April showers brings you an excuse to stay inside and watch movies. Arrow Video has three new titles ready for the wet season. Heart of Dragon teams up Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung in a tale of a cop taking care of his developmentally challenged brother. Sammo directed the film and delivers a rather poignant performance as the child-like brother. Spring also means romance and so let’s celebrate with Lovers Lane. The movie brings back the urban legend about the hook hand killer that lurked where teenagers parked to make out. The movie marked the big screen debut of Anna Farris. The final movie of the month is The Assassination Bureau with superstars Diana Rigg (The Avengers), Oliver Reed (The Devils) and Telly Savalas (Kojak). The film is about a secret organization of hired killers in 1908. Here’s the press release from Arrow Video with all the details:
New from Arrow Video US
Heart of Dragon
4/11/23
Lovers Lane
4/25/23
The Assassination Bureau
4/25/23
via MVD Entertainment Group
| Arrow’s April Line-Up Offers Classic Hong Kong Action, Cult Slasher and Rip-Roaring Adventure! |
| On April 11th, Arrow Video releases the classic Hong Kong action/drama Heart of Dragon, directed by Sammo Hung and starring Jackie Chan. Chan and Hung’s lifelong friendship began as children at the Peking Opera School, which led to side-by-side careers spanning decades. Heart of Dragon was a box office hit and is considered one of their greatest collaborations. Trading their patented brand of hard-hitting action and comedic hijinks for a more serious and heartrending story, Heart of Dragon tells the story of Tat (Chan), a cop who has cared for his developmentally disabled brother Dodo (Hung) for his entire life. As Tat plans to break free of his responsibilities, Dodo gets into the kind of trouble that could put Tat’s plans on hold indefinitely. The Blu-ray edition features a new 2K restoration of both the 91-minute Hong Kong Theatrical Cut and the 99-minute extended Japanese Cut via seamless branching. Also included are a new commentary track by Frank Djeng & FJ DeSanto [Extended Japanese Cut]; The Making of The First Mission and The First Mission: Pre-Release Event – featurettes made to promote the Japanese release; archival interviews with Chan, Hung, actor Rocky Lai, and cinematographer Arthur Wong; alternate English credits as The First Mission, a trailer gallery, an image gallery and reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Sam Gilbey. Next up, the cult horror film Lovers Lane makes its Blu-ray debut on April 25th with a new 2K restoration from a 4K scan of the original 35mm camera negative. This slasher, made during the post-Scream late 1990s boom, has the kind of biting dialog and clever kills that marked the best of that era. On the thirteenth anniversary of a Valentine’s Day massacre on Lover’s Lane, the killer dubbed “The Hook” is once again on the loose. A terrifying series of twists and turns ensues as a high school students Chloe (Sarah Lancaster), Mandy (Erin J. Dean) and their friends (including Anna Faris in her film debut) prepare for their own Valentine’s Day celebration. The Arrow Video Blu-ray features two versions of the film: the widescreen 1.85:1 version and the full-frame 1.33:1 version. Also included is a new audio commentary with writer-producers Geof Miller and Rory Veal; Screaming Teens: The Legacy of Lovers Lane featurette; original trailers; an image gallery; and a reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Ilan Sheady. Also being released on April 25th, The Assassination Bureau is a stylish action/adventure film based on an unfinished novel by Jack London (Call of the Wild). Set in pre-WWI Europe, Diana Rigg (Game of Thrones, The Avengers) stars as an intrepid reporter and women’s rights activist who is tasked with taking down criminal genius Ivan Dragomiloff, played by Oliver Reed (Gladiator, The Three Musketeers). This turn-of-the-century tale from the fabled directing-producing team of Basil Dearden and Michael Relph (Sapphire, Victim) blends an Edwardian-era aesthetic with dark humor and a rip-roaring story. The Arrow Video Blu-ray includes a new audio commentary with authors Sean Hogan and Kim Newman; Right Film, Wrong Time – an appreciation by cultural historian Matthew Sweet; the original trailer; an image gallery; and a reversible sleeve featuring two original artwork choices. |
Heart Of Dragon
IF YOU EVER GET IN THIS MUCH TROUBLE, YOU’LL WISH YOU HAD A BROTHER LIKE JACKIE CHAN!
Lifelong friends since they met as boys at Peking Opera school, Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung conquered the Hong Kong film industry side-by-side in the 1970s and 1980s. One of their greatest collaborations sees the two ‘brothers’ playing actual brothers for a change: 1985’s Heart of Dragon, a film that combines heart-rending drama with pulse-pounding action!
Tat (Chan) is a hotshot cop with more stresses than he can bear: if he’s not on the verge of getting beaten up on his day job, he’s looking out for his mentally handicapped brother Dodo (Hung), who needs constant supervision in case his naïve, kind nature gets taken advantage of. Tat wants nothing more than to escape his obligations and see the world; but when Dodo accidentally winds up in the line of fire, Tat must run into danger and make the ultimate sacrifice to save his brother.
More serious and emotionally driven than many of their prior films, Hung and Chan made sure not to skimp on jaw-dropping stunts and high-velocity violence while showing a broader depth to their talents than audiences had seen before. The result is one of the jewels of 80’s Hong Kong action cinema, now restored with additional fight scenes filmed especially for the Japanese market!
Media
Bonus Materials
- 2K restoration from the original negative by Fortune Star
- High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentations of the 91-minute Hong Kong Theatrical Cut and the 99-minute Extended Japanese Cut via seamless branching
- Original lossless Cantonese and English mono audio on both cuts, plus Mandarin on the Theatrical Cut and Cantonese with alternate score on the Extended Cut
- Optional English subtitles for both cuts
- Brand new commentary by Frank Djeng & FJ DeSanto on the Extended Cut
- The Making of The First Mission and The First Mission: Pre-Release Event, two extended featurettes made to promote the Japanese release by Shochiku
- Archive interview with star Jackie Chan
- Archive interview with star Rocky Lai
- Two archive interviews with director/star Sammo Hung
- Archive interview with cinematographer Arthur Wong
- Alternate English credits as The First Mission
- Trailer gallery, including the ‘music video’ trailer by Su Rui
- Image gallery
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Sam Gilbey
- FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collectors’ booklet featuring new writing by Dylan Cheung and David West
Lovers Lane
THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS SAFE SEX.
Passions are aroused and old wounds reopened in this sassy post-Scream teen slasher based on the urban legend of “The Hook”.
A steamy secret tryst that was brutally cut short on Valentine’s Day an unlucky thirteen years ago comes back to haunt the teens who linger around the lovers lane where the double slaying took place. The County Sheriff Tom Anderson (Matt Riedy) has just about come to terms with the fact that it was his wife who died in another man’s car on that fateful night. His daughter Mandy (Erin J. Dean), who as a four-year-old saw her mother’s corpse carried away from the scene, has a different take on things. It doesn’t help that her classmate Michael (Riley Smith) lost his father to the same hook-handed homicidal maniac in that night’s incident. To cap it all off, as another Valentine’s Day comes round, reports come through that the man arrested as “The Hook” has just bust out of his asylum.
Prepare yourself for the ultimate hook up in a scream-a-minute rollercoaster that marked the film debut of Anna Faris (the Scary Movie series; Lost in Translation).
Media
Bonus Materials
- Brand new 2K restoration from a 4K scan of the original 35mm camera negative
- High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentations
- Two versions of the film: the widescreen 1.85:1 version and the full-frame 1.33:1 version
- Original lossless English stereo audio on both versions
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
- Brand new audio commentary with writer-producers Geof Miller and Rory Veal
- Screaming Teens: The Legacy of Lovers Lane featurette with Geof Miller and Rory Veal and actors Matt Riedy and Carter Roy
- Original trailers
- 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 by Lindsay Hallam
- THIS FILM CONTAINS A SEQUENCE OF FLASHING LIGHTS WHICH MIGHT AFFECT CUSTOMERS WHO ARE SUSCEPTIBLE TO PHOTOSENSITIVE EPILEPSY
The Assassination Bureau
ZEPPELINS. BOMBS. BORDELLOS. BURIALS. RIGG. REED.
Anarchy reigns as Diana Rigg and Oliver Reed go head to head in a blackly comic caper that plays out against the colorful backdrop of Europe on the cusp of World War One.
London, 1908. When feisty journalist and women’s rights campaigner Sonia Winter (Diana Rigg) uncovers the headquarters of the Assassination Bureau Limited, a clandestine enterprise that has existed for decades by bumping off the rich and powerful – but only if there’s a good moral reason for it – she sets on a path of putting an end to its activities. Bankrolled by her press baron boss, Lord Bostwick (Telly Savalas), she commissions the organisation to undertake the assassination of its very own chairman, Ivan Dragomiloff (Oliver Reed). Being the gentleman that he is, Dragomiloff responds to the assignment with glee, challenging his fellow board members to complete the contract. Only they’ll have to catch him first…
The Assassination Bureau is based on an unfinished novel by Jack London published posthumously in 1963. Shot in glorious Technicolor by Geoffrey Unsworth (2001: A Space Odyssey), this penultimate work from the esteemed directing-producing team of Basil Dearden and Michael Relph (Sapphire, Victim) is a rip-roaring slice of Edwardian-set action-adventure fashioned with the same Swinging-Sixties blend of irony, stylishness and humour as The Avengers and the James Bond films.
Media
Bonus Materials
- High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentation
- Original lossless English mono audio
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
- Brand new audio commentary with authors Sean Hogan and Kim Newman
- Right Film, Wrong Time, a 30-minute appreciation by critic, broadcaster and cultural historian Matthew Sweet
- Original trailer
- Image gallery
- Reversible sleeve featuring two original artwork choices
- FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Katherine McLaughlin and a set of six reproduction lobby cards from the original release
