Arrow Video is giving us a trip back to the ’80s with two titles that take you deep into the art house and the indie videostore. Lies & Deceit: Five Films by Claude Chabrol gives us a taste of one of the original French New Wave directors. Claude Chabrol was the first of the critics at Cahiers du cinéma to actually make a feature film. His Le Beau Serge came out in 1958. Even though Charbrol was extremely prolific making nearly a film a year until his death in 2010, the filmmaker gets overshadowed by his fellow critics turned filmmakers Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut when world cinema instructors babble about the French New Wave. This boxset will make up for a bit of the oversights you might have experienced in international cinema class with five of his films from the ’80s and early ’90s including his art house hit adaptation of Madame Bovary with Isabella Huppert as the literary character.
Deadly Games was a film that most viewers found tucked on the horror shelves at their local videoshop. This is the classic tale of a cursed board game. The big draw was Steve Railsback in the cast. He was great in The Stunt Man with Peter O’Toole although most of us knew him from being Charles Manson in Helter Skelter. Deadly Games came out in the early ’80s, but fell into obscurity during the arrival of the DVD. Now they’ve found the original camera negative to give new life to film. You’ll be able to see all the dice rolls in high resolution.
Here’s the press release from Arrow Video:
| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: |
| New from Arrow Video US Lies And Deceit: Five Films By Claude Chabrol[Blu-ray](2/22) Deadly Games[Blu-ray](2/22) via MVD Entertainment Group |
| Arrow’s February Lineup Celebrates a French New Wave Icon and Saves a Lost Horror Gem This February Arrow Video opts for quality over quantity. Featuring two new releases for the month, the boutique home video label continues to keep fans of physical media extremely satisfied and busy. Director Scott Mansfield’s oft-overlooked slasher, Deadly Games, makes its disc-debut on February 22. In a small American town, women fall victim to an unhinged masked maniac with a fondness for board games. Each time the dice is rolled, another victim meets a grisly end. Jo Ann Harris stars as a woman that gets caught up in the killer’s sadistic games after she returns home to mourn the murder of her sister. Sam Groom and Steve Railsback co-star. Made in 1980 but not released until 1982, Deadly Games has languished in relative obscurity for the last forty years. Arrow hopes to introduce Deadly Games to a new fan base by shining a new light on this unique oddity of early ’80s horror. This release includes a brand-new 2K restoration from the original camera negative, new interviews with actor Jere Rae-Mansfield and special effects and stunt co-ordinator John Eggett. The first pressing includes a fully-illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing by film historian/author Amanda Reyes. A staple of the French New Wave scene, Claude Chabrol established himself as one of French cinema’s most influential directors despite often being overlooked throughout a career spanning more than fifty years. Arrow Video is proud to give the award-winning director his just praise with the Lies & Deceit: Five Films by Claude Chabrol, a stunning 5-disc set highlighting five of the director’s best films. Entered into the 1985 Cannes Film Festival, Cop Au Vin is a crime film set in a small provincial French town. A butcher, a doctor, and a lawyer agree to go into business with one another. But after obnoxious behavior leads to one of them ending up dead, the town’s police detective, Inspector Lavardin (Jean Poiret) shows up to investigate. Jonathan Rosenbaum of the Chicago Reader described Cop Au Vin as a “good whodunit” that is “well-crafted and satisfying.” In 1986, Jean Poiret reprised his police detective role from Cop Au Vin in the sequel Inspector Lavardin. After a wealthy Roman Catholic writer is found dead on the beach of a small coastal town, Lavardin heads to the scene to solve the mystery. When Lavardin discovers that the victim’s widow is an old flame that he hasn’t seen in more than two decades, the investigation takes a turn. Caryn James of The New York Times praised Inspector Lavardin for the fun and charming way it plays with some of the most famous French stereotypes. Based on Gustave Flaubert’s novel of the same name, Madame Bovary is the story of an attractive young woman (Isabelle Huppert) stuck in a lackluster marriage with a country doctor. To spice things up and escape the boredom of married life, she enters into multiple affairs, runs up countless debts, and meets a tragic end. Madame Bovary earned a 1992 Golden Globe nomination for Best Foreign Film and an Oscar nod for Best Costume Design. Betty (Marie Trintignant) is a young, attractive alcoholic that spends her evenings hopping from bar to bar. One night she meets Laure (Stéphane Audran), an older alcoholic that decides to take Betty in and help her get her life back on track. Betty eventually becomes jealous of her new friend’s relationship and attempts to steal her lover. Famed critic Roger Ebert gave Betty three and a half out of four stars, praising the film for the way it abandons a more traditional plot in exchange for interesting characters. Torment is the story of a man who appears to have it all before obsession drives him mad. Paul (François Cluzet) owns and runs the successful Hotel Del Lac and is married to the beautiful Nelly (Emmanuelle Béart), a woman he believes to be way out of his league. After witnessing Nelly being friendly to a handsome hotel guest, Paul becomes convinced that she’s unfaithful and begins to follow his wife. His delusion and paranoia lead to tragedy. The impressive set comes loaded with archived and new bonus features, including interviews and audio commentaries, trailers, image galleries, and video essays. Also included is an 80-page collector’s booklet of new writing by film critics Martyn Conterio, Kat Ellinger, Philip Kemp, and Sam Wigley, and archive material. This must-own set releases on February 22. |
Lies And Deceit: Five Films By Claude Chabrol
Five Freshly Remastered Films from the French Hitchcock
List Price: $99.95
Too often overlooked and undervalued, Claude Chabrol was the first of the Cahiers du Cinema critics to release a feature film and would be among the most prolific. The sneaky anarchist of the French New Wave, he embraced genre as a means off lifting the lid on human nature. Nothing is sacred and nothing is certain in the films of Claude Chabrol. Anything can be corrupted, and usually will be. Arrow Video is proud to present Lies & deceit: Five Films by Claude Chabrol. Featuring Cop Au Vin (Poulet au vinaigre), Inspector Lavardin, Madame Bovary, Betty and Torment (L’enfer), this inaugural collection of Claude Chabrol on Blu-ray brings together a wealth of passionate contributors and archival extras to shed fresh light on the films and the filmmaker. Dark, witty, ruthless, mischievous: if you’ve never seen Chabrol before, you’re in for a treat. If you have, they’ve never looked better.
Bonus Materials
- LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS
- High definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentations of all five films
- New 4K restorations of Madame Bovary, Betty, and Torment
- Original lossless French PCM mono audio on Cop Au Vin, Inspector Lavardin, Madame Bovary and Betty
- Original lossless French PCM stereo audio on Torment
- Optional English Subtitles
- Archive introductions to all films by film scholar Joël Magny
- Select scene commentaries for all films by Claude Chabrol
- Theatrical trailers and image galleries for all films
- 80-page collector’s booklet of new writing by film critics Martyn Conterio, Kat Ellinger, Philip Kemp and Sam Wigley, and archive material
- Limited edition packaging with newly commissioned artwork by Tony Stella
- DISC 1: COP AU VIN
- New commentary by critic Ben Sachs
- New interview with film historian Ian Christie
- Claude Chabrol at the BFI, Chabrol on stage with film historian Ian Christie in 1994
- Claude Chabrol, Jean Poiret & Stephane Audran in conversation, archive Swiss TV episode with director and cast discussing Cop Au Vin
- DISC 2: INSPECTOR LAVARDIN
- New commentary by critic Ben Sachs
- Why Chabrol?, new interview with film critic Sam Wigley on why Chabrol remains essential viewing
- DISC 3: MADAME BOVARY
- New commentary by critic Kat Ellinger
- Imagining Emma: Madame Bovary on screen, new visual essay by film historian Pamela Hutchinson
- DISC 4: BETTY
- New commentary by critic Kat Ellinger
- Betty, from Simenon to Chabrol, new visual essay by French Cinema historian Ginette Vincendeau
- New interview with Ros Schwartz, the English translator of the Georges Simenon novel on which the film is based
- DISC 5: TORMENT
- New commentary by critics Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and Josh Nelson
- On Henri Georges Clouzot, archival interview with Chabrol about, Clouzot’s abandoned attempt to make L’enfer
- Interview with Marin Karmitz, archive interview with Chabrol’s most frequent producer from 1985 onward
Deadly Games
ONLY HE WILL HEAR YOU SCREAM.
List Price: $39.95
Steve Railsback (famed for his unhinged performance as Charles Manson in 1976’s TV mini-series Helter Skelter) is at his sinister best as a troubled Vietnam Vet in 1982’s Deadly Games – a tale of madness, murder and adultery from writer/director Scott Mansfied. A masked maniac with a penchant for a horror-themed board game is playing his own twisted game with the women of a small American town. Each time the dice is rolled, another victim meets a grisly end. Returning home to mourn the death of her murdered sister, Keegan (Jo Ann Harris) befriends local cop Roger and oddball cinema projectionist Billy (Railsback) – but soon finds herself in the killer’s sights. Originally entitled Who Fell Asleep, Deadly Games is an intriguing early ’80s slasher oddity which benefits from focusing as much on the development of its female-led cast as it does on its scenes of stalking and slashing. Available for the first time ever on disc, Arrow Video is proud to present this long-overlooked creepy gem in a brand new restoration from the recently-unearthed camera negative!
Bonus Materials
- Brand new 2K restoration from the original camera negative
- Original uncompressed mono audio
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- Brand new audio commentary with The Hysteria Continues
- Sooty’s a Sh*t – a brand new interview with actor Jere Rae-Mansfield
- Practical Magic – a brand new interview with special effects and stunt co-ordinator John Eggett
- Extensive image gallery featuring never-before-seen production photos and promotional material
- Original Trailer
- Original screenplay under the title Who Fell Asleep [BD-ROM content]
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly-commissioned artwork by Ralf Krause
- FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Fully-illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing by film historian/author Amanda Reyes
