Spring is the air which means pollen is returning. Naturally you’ll want something to watch so you can stay indoors with a clear nose. Arrow Video has three titles that will give you an excuse to stick close to the filter vents. An American Werewolf In London gets upgraded to 4K UHD. You’ll be seeing David Naughton get hairy and Griffin Dunne transform into meatloaf at a higher resolution. You’ll be impressed at the detail that went into Rick Baker’s Oscar winning creature effects. Come Drink With Me was groundbreaking for the Shaw Brothers. The movie elevated how swordplay movies were shot in Hong Kong. Bandits kidnap a general’s son. Little do they know that the Golden Swallow being sent to free their hostage is really a woman. Golden Swallow is an epic of action with swords flashing across the screen and quick choreography in the fighting. Star Cheng Pei-pei would have a major role in Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. The third film is To Sleep So As To Dream from Japan. A private detective and his assistant are hired to find the kidnapped daughter of a silent film star. The film is not quite a straight-ahead detective flick. Here’s the press release from Arrow Video:
| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: |
| New from Arrow Video US An American Werewolf In London[Limited Edition][4K UHD](3/15) Come Drink With Me[Blu-ray](3/22) To Sleep So As To Dream[Blu-ray](3/22) Via MVD Entertainment Group |
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| Hop into Spring With 3 New Releases from Arrow Video This Spring, Arrow is proud to wow fans of cinema with two new titles making their Blu-ray debuts, while an old favorite returns with an all new 4K UHD release. On March 15th, An American Werewolf in London bites its way into 4K. Directed by John Landis, this horror-comedy tells the story of two friends (David Naughton and Griffin Dunne) that are viciously attacked by a wolf-like creature while backpacking through England. One friend dies while the other suffers a much worse fate – he becomes a werewolf. Featuring a gnarly and bone-shattering transformation scene, An American Werewolf in London set the gold standard for which all other werewolf films strive to be with Film School Rejects calling “a quintessential horror text when it comes to both lycanthropy and practical effects.” This UHD release includes a brand new 4K restoration completed by Arrow Films from the original camera negative. Special features include documentaries, audio commentaries, interviews, and limited edition 60-page, perfect-bound book featuring new writing by Craig Ian Mann and Simon Ward, archival articles, and original reviews. Come Drink With Me, one of the most significant martial arts films of all time, comes to Blu-ray on March 22. King Hu’s film about a group of bandits that kidnap the governor’s son and demand their imprisoned leader be set free in exchange helped to catapult martial arts films to the mainstream and launched Cheng Pei-pei as a star. The film is notable for its outlandish action sequences, many of which are choreographed to resemble dance. Hu went on record to state he chose Pei-pei as his female lead because of her background in ballet, noting that his stylized fights were “always keyed to the notion of dance.” This release marks the film’s Blu-ray debut. Kaizo Hayashi’s acclaimed directorial debut, To Sleep So as to Dream, closes out the month of March with a Blu-ray release on March 22. When her daughter Bellflower (Moe Kamura) goes missing, an aging silent film actress (Fujiko Fukamizu) hires a private eye (Shiro Sano) and his bizarre assistant (Koji Otake) to track her down. This surreal fantasy is regarded as one of the most impressive works of cinema to come out of Japan in the 1980s. Referencing the country’s rich cinematic history and featuring cameos from a host of veteran talent, To Sleep So as to Dream is a must-see for fans of Japanese cinema. The Arrow Blu-ray release will be the film’s first home video release outside of Japan and features a brand-new restoration of the film supervised by Hayashi. Special features include a new audio commentary track, new interviews, and more. The first pressings of the release will include an illustrated collector’s booklet. |
An American Werewolf In London UHD [Limited Edition]
From the director of Animal House… A Different Kind of Animal.
![An American Werewolf In London UHD [Limited Edition]](data:image/svg+xml;utf8,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20216%200'%3E%3C/svg%3E)
- List Price: $59.95
One of the greatest directors of the 1980s, John Landis (The Blues Brothers, Trading Places), expertly combines macabre horror with dark humor in the lycanthropic classic, An American Werewolf in London. American tourists David (David Naughton) and Jack (Griffin Dunne) are savaged by an unidentified vicious animal whilst hiking on the Yorkshire Moors. David awakes in a London hospital to find his friend dead and his life in disarray. Retiring to the home of a beautiful nurse (Jenny Agutter, Walkabout) to recuperate, he soon experiences disturbing changes to his mind and body, undergoing a full-moon transformation that will unleash terror on the streets of the capital… An American Werewolf in London had audiences howling with laughter and recoiling in terror upon its cinema release. Landis’ film has gone on to become one of the most important horror films of its decade, rightly lauded for its masterful set-pieces, uniquely unsettling atmosphere and Rick Baker’s truly ground-breaking, Oscar-winning special makeup effects. Now newly restored and presented with an abundance of extra features, this big beast of horror can be devoured as never before…
Bonus Materials
- Brand new 4K restoration by Arrow Films from the original camera negative
- 4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)
- Original uncompressed 1.0 mono and optional 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- Audio commentary by Beware the Moon filmmaker Paul Davis
- Audio commentary by actors David Naughton and Griffin Dunne
- Mark of The Beast: The Legacy of the Universal Werewolf, a feature-length documentary by filmmaker Daniel Griffith, featuring interviews with John Landis, David Naughton, Joe Dante and more
- An American Filmmaker in London, an interview with John Landis in which he reflects on British cinema and his time working in Britain
- I Think He’s a Jew: The Werewolf’s Secret, a video essay by filmmaker Jon Spira (Elstree 1976) about how Landis’ film explores Jewish identity
- The Werewolf’s Call, Corin Hardy, director of The Hallow and The Nun, chats with writer Simon Ward about their formative experiences with Landis’ film
- Wares of the Wolf, a featurette in which SFX artist Dan Martin and Tim Lawes of Prop Store look at some of the original costumes and special effects artefacts from the film
- Beware the Moon, Paul Davis’ acclaimed, feature-length exploration of Landis’ film which boasts extensive cast and crew interviews
- An American Werewolf in Bob’s Basement and Causing a Disturbance: Piccadilly Revisited, two 2008 featurettes filmed by Paul Davis
- Making An American Werewolf in London, a short archival featurette on the film’s production
- An Interview with John Landis, a lengthy archival interview with the director about the film
- Make-up Artist Rick Baker on An American Werewolf in London, the legendary make-up artist discusses his work on the film
- I Walked with a Werewolf, an archival interview with Rick Baker about Universal horror and its legacy of Wolfman films
- Casting of the Hand, archival footage from Rick Baker’s workshop showing the casting of David Naughton’s hand
- Outtakes
- Storyboards featurette
- Original trailer and teaser plus TV and radio spots
- Extensive image gallery featuring over 200 stills, posters and other ephemera
- Reversible sleeve featuring original poster art and artwork by Graham Humphreys
- Double-sided fold-out poster
- Six double-sided, postcard-sized lobby card reproductions
- Limited edition 60-page, perfect-bound book featuring new writing by Craig Ian Mann and Simon Ward, archival articles and original reviews
Come Drink With Me
The Original Kung Fu Classic that Kick-Started the Entire Martial Arts Genre!
- List Price: $39.95
Years before Shaw Brothers’ kung fu films made them the biggest film studio in Hong Kong, local audiences flocked to their wuxia pian films: mythic tales of swordfighting (and often gravity-defying) heroes fighting for honor. In his final film for the studio, Come Drink With Me, director King Hu (A Touch of Zen) broke fresh new ground in martial arts storytelling, and catapulted fresh-faced lead actress Cheng Pei-pei to stardom in the process. When the Governor’s son is taken hostage by bandits, a mysterious swordsman named Golden Swallow (Cheng) is hot on their trail to ensure the son’s release. What the bandits don’t realize, however, is that Golden Swallow is actually a woman, and that the hostage is her brother. Determined to set him free, no matter how many goons she has to fight her way through in doing so, she is aided in her quest by a drunken beggar (Yueh Hua) who may have a closer connection to the bandits’ leader than he initially lets on. Decades before Ang Lee brought the wuxia genre to international attention with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (in which Cheng played the villainous Jade Fox), King Hu set the original template in what is still considered one of Shaw Brothers’ greatest and most influential action masterpieces.
Bonus Materials
- Uncompressed Mandarin and English original mono audio
- Optional English subtitles, plus English hard-of-hearing subtitles for the English dub
- Brand new audio commentary by film critic and historian Tony Rayns
- Interview with star Cheng Pei-pei, filmed by Frédéric Ambroisine in 2003
- Interview with star Yueh Hua, filmed by Frédéric Ambroisine in 2007
- Interview with star Chen Hung-lieh, filmed by Frédéric Ambroisine in 2003
- Talk Story with Cheng Pei-pei, a 2016 Q&A at the University of Hawaii moderated by George Chun Han Wang
- Cinema Hong Kong: Swordfighting, a documentary on the history of the wuxia genre and Shaw Brothers’ contributions to it, produced by Celestial Pictures in 2003 and featuring interviews with Cheng Pei-pei, Gordon Liu, Lau Kar-leung, John Woo, Sammo Hung, Kara Hui, David Chiang and others
- Original theatrical trailer, plus trailer for the sequel Golden Swallow
- Image gallery
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Tony Stella
To Sleep So As To Dream
Kaizo Hayashi’s acclaimed directorial debut.
- List Price: $39.95
Two private detectives hunt for an actress trapped within the reel of a silent ninja film in the dreamlike debut of Kaizo Hayashi (Circus Boys, Zipang), a magical double-handed cinephilic homage to the movie worlds of the 1910s and 1950s. When private eye Uotsuka (Shiro Sano, Violent Cop, Shin Godzilla) and his sidekick Kobayashi are approached by an aged former actress, Madame Cherryblossom, to go in search of her kidnapped daughter Bellflower, their investigations lead them to the studios of the mysterious M. Pathe company. Here Uotsuka has a strange vision in which he comes face to face with the beautiful star of a 1915 chanbara film that appears to have no ending. From then on, things begin to get a little strange… Among the most impressive and critically regarded Japanese films of the 1980s, To Sleep so as To Dream finally makes its home-video debut outside of Japan in a brand-new restoration supervised by the director himself. Drifting between illusion and allusion, it is chockfull of references to Japan’s rich cinematic heritage and features cameos from a host of veteran talent and baroque sets created by Takeo Kimura, the Nikkatsu art designer fondly remembered for his flamboyant work with Seijun Suzuki in the 1960s.
Bonus Materials
- High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
- Original uncompressed mono audio
- Optional English subtitles
- Brand new audio commentary by Japanese film experts Tom Mes and Jasper Sharp
- Audio commentary with director Kaizo Hayashi and lead actor Shiro Sano recorded in 2000
- How Many Eggs? Actor Shiro Sano Talks, a brand new interview with the film’s lead actor
- Talking Silents: Benshi Midori Sawato Talks, a brand new interview on early Japanese film culture and the art of the benshi silent film commentator
- Midori Sawato Performs ‘The Eternal Mystery’, an exclusive benshi performance to the film within the film
- The Restoration of To Sleep So as to Dream featurette
- Fragments from Japan’s Lost Silent Heyday, a selection of scenes from silent jidai-geki films from the Kyoto Toy Museum archives
- Original Theatrical trailer and English-language restored re-release trailers
- Image gallery
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by David Downton
- FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated Collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Aaron Gerow
