Last Starfighter in 4K UHD and Hand of Death from Arrow in May

Disc Announcements, News

Arrow Video welcomes in May with Martial Arts mayhem and a videogame epic. First up is Hand of Death which brought together four of the biggest names of Hong Kong cinema in their early days. Director John Woo would create the bullet ballets of A Better Tomorrow, The Killer and Hard Boiled. Not only does he direct the film, but he is on screen for a bit of the fighting. While not the star, Jackie Chan plays a major supporting role as the blacksmith that helps the hero. Sammo Hung would be out to defeat his friend. Finally Yuen Biao would have a minor acting role while performing plenty of stunts. This Golden Harvest release shows why all four men would dominated Hong Kong cinema in the coming decades.

The Last Starfighter is a classic of ’80s Teen Flicks. Alex (Lance Guest) is stuck in a nowhere town and doesn’t see much of a future for himself. His only escape is from playing a Starfighter video arcade game. When he sets the top score, he’s visited by the game’s inventor (The Music Man‘s Robert Preston) to get a major reward. Little does he know that his reward is a chance to fight in a space battle. This was a VHS tape that was always was rented out on the weekend at Videorama. It gave hope that all those hours playing Space Invaders would pay off. Now the film with its cutting-edge special effects (for 1984) is getting upgraded to 4K UHD so fans can get more resolution from the story.

Here’s the press release from Arrow Video with all the details:


Arrow Video’s May Releases Offer Up Martial Arts and a Video Game-Inspired Sci-Fi Adventure!
On May 9, Arrow Video releases Hand of Death, the only Jackie Chan performance directed by John Woo, and an important early collaboration with Sammo Hung, on Blu-ray in a new 2K restoration. Yun Fei (Tan Tao-Liang) sets out for vengeance after thousands of his fellow Shaolin practitioners are hunted down and killed by Shih Shao-Feng (James Tien), Tu Ching (Sammo Hung) Shih’s vicious lieutenant, and their army. Yun Fei teams with a blacksmith (Jackie Chan) and a swordsman (Yang Wei) to face unsurmountable odds. The Blu-ray edition features a new audio commentary by martial arts cinema experts Frank Djeng & Michael Worth; From Hong Kong to Hollywood, an archive featurette on John Woo’s early career; archival interviews with star Tan Tao-Liang and Sammo Hung; an alternate credits sequence, Countdown to Kung Fu; a Trailer gallery; an Image gallery; a double-sided fold-out poster and a reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Colin Murdoch.    Next on May 30th, the ‘80s classic The Last Starfighter is released on 4K UHD, newly restored from a 4K scan of the original negative and featuring a 4.1 mix originally created for the film’s 70mm release – never included on previous home video formats. Alex Rogan (Lance Guess) dreams of something bigger than his current existence. He gets more than he bargained for when he breaks the record on The Last Starfighter video game and is recruited by the Star League to defend the universe against Xur and the Kordan Armada. Alex and pilot Grig (Dan O’Herlihy), armed with the “last” Starfighter, are all that stand between the villainous Xur and domination. The 4K UHD edition features audio commentaries with star Lance Guest and his son Jackson Guest, Mike White of The Projection Booth podcast, and director Nick Castle and production designer Ron Cobb; interviews with actor Catherine Mary Stewart, composer Craig Safan, screenwriter Jonathan Betuel, special effects supervisor Kevin Pike, sci-fi author Greg Bear, and arcade game collector Estil Vance on reconstructing the Starfighter game; Heroes of the Screen, an archival featurette; Crossing the Frontier: The Making of The Last Starfighter, an archival 4-part documentary; Image galleries; Theatrical and teaser Trailers; a reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Matt Ferguson.  

Hand Of Death

Hand of Death (aka “Countdown in Kung Fu”) is a 1976 Hong Kong martial arts film written and directed by John Woo. (Face/Off, Hard Target).

Hand Of Death

When Golden Harvest first released Hand of Death in 1976, no-one paid much attention to the names of writer/director Wu Yu-sheng, third-billed actor Chen Yuen-lung or fight choreographer Hung Chin-pao in the opening credits. Within a decade, however, each of those men had changed the course of Hong Kong action filmmaking forever, under the names they are best known under to this day: John Woo, Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung. After a traitor of the Shaolin temple, Shih Shao-Feng (James Tien, The Big Boss), has eliminated thousands of his former colleagues in exchange for power from the Manchus under the Qing dynasty, a surviving master of Shaolin, Yun Fei (Tan Tao-Liang), is tasked with the mission of bringing Shih to justice. In order to defeat Shih’s overwhelmingly large army – led by the ruthless Tu Qing (Sammo Hung) – Yun Fei will need to team up with a skilled blacksmith (Jackie Chan) and a reluctant swordsman to beat the odds and avenge his fallen brothers. With early signs of John Woo’s affinity for brotherly bonding amidst heroic bloodshed, and featuring one of Jackie Chan’s earliest speaking roles after proving his mettle as a stuntman, Hand of Death is an old school hard-hitting kung fu gem (with a dash of wuxia) that any fan of classic Hong Kong cinema needs in their collection!

Media

 Watch trailer »

Bonus Materials

  • 2K restoration from original film elements by Fortune Star
  • High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray transfer
  • Original lossless Mandarin and English mono, plus Cantonese stereo and 5.1 remixes in Mandarin and English
  • Optional English subtitles
  • Brand new feature commentary by martial arts cinema experts Frank Djeng & Michael Worth
  • From Hong Kong to Hollywood, an archive featurette on John Woo’s early career, including interviews with Woo, Chow Yun-fat and Peter Lau
  • Never-before-seen archive interview with star Tan Tao-Liang, filmed by his former student Michael Worth
  • Archive interview with co-star Sammo Hung
  • Alternate credits sequence, as Countdown to Kung Fu
  • Trailer gallery
  • Image gallery
  • Double-sided fold-out poster featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Colin Murdoch
  • Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Colin Murdoch
  • Illustrated collectors’ booklet featuring new writing by film programmer William Blaik

The Last Starfighter: Collector’s Edition [4K Ultra HD]

THE ADVENTURE OF A LIFETIME IS ABOUT TO BEGIN!

The Last Starfighter: Collector

Greetings Starfighter! You have been recruited by Arrow Video to experience the 1984 sci-fi classic as you’ve never experienced it before! Directed by Nick Castle, the man behind the Michael Myers mask in the original Halloween, The Last Starfighter tells the story Alex Rogan (Lance Guest), an arcade game whizz-kid whose wildest dreams comes true when he finds himself enlisted to fight in an interstellar war. Now newly restored from a 4K scan of the original negative and featuring a 4.1 mix originally created for the film’s 70mm release – never included on previous home video formats – The Last Starfighter arrives loaded with brand new and archival bonus features. Strap yourself in: the Ultra HD adventure of a lifetime is about to begin!

Media

 Watch trailer »

Bonus Materials

  • Brand new 4K restoration by Arrow Films from the original camera negative
  • 4K (2160p) Ultra HD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)
  • Uncompressed 2.0 stereo, 5.1 DTS-HD MA and 4.1 audio
  • Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • Audio commentary with star Lance Guest and his son Jackson Guest
  • Audio commentary with Mike White of The Projection Booth podcast
  • Archival audio commentary with director Nick Castle and production designer Ron Cobb
  • Maggie’s Memories: Revisiting The Last Starfighter – interview with actor Catherine Mary Stewart
  • Into the Starscape: Composing The Last Starfighter – interview with composer Craig Safan
  • Incredible Odds: Writing The Last Starfighter – interview with screenwriter Jonathan Betuel
  • Interstellar Hit-Beast: Creating the Special Effects – interview with special effects supervisor Kevin Pike
  • Excalibur Test: Inside Digital Productions – interview with sci-fi author Greg Bear on Digital Productions, the company responsible for the CGI in The Last Starfighter
  • Greetings Starfighter! Inside the Arcade Game – an interview with arcade game collector Estil Vance on reconstructing the Starfighter game
  • Heroes of the Screen – archival featurette
  • Crossing the Frontier: The Making of The Last Starfighter – archival 4-part documentary
  • Image galleries
  • Theatrical and teaser trailers
  • Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Matt Ferguson
  • Collector’s booklet featuring writing by Amanda Reyes and sci-fi author Greg Bear’s Omni magazine article on Digital Productions, the company responsible for the CGI in The Last Starfighter
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.