street Date: 08/07/18
Label: Arrow Video
Language: Japanese
Run Time: 92 mins
The Cat O’ Nine Tails
When a break-in occurs at a secretive genetics institute, blind puzzle-maker Franco Arnò, who overheard an attempt to blackmail one of the institute’s scientists shortly before the robbery, teams up with intrepid reporter Carlo Giordani to crack the case. But before long the bodies begin to pile up and the two amateur sleuths find their own lives imperilled in their search for the truth.
Bonus Materials
Brand new 4K restoration of the film from the original camera negative
High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
Original mono Italian and English soundtracks
Newly translated English subtitles for the Italian soundtrack
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing for the English soundtrack
New audio commentary by critics Alan Jones and Kim Newman
New interviews with co-writer/director Dario Argento, co-writer Dardano Sacchetti, actress Cinzia De Carolis and production manager Angelo Iacono
Script pages for the lost original ending, translated into English for the first time
Original Italian and international theatrical trailers
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Candice Tripp
BLU-RAY
SRP: 34.95
Street Date: 08/14/18
Language: Italian
Run Time: 112 mins
The Gore Gore Girls
A vicious killer with a twisted sense of humor is butchering the girls of a go-go dancing club. As the grim death toll mounts, young reporter Nancy Weston teams up with obnoxious but dapper private investigator Abraham Gentry to try and crack the case. Nipples are snipped, faces are fried and asses are tenderized as The Gore Gore Girls hurtles towards its shocking (and hilarious) conclusion.
High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
Bonus Feature! 1971’s This Stuff’ll Kill Ya!
Introductions to the films by H.G. Lewis
Audio commentary on The Gore Gore Girls with H.G. Lewis
Audio commentary on This Stuff’ll Kill Ya! with camera operator and Lewis biographer Daniel Krogh
Author Stephen Thrower on The Gore Gore Girls
Regional Bloodshed – filmmakers Joe Swanberg and Spencer Parsons on Lewis’ legacy as a pioneer of regional indie filmmaking
Herschell Spills His Guts – H.G. Lewis discusses his career post-The Gore Gore Girls and his further adventures in the world of marketing
This Stuff’ll Kill Ya! Trailer
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly-commissioned artwork by The Twins of Evil
BLU-RAY
SRP: 34.95
Street Date: 08/14/18
Language: English
Run Time: 84 mins
What Have They Done To Your Daughters?
In 1972, director Massimo Dallamano (Colt 38 Special Squad, The Night Child) broke new ground in the giallo genre with the harrowing What Have You Done to Solange? Two years later, he followed up with an even darker semi-sequel – the chilling What Have They Done to Your Daughters?
2K restoration of the film from the original camera negative
High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
Original lossless Italian and English mono 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
Masters and Slaves: Power, Corruption & Decadence in the Cinema of Massimo Dallamano, a new video essay by Kat Ellinger, author and editor-in-chief of Diabolique Magazine
Eternal Melody, an interview with composer Stelvio Cipriani
Dallamano’s Touch, an interview with editor Antonio Siciliano
Unused hardcore footage shot for the film by Massimo Dallamano
Italian theatrical trailer
Image gallery
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Adam Rabalais
FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Michael Mackenzie
BLU-RAY
SRP: 39.95
Street Date: 08/14/18
Language: Italian
Run Time: 91 mins
Tideland
To escape her unhappy life in a remote part of Texas, nine-year-old Jeliza-Rose dreams up an elaborate fantasy world. But the reality of having junkie parents – played by Jeff Bridges (The Big Lebowski) and Jennifer Tilly (Bound) – and the influence of her eccentric neighbours begins to encroach, turning her daydreams ever darker.
High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
DTS-HD MA 5.1 audio
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
Commentary by writer-director Terry Gilliam and co-writer Tony Grisoni
Introduction by director Terry Gilliam
Getting Gilliam, a 45-minute documentary on the making of Tideland by Vincenzo Natali (Cube, Splice)
The Making of Tideland featurette
Filming Green Screen featurette with commentary by Gilliam
Interviews with Terry Gilliam, producer Jeremy Thomas and actors Jeff Bridges, Jodelle Ferland and Jennifer Tilly
Deleted scenes with commentary by Gilliam
B-roll footage
Gallery
Theatrical trailer
Reversible sleeve featuring two choices of original artwork
FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Neil Mitchell
BLU-RAY
SRP: 39.95
Street Date: 08/21/18
Language: English
Run Time: 120 mins
Mohsen Makhmalbaf: The Poetic Trilogy
One of the preeminent figures of Iranian cinema, Mohsen Makhmalbaf has written and directed an impressive array of acclaimed films, winning accolades at international film festivals and the admiration of world cinema audiences. This collection presents three of Makhmalbaf’s most lyrical films which the director has termed his Poetic Trilogy.
Brand new 2K restorations of The Silence and Gabbeh from the original camera negatives
High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentations of all three films
Original Persian soundtracks with uncompressed LPCM audio
Newly translated English subtitles
Audio commentary on Gabbeh by critic Godfrey Cheshire
Poetry in Motion: An Interview with Mohsen Makhmalbaf, an in-depth conversation between the Iranian auteur and film critic Jonathan Romney, newly produced for this edition
Mohsen with Closed Eyes, an imaginatively filmed archival interview with Makhmalbaf on The Silence
Original trailers
Stills and collections gallery
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Scott Saslow
FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated booklet featuring new writing by film academic Negar Mottahedeh and Mohsen Makhmalbaf
BLU-RAY
SRP: 49.95
Street Date: 08/28/18
Language: Persian
Philip K. Dick On Film
The now legendary writings of Philip K. Dick (1928-1982) have inspired fourteen feature films and four television series, none of which he ever saw. Many of them have been widely seen and highly influential; they include Blade Runner, Total Recall, Minority Report, The Man in the High Castle and most recently Blade Runner 2049 and Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams.
BOOK
SRP: 29.95
Street Date: 08/03/18
Language: English
