| Things are heating up outside as summer approaches. Arrow Video has three films coming out that will make you sweat inside no matter how low you set the air conditioner. Things are going to get steamy. Girls Nite Out is the classic tale of college kids on a scavenger hunt that gets interrupted by a psycho killer. The movie came out in 1982 and slashed its way around the country with the alternate title The Scaremaker. The film got a bit of clout by casting Hal Holbrook in a lead role. Next up is One Armed Boxer which featured major Shaw Brothers star Jimmy Wang Yu jumping over to Golden Harvest (the company that had signed Bruce Lee). Jimmy Wang Yu had become a major star with The One-Armed Swordsman and The Chinese Boxer (which he also wrote and directed). He wanted to go beyond the Shaw Brothers system so he left to make movies in Tawain. His first film for them had him merge his two biggest roles into one character in One Armed Boxer. He’s a martial arts master who has to overcome having his right arm hacked off. Jimmy Wang Yu wrote and directed the film that features fists, feet and hooks flying all over the screen. The film was a hit in America although it took a few years to be released in America. Grindhouse audiences thought Jimmy Wang Yu was part of the wave of Bruce Lee impersonators following the Dragon’s death. But he was an originator. Finally there is the extra swampy Wild Things with the unrated cut getting upgraded to 4K UHD. You’ll see so much more in this tale of carnality involving Neve Campbell and Denise Richards as two high school girls who accuse teacher Matt Dillon of assaulting them. But is he really a victimizer or the victim? His lawyer played by Bill Murray might be his only chance at freedom. The film is still a tawdry tale of diabolical characters backstabbing each other. The longer cut ups the tawdry nature of Wild Things. |
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| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: |
| New from Arrow Video US Girls Nite Out[Blu-ray](5/17) One Armed Boxer[Blu-ray](5/24) Wild Things[Blu-ray](5/24) Wild Things[4K UHD](5/24) Via MVD Entertainment Group |
| Go Wild with Arrow’s May Releases! Arrow is turning up the temperature early this year with May releases that include an under-seen slasher gem, a martial arts masterpiece, and late ’90s neo-noir sleaze. It’s a great time to be a fan of physical media. In the early ’80s, the slasher film reigned supreme. While franchises headlined by guys named Michael, Freddy, and Jason received most of the attention, smaller entries routinely popped up all across America. On May 17, Arrow will shine a light on one of these lesser-known efforts – Girls Nite Out. Originally released as The Scaremaker, Girls Nite Out is an oddball slasher directed by a former documentarian and produced by a pair of Ohio attorneys. A group of college coeds participates in an all-night scavenger hunt when the fun is interrupted by a killer in a bear costume. Arrow will be releasing the film in a brand-new 2K restoration and loaded up with special features, including all-new interviews with stars Julia Montgomery, Laura Summer, Lois Robbins, Paul Christie, Lauren-Marie Taylor, and John Didrichsen. On May 24, Arrow will celebrate the life of the late, great Jimmy Wang Yu with the release of what may be his finest work – One-Armed Boxer. Yu directs and stars as Tien Lung, a martial arts student that loses an arm in the same attack that leaves his classmates and master dead. Fueled by revenge, Tien Lung studies the art of one-arm boxing with plans to track down the Hook gang responsible for his unfortunate predicament. One-Armed Boxer is widely regarded as one of the most influential martial arts films of the ’70s and the film that put Jimmy Wang Yu on the map. Director Quentin Tarantino has referred to it as “one of the best martial arts films ever made,” and it paved the way for an iconic sequel in Master of the Flying Guillotine. The new release from Arrow features a 2K restoration, audio commentary with Frank Djeng from the NY Asian Film Festival, a career retrospective interview with Wang Yu, and much, much more. Things get hot and steamy in 4K on May 24 with the release of John McNaughton‘s Wild Things in both standard Blu-ray and UHD Blu-ray. Matt Dillon stars as a high school guidance counselor accused of rape by two students (Denise Richards and Neve Campbell). During the highly controversial trial, a police detective (Kevin Bacon) begins to suspect the trio may be in cahoots. Critics have praised Wild Things as “delightfully salacious” and a treat for lovers of trash cinema. Famed critic Roger Ebert gave the film 3 out of 4 stars, calling it a “three-way collision between a softcore sex film, a soap opera and a B-grade noir.” Arrow is proud to present the film with 4K restorations of both the Original Theatrical Version and the Unrated Edition from the original camera negatives by Sony Pictures Entertainment. Special features include two audio commentary tracks, new interviews with McNaughton and Richards, a making-of documentary, a double-sided fold-out post, and more. This is truly the release that Wild Things has always deserved. |
Girls Nite Out
List Price: $39.95
A host of familiar genre faces including Hal Holbrook (Creepshow), Rutanya Alda (Amityville II: The Possession), Julia Montgomery (The Kindred) and Lauren-Marie Taylor (Friday the 13th Part 2) rounds out the cast of this gloriously mean-spirited slice from the slasher golden age, Girls Nite Out! The students of DeWitt University are preparing themselves for a night of fun and frolics in the form of an all-night scavenger hunt. Little do they know that they are in fact the ones being hunted… An unhinged assailant, disguised in the college’s goofy bear mascot outfit – and bearing knives for claws, two years before Freddy donned his famous gloves – is stalking the campus hellbent on carving up co-eds. Originally released under the only marginally more appropriate title of The Scaremaker, Girls Nite Out is a decidedly singular slasher flick which comes on like a frenetic cross between Animal House and Friday the 13th – veering from jovial frat antics to jarringly disturbing scenes of the killer shrieking obscenities as he slices up his victims. On this nite out, no one is coming home!
Media
Bonus Materials
- Brand new 2K restoration from 35mm vault elements
- High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
- Original uncompressed mono audio
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- Brand new audio commentary with genre film critic/author Justin Kerswell and film historian/author Amanda Reyes
- Staying Alive – a brand new video interview with actress Julia Montgomery
- A Savage Mauling – a brand new video interview with actress Laura Summer
- Alone in the Dark – a brand new video interview with actress Lois Robbins
- It Was a Party! – a brand new video interview with actor Paul Christie
- Love & Death – a brand new video interview with actors Lauren-Marie Taylor and John Didrichsen
- Archival video interview with actress Julia Montgomery
- The Scaremaker Alternate Title Card
- Original Trailers
- Reversible sleeve featuring original artwork and newly-commissioned artwork by Justin Osbourn
- FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Michael Gingold
One-armed Boxer
List Price: $39.95
When former Shaw Brothers executive Raymond Chow founded rival studio Golden Harvest in 1970, he quickly teamed up with “Jimmy” Wang Yu – Hong Kong’s first kung fu superstar and formerly Shaw’s biggest box office draw. Bringing over his peerless talent for taking on all foes with one hand tied behind his back, Wang wrote, directed and played the title role in one of his most unmissable kickass classics. From the legendary star of One-Armed Swordsman and The Chinese Boxer comes… One-Armed Boxer! Yu Tian Long (Wang) is the best fighter to come out of his local martial arts school, but when he crosses the ruthless leader of a local crime syndicate, the big boss’ brutal bevy of deadly killers make mincemeat out of the school and everyone inside. Now the only survivor of the massacre, and short of one appendage, Yu is gifted a powerful elixir that promises to give him the strength to take swift revenge on the army of assassins, each representing the most lethal forms of fighting from across the Eastern hemisphere. Proving once and for all that you only need five fingers of death to get the job done, Wang would later reprise his role in the infamous sequel Master of the Flying Guillotine, but it’s the dementedly inventive original where he’s arguably at the height of his powers.
Media
Bonus Materials
- 2K restoration from the original elements by Fortune Star
- High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentation
- Original lossless Mandarin mono audio, alternate Mandarin soundtrack and original English dubbed audio
- Optional English subtitles, plus hard-of-hearing subtitles for the English dub
- Commentary by Frank Djeng from the NY Asian Film Festival
- Career retrospective interview with Wang Yu, filmed in Nantes in 2001 and never released before, courtesy of the Frédéric Ambroisine Video Archive
- Trailer gallery, featuring the original Hong Kong theatrical trailer, a US TV spot (as The Chinese Professionals) and over half an hour of trailers for other Wang Yu classics including One-Armed Swordsman and Master of the Flying Guillotine
- Image gallery
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Ilan Sheady
- FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Simon Abrams
InsidePulse Review of One Armed Boxer: https://insidepulse.com/2022/04/25/blu-ray-review-one-armed-boxer/
Wild Things [UHD Limited Edition]
List Price: $59.95
A spoiled rich kid, a troubled teen from the wrong side of the tracks, a carefree playboy and a dogged detective find themselves all caught up in the sex crime of the century in this steamy star-studded crime thriller from the director of Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer. Popular and charming, student counsellor Sam Lombardo (Matt Dillon) is no stranger to being the focus of female attention within the moneyed cliques of Florida’s Blue Bay. His fortunes are about to change dramatically, however, when one of the wealthiest students at his high school, sultry siren Kelly Van Ryan (Denise Richards), accuses him of rape. The charge looks sure to stick when another girl from the other end of the social spectrum, Suzie Toller (Neve Campbell), steps forward with her own allegations, but Detective Duquette (Kevin Bacon) smells something fishy, and the truth is as murky and dangerous as the alligator-infested swamps in the hinterlands of this affluent beach community. Presented in new 4K restorations of its original theatrical version and extended ‘Unrated Edition’, Wild Things is a classic piece of sexy late-90s neo-noir from director John McNaughton and writer Stephen Peters, whose serpentine plotting will keep you on the edge of your seat until the end credits roll.
Media
Bonus Materials
- New 4K restorations of both the Original Theatrical Version and the Unrated Edition from the original camera negatives by Sony Pictures Entertainment
- 4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)
- Original uncompressed stereo audio and DTS-HD MA 5.1 surround audio
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
- Exclusive new audio commentary by director John McNaughton and producer Steven A. Jones
- Commentary by director John McNaughton, cinematographer Jeffrey Kimball, producers Steven A. Jones and Rodney Liber, editor Elena Maganini and score composer George S. Clinton
- Exclusive new interview with John McNaughton
- Exclusive new interview with Denise Richards
- Making of documentary
- An Understanding Lawyer outtakes
- Trailer
- Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Anne Billson and Sean Hogan
- Double-sided fold-out poster
- Six double-sided, postcard-sized lobby card reproductions
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Sam Hadley
InsidePulse Review:
