Arrow Video Has Shoei Imamura, Versus, Cinema Paradiso & Tremors For December

Disc Announcements, News

Tis the season for giving gifts and also figuring out what to get with your various gift cards. Luckily Arrow Video is ready to help Santa out on both ends with four films coming to Blu-ray and two of them also getting 4K UHD upgrades. That’s right, if Santa gives you a new 4K UHD television and disc player, you can choses between an art house favorite or a monster mash to test out that higher resolution. Or you can get both! The big artsy film coming to 4K UHD is Cinema Paradiso, a low letter from a director to the guy who ran the local theater in his small Italian hometown. Seeing how 2020 has been such a mess for the movie theater business, this is the right film to remind us what we haven’t been able to enjoy since late March. They are also releasing the film on Blu-ray and DVD. The other 4K UHD release is Tremors! Kevin Bacon discovers his dead end Nevada town is being attacked by something lurking under the ground. It’s giant monster hoot. Survivor Ballads: Three Films by Shoei Imaumura gives a spotlight to the Japanese director’s films from the ’80s. Just a warning that his Black Rain is not the Michael Douglas film that came out around the same time. Things wrap up with Versus, a Japanese action from from the guy who would later give us Godzilla Final Wars. It’s all out weirdness with Yakuza and zombie samurai. The best way to make sure you stay good with Santa is to stay on your sofa and watch these Blu-ray or 4K UHD discs.


New from Arrow Video and Arrow Academy US

SURVIVOR BALLADS: THREE FILMS BY SHOHEI IMAMURA
[Blu-ray Box Set] (12/8)

CINEMA PARADISO [4K UHD] [Blu-ray] [DVD] (12/8)

VERSUS [Blu-ray] (12/8)

TREMORS – Limited Edition [4K UHD] [Blu-ray] (12/15)

via MVD Entertainment Group

2020 has been a tough year for us all, leaving many to look forward to 2021. Arrow is looking to send us out on a high note with another stunning lineup of releases. Grab some popcorn, sit back, and start 2021 on the right foot by ending 2020 with some of the year’s best Blu-ray releases.

Arrow opens the month with three titles releasing on December 8. First up is the classico Italiano, Cinema Paradiso. Loosely based on the story of the Protti family, a filmmaker recalls his childhood growing up at his local cinema and the bond he built for the theater’s projectionist. Cinema Paradiso was a box-office hit and is widely regarded as a classic, winning the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film at the 62nd Academy Awards. Arrow will release the film on DVD, Blu-ray, and 4K Ultra HD.

The second December 8 title is Survivor Ballads: Three Films by Shohei Imamura. One of the leading directors of the Japanese New Wave era of the 1960s, Imamura further developed into one of the countries most important directors in the 1980s. Arrow Academy is proud to present three of the director’s most important films from the decade – The Ballad of Narayama, Zegen, and Black Rain. All three films showcase the director’s unique talent for looking at the underbelly of Japanese society and shining a light on the lower totem members of society that struggle to get by. Vulgar but beautiful, the works of Imamura are a must for cinephiles the world over.

Arrow presents a much different flavor of Japanese cinema with Versus from director Ryuhei Kitamura. A wicked combination of martial arts, gunplay, sword fighting, and zombie horror come together to create a one-of-a-kind experience that the Rolling Stone described as “Quentin Tarantino remaking The Evil Dead while on a speed binge.” And by all accounts, that is exactly what Kitamura was aiming for, saying the film pays homage to both the Sam Raimi classic and Highlander. Versus is presented in both its original 2000 release and the expanded 2004 cut, both with director-approved restorations.

Arrow brings the month to a close on December 15 with Tremors. Now celebrating its 30th-anniversary, Tremors is the story of a small desert town defending itself against horrible underground creatures. This horror-comedy classic from director Ron Underwood features a star-studded cast that includes Kevin Bacon, Fred Ward, Michael Gross, and a gun-toting Reba McEntire. Hailed by the Washington Post as “a delightful throwback to such ’50s and ’60s films,” Tremors has spawned a franchise of six additional films, one television series, and it doesn’t appear to have an end in sight. Arrow is bringing Tremors and the graboids to a limited edition Blu-ray, and for the first time, glorious 4K Ultra HD.


Survivor Ballads: Three Films By Shohei Imamura

A collection of classic films from legendary Japanese director Shohei Imamura for the first time on Blu-ray!

Throughout the 1980s, Shōhei Imamura (The Pornographers, Profound Desires of the Gods), a leading figure of the Japanese New Wave era of the 1960s, cemented his international reputation as one of the most important directors of his generation with a series of films that all competed at Cannes to great critical acclaim. This exclusive box set from Arrow Academy presents restored versions of three late career classics from the legendary filmmaker.

Based on an ancient folktale, The Ballad of Narayama (1983) was the first of two works from the director to win the prestigious Cannes Palme d’Or. Imamura’s magnum opus depicts the members of an extended farming family eking out their existence in the mountainous north of Japan against the backdrop of the changing seasons before village lore decrees they make the sacrifice of abandoning their aged mother on the top of a nearby mountain when she reaches her seventieth year. Making its HD debut, Zegen (1987) takes a satirical look at Japan’s prewar colonial expansion through the unscrupulous eyes of its flesh-peddler antihero as he establishes a prostitution enterprise across Southeast Asia. Finally, the harrowing Black Rain (1989) details the precarious existence of a household of atomic bomb survivors as, five years after being caught in the blast of Hiroshima, they struggle to find a husband for their 25-year-old niece.

These three works epitomize the director’s almost documentary style of filmmaking, exposing the vulgar yet vibrant and instinctive underbelly of Japanese society through a sympathetic focus on peasants, prostitutes, criminal lowlife and other marginalized figures to explore the schism between the country’s timeless premodern traditions and the modern face it projects to the world.

Bonus Materials
Restored High Definition Blu-rayTM (1080p) presentations of all three films
Original lossless Japanese PCM 1.0 mono soundtracks
Optional English subtitles
Brand new audio commentaries on all three films by Japanese cinema expert Jasper Sharp
Brand new, in-depth appreciations of all three films by Japanese cinema expert Tony Rayns
Alternate color ending to Black Rain, shot by Imamura but removed from the film shortly before its release
Archival interviews on Black Rain with actress Yoshiko Tanaka and assistant director Takashi Miike
Multiple trailers and image galleries
Original Japanese press kits for The Ballad of Narayama and Black Rain (BD-ROM content)
Limited edition 60-page booklet containing new writing by Tom Mes
Limited edition packaging featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Tony Stella

Blu-ray
SRP: 99.95
Street Date: 12/08/20
Genre: Drama
Language: Japanese
Run Time: 378 mins


Cinema Paradiso
ACADEMY AWARD WINNER: BEST FOREIGN FILM – A CELEBRATION OF YOUTH, FRIENDSHIP, AND THE EVERLASTING MAGIC OF THE MOVIES
A winner of awards across the world including Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, 5 BAFTA Awards including Best Actor, Original Screenplay and Score, the Grand Prize of the Jury at the Cannes Film Festival and many more. 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. The original award-winning theatrical version of Tornatore’s classic is presented here for the first time on 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray. This edition also includes the expanded Director’s Cut, which delves deeper into Salvatore’s backstory [Blu-ray].

Bonus Materials
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 – 52-minute documentary profile of Giuseppe Tornatore with interviews with the director and extracts from his early home movies and interviews with director Francesco Rosi and painter Peppino Ducato, set to music by 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

4K Ultra HD
SRP: 49.95
Street Date: 12/08/20
Genre: Drama
Language: Italian
Run Time: 298 mins

Blu-ray
SRP: 39.95
Street Date: 12/08/20
Genre: Drama
Language: Italian
Run Time: 298 mins

DVD
SRP: 19.95
Street Date: 12/08/20
Genre: Drama
Language: Italian
Run Time: 124 mins


Versus
BEWARE THE PAST. FIGHT THE PRESENT. FEAR THE FUTURE.
A relentless one-of-a-kind sensory assault chock-full of hyper-kinetic fight scenes, gangster shootouts, sword-slashing violence and gory zombie horror, Versus was a key title amongst the barrage of innovative horror and action movies that appeared as if from nowhere from Japan at the turn of the millennium, leading to a new wave of appreciation for Asian extreme cinema.

A mysterious face-off in a wooded clearing between two escaped convicts and a carload of sharply dressed yakuza holding a beautiful woman captive ends in hails of bullets and showers of blood. The location for this violent encounter is the mythic Forest of Resurrection, the site of the 444th portal of the 666 hidden gates that link this earthly domain to the netherworld – and it didn’t get this name for nothing. As one of the surviving prisoners escapes with the girl into the darkness of the forest, disgruntled gangsters soon become the least of their worries as an earlier battle between a lone warrior against hordes of zombie samurai is carried over from a millennium ago into the present day…

Versus caused a sensation both in Japan and internationally upon its release, launching the careers of director Ryûhei Kitamura (Godzilla Final Wars, Midnight Meat Train) and action star and fight choreographer Tak Sakaguchi (Battlefield Baseball, Yakuza Weapon). Arrow Video is proud to present this mythic cult title in both its original 2000 and expanded 2004 Ultimate Versus iterations, in a brand new, director-approved restoration.

Bonus Materials
SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS
Brand new 2K restoration from original film elements by Arrow Films, approved by director Ryûhei Kitamura
High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray™ presentations of both versions of the film: the original 2000 cut and 2004’s Ultimate Versus, featuring over 10 minutes of new and revised footage
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Chris Malbon
DISC 1: VERSUS
Original lossless Japanese 5.1 and 2.0 stereo audio and English 2.0 stereo audio
Optional English subtitles
Audio commentary by Kitamura and producer Keishiro Shin
Audio commentary by Kitamura and the cast and crew
New visual essay on the career of Kitamura by Japanese cinema expert Jasper Sharp
Behind Versus, a two-part behind-the-scenes documentary exploring the film’s production
First Contact: Versus Evolution, a featurette exploring the film’s origins
Tak Sakaguchi’s One-Man Journey, an archival featurette on the actor’s visit to the 2001 Japan Film Festival in Hamburg
Film festival screening footage
Team Versus, a brief look inside the Napalm Films office
Deep in the Woods, an archival featurette featuring interviews with Kitamura, cast and crew
The Encounter, an archival interview with editor Shûichi Kakesu
Deleted scenes with audio commentary by Kitamura, cast and crew
Nervous and Nervous 2, two “side story” mini-movies featuring characters from the main feature
Featurette on the making of Nervous 2
Versus FF Version, a condensed, 20-minute recut of the film
Multiple trailers
Image gallery
DISC 2: ULTIMATE VERSUS
Original lossless Japanese 6.1 and 2.0 stereo audio and English 6.1 and 2.0 stereo audio
Optional English subtitles
Audio commentary by Kitamura, cast and crew
Sakigake! Otoko versus Juku, a featurette on the newly shot material for Ultimate Versus
FIRST PRESSING ONLY: illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film and a reprinted interview with Kitamura by Tom Mes, and notes on the making of the film by Kitamura

Blu-ray
SRP: 39.95
Street Date: 12/08/20
Genre: Action/Horror
Language: Japanese
Run Time: 251 mins


Tremors
They say there’s nothing new under the sun. But under the ground…
A pulse-pounding love letter to 1950s creature features that delivers horror and humor in equal measure, Tremors is a bonafide cult classic that has grabbed audiences’ affections ever since its release and spawned a successful franchise that continues to this day.

Good-ol’-boy handymen Val (Kevin Bacon) and Earl (Fred Ward) are sick of their dead-end jobs in one-horse desert town Perfection, Nevada (population: 14). Just as they’re about to escape Perfection forever, however, things start to get really weird: half-eaten corpses litter the road out of town; the phone lines stop working; and a plucky young scientist shows evidence of unusually strong seismic activity in the area. Something is coming for the citizens of Perfection… and it’s under the goddamn ground!

Bursting with indelible characters, quotable dialogue and jaw-dropping special effects, Tremors is back and bigger than ever in this 4K-restored and fully loaded collectors’ edition.

Bonus Materials
SPECIAL EDITION BLU-RAY CONTENTS
New 4K restoration from the original negative by Arrow Films, approved by director Ron Underwood and director of photography Alexander Gruszynski
60-page perfect-bound book featuring new writing by Kim Newman and Jonathan Melville and selected archive materials
Large fold-out double-sided poster featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Matt Frank
Small fold-out double-sided poster featuring new Graboid X-ray art by Matt Frank
Six double-sided, postcard-sized lobby card reproduction artcards
Limited Edition packaging with reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Matt Frank
DISC 1 – FEATURE & EXTRAS
High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
Restored DTS-HD MA original theatrical 2.0 stereo, 4.0 surround, and remixed 5.1 surround audio options
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
New audio commentary by director Ron Underwood and writers/producers Brent Maddock & S.S. Wilson
New audio commentary by Jonathan Melville, author of Seeking Perfection: The Unofficial Guide to Tremors
Making Perfection, a brand new documentary by Universal Studios interviewing key cast and crew from the franchise (including Kevin Bacon, Michael Gross, Ariana Richards, Ron Underwood, among many others) and revisiting the original locations
The Truth About Tremors, a newly filmed interview with co-producer Nancy Roberts on the film’s rocky road to the screen
Bad Vibrations, a newly filmed interview with director of photography Alexander Gruszynski
Aftershocks and Other Rumblings, newly filmed on-set stories from associate producer Ellen Collett
Digging in the Dirt, a new featurette interviewing the crews behind the film’s extensive visual effects
Music for Graboids, a new featurette on the film’s music with composers Ernest Troost and Robert Folk
Pardon My French!, a newly assembled compilation of overdubs from the edited-for television version
The Making of Tremors, an archive documentary from 1995 by Laurent Bouzereau, interviewing the filmmakers and special effects teams
Creature Featurette, an archive compilation of on-set camcorder footage showing the making of the Graboids
Electronic press kit featurette and interviews with Kevin Bacon, Michael Gross and Reba McEntire
Deleted scenes, including the original opening scene
Theatrical trailers, TV and radio spots for the original film as well as trailers for the entire Tremors franchise
Comprehensive image galleries, including rare behind-the-scenes stills, storyboards and two different drafts of the screenplay
DISC 2 – INTERVIEWS & SHORT FILMS (LIMITED EDITION EXCLUSIVE)
Extended hour-long interviews from Making Perfection with Ron Underwood, Brent Maddock, S.S. Wilson, Nancy Roberts and creature designer Alec Gillis
Outtakes with optional introduction and commentary by S.S. Wilson
Three early short films by the makers of Tremors, remastered in high definition, including S.S. Wilson’s stop-motion horror/comedy classic Recorded Live (1975)
Sales Points

Blu-ray
SKU: AV319
UPC: 760137409083
SRP: 49.95
Street Date: 12/15/20
PreBook Date: 11/10/20
Label: Arrow Video
Genre: Comedy/Horror
Language: English
Run Time: 96 mins

4K Ultra HD
SRP: 59.95
Street Date: 12/15/20
Genre: Comedy/Horror
Language: English
Run Time: 96 mins

Joe Corey is the writer and director of "Danger! Health Films" currently streaming on Night Flight and Amazon Prime. He's the author of "The Seven Secrets of Great Walmart People Greeters." This is the last how to get a job book you'll ever need. He was Associate Producer of the documentary "Moving Midway." He's worked as local crew on several reality shows including Candid Camera, American's Most Wanted, Extreme Makeover Home Edition and ESPN's Gaters. He's been featured on The Today Show and CBS's 48 Hours. Dom DeLuise once said, "Joe, you look like an axe murderer." He was in charge of research and programming at the Moving Image Archive.