Arrow Films releases two titles in March. The first marks the end of a legendary career. The second is a watery nightmare from Japan getting upgraded. John Wayne had been acting since the mid-’20s when he was still on the Southern Cal football team. He’d become a movie icon playing cowboys and more over the decades. As he neared 70, Wayne embarked in his final movie The Shootist. He played an aging gunslinger dying of cancer. The film did well with critics and the public wanting one last ride with The Duke in 1976. Wayne would also die of cancer three years later. The Limited Edition Blu-ray comes out on March 12. Dark Water is getting an upgrade to 4K UHD a week later. The Japanese horror film from 2002 is about a woman dealing with the nightmare of renting an apartment with a leaky ceiling. She’s dealing with a custody battle that has her stressed out when it appears something supernatural is happening with her child. You’ll be able to see even more into the drippy shadows with the resolution upgrade. Here’s the press release from Arrow Video:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
New from Arrow Video US
The Shootist [Limited Edition]
3/12/24
Dark Water [Limited Edition]
3/19/24
via MVD Entertainment Group
| Arrow Video’s March Releases including John Wayne’s Final Filmand a Chilling Blockbuster J-Horror Classic |
| On March 12th, Arrow Video brings Don Siegel’s classic western The Shootist to Blu-ray, featuring a new 2K remaster packed with bonus materials. In the legend’s final on-screen performance, John Wayne (Rio Bravo, True Grit, The Searchers) stars as J.B. Books, a one-time sheriff turned gunfighter who is facing the end of his life. As rumors spread about his final days, the gunslinger is besieged by outlaws attempting to take his life for a shot at fame. With the help of a young mentee (Ron Howard in an ACADEMY AWARD® nominated performance), Books is going to go out in the same manner he lived his life, guns blazing. The acclaimed film features an all-star cast, including Lauren Bacall, James Stewart, Richard Boone, John Carradine, Scatman Crothers, Richard Lenz, Harry Morgan, Sheree North and Hugh O’Brian. The Blu-ray special features include a brand new audio commentary, essays, interviews, appreciations, an archival featurette; the theatrical trailer; an image gallery; a reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork and more. Next up, on March 19th, Arrow Video brings director Hideo Nakata’s Dark Water to 4K UHD for the first time. Nakata (Ringu, Ringu 2), one of the most influential filmmakers in the world, returns to the unique blend of supernatural and psychological thrills that brought J-Horror global acclaim. Recently divorced Yoshimi (Hitomi Kuroki), struggling to maintain custody of her daughter Ikuko (Rio Kanno/Asami Mizukawa in dual roles), moves into a dilapidated apartment complex to begin their lives anew. Strange occurrences begin as Ikuko is drawn to the darkest areas of the complex, and Yoshimi begins to have nightmarish visions. Equal parts haunting and horrifying, Dark Water is Nakata at his very best. The 4K UHD special features include interviews, the original ‘making-of’ documentary; trailers and TV spots; a reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork and more. |
The Shootist [Limited Edition]
A dying gunfighter spends his last days looking for a way to die with a minimum of pain and a maximum of dignity.
![The Shootist [Limited Edition]](data:image/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB4bWxucz0naHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmcnIHZpZXdCb3g9JzAgMCAyMTYgMCc+PC9zdmc+)
Legendary director Don Siegel (Dirty Harry) directs the iconic John Wayne as an ageing gunfighter dying of cancer in his final screen appearance, a superb adaptation of Glendon Swarthout’s classic western novel, The Shootist.
John Bernard Books is the stuff of legend, a renowned ‘shootist’ whose reputation looms large. But it’s 1901, and like the old west, John is dying and a reputation like his draws trouble like an outhouse draws flies. As word spreads that the famous gunfighter is on his last legs, the vultures begin to gather; old enemies, the marshal, newspaper men, an undertaker, all eager to see him dead. Other men might die quietly in bed or take their own lives, but J. B. Books will choose his executioner and face down death with a pistol in each hand.
With an outstanding cast that features not only Wayne, but James Stewart, Lauren Bacall, Ron Howard, Scatman Crothers and John Carradine, The Shootist is an elegiac ode to a monumental screen presence and to the Western genre itself.
Media
Bonus Materials
- New 2K remaster by Arrow Films from the original 35mm camera negative
- High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
- Original lossless mono audio
- Optional English Subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- Brand new audio commentary by filmmaker and critic Howard S. Berger
- The Last Day, a new visual essay by film critic David Cairns
- A Man-Making Moment, a new interview with Western author C. Courtney Joyner
- Laments of the West, a new appreciation of Elmer Bernstein’s score by film historian and composer Neil Brand
- Contemplating John Wayne: The Death of a Cowboy, a new visual essay by filmmaker and critic Scout Tafoya
- The Shootist: The Legend Lives On, archival featurette
- Theatrical trailer
- Image gallery
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Juan Esteban Rodríguez
- Double-sided fold-out poster featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Juan Esteban Rodríguez
- Six postcard-sized lobby card reproductions
- Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing by film critic Philip Kemp
Dark Water (UHD Limited Edition)
A woman in the midst of a divorce moves to an eerie apartment building with her daughter. The ceiling of their apartment has a dark and active leak.
After terrifying audiences worldwide with the blockbuster J-horror classic Ring and its sequel, director Hideo Nakata returned to the genre for Dark Water, another highly atmospheric, and critically acclaimed, tale of the supernatural which took the common theme of the “dead wet girl” to new heights of suspense and drama. Based upon on a short story by Ring author Koji Suzuki, Dark Water follows Yoshimi, a single mother struggling to win sole custody of her only child, Ikuko. When they move into a new home within a dilapidated and long-forgotten apartment complex, Yoshimi begins to experience startling visions and unexplainable sounds, calling her mental well-being into question, and endangering not only her custody of Ikuko, but perhaps their lives as well. Beautifully shot by the same cinematographer as Ring and Pulse, and featuring an especially unnerving sound design, Dark Water successfully merges spine-tingling tension with a family’s heart-wrenching emotional struggle, creating one of the very finest and most unsettling contemporary Japanese horror films.
Media
Bonus Materials
- 4K (2160p) Ultra HD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)
- Original lossless 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
- Optional English subtitles
- Ghosts, Rings and Water – interview with director Hideo Nakata
- Family Terrors – interview with author Koji Suzuki
- Visualizing Horror – interview with cinematographer Junichiro Hayashi
- Archive interviews with actresses Hitomi Kuroki and Asami Mizukawa, and theme song artist Shikao Suga
- Original ‘making-of’ documentary
- Trailers and TV spots
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Peter Strain
- Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring writing on the film by David Kalat and Michael Gingold
