Forget chocolate and flowers; this February, Arrow Video brings you three lethal releases. First up is Alice, Sweet Alice arriving on 4K UHD. This was Brooke Shields first big movie as she plays the perfect younger sister which upsets Alice (Paula Sheppard). Even though this movie takes place in New Jersey, there’s a touch of Giallo when a First Communion ceremony turns into a crime scene. Paula Sheppard also starred in Liquid Sky where she sang about her rhythm box. A Certain Killer/A Killer’s Key are two films about Japan’s top hitman. Instead of picking off his targets with a sniper’s rifle, Shiozaki (Raizō Ichikawa, Shinobi: Band of Assassins) gets extra close with a poisoned needle. Both films are a rush of cool Japanese Yakuza action. Cruising is coming to 4K UHD. Al Pacino has to go deep cover in the roughest gay bars in the Village to find a killer. Al learns the handkerchief codes and how to dance to seduce in leather and denim. The 4K UHD includes a lot more bonus features then on the previous Blu-ray. You even get William Friedkin at BeyondFest 2022. The 4K UHD transfer will allow you to see deeper into the shadows of the nightclubs and parks after dark. Here’s the press release from Arrow with all the details:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

New from Arrow Video US

 Alice, Sweet Alice

[Limited Edition]

[4K UHD]

2/11/25

A Certain Killer/A Killer’s Key

[Limited Edition]

[Blu-ray]

2/11/25

Cruising

[Limited Edition]

[4K UHD]

2/25/25

via MVD Entertainment Group

On February 11, Arrow Video proudly introduces director Kazuo Mori’s A Certain Killer/A Killer’s Key to the English-language home video market for the very first time. The two stylish gangster films featuring a hitman with a unique method of killing were produced by Japan’s Daiei Films. The Limited Edition release features a high definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentation of both films and hours of special features.

In A Certain Killer, Shiozaki (Raizō Ichikawa, Shinobi: Band of Assassins) appears to be a quiet sushi chef at a low-profile restaurant, but there’s a bit more excitement to his life besides cutting fish and rolling rice: he moonlights as the top hitman in Japan. After a bit of coaxing, Shiozaki accepts a contract to assassinate the boss of a rival Yakuza clan. Instead of using high tech weaponry, the killer’s weapon of choice is a poisoned needle. Things get complicated when a new waitress (Yumiko Nogawa, Gate of Flesh) arrives on the scene.

A Killer’s Key finds Shiozaki working as a traditional dance instructor. The Yakuza pay him a visit, asking him to take out an indicted tycoon freed on bail before he divulges his business arrangement with the local Yakuza boss to the authorities. Shiozaki sharpens his needle when he receives their huge cash offer. But after the hit, the situation gets messy. The gangsters consider Shiozaki a loose end that needs to be snipped. The double cross leads to the hired assassin plotting a lot of free killings. 

The special features include commentaries on both films by Tony Rayns; The Definite Murderer, an introduction to the films by Mark Roberts; an image gallery; trailers for both films; and an illustrated collector’s booklet.

Watch the trailer for A Certain Killer here:

Watch the trailer for A Killer’s Key here: 

On February 25, Arrow Video takes a walk on the wild side with the controversial and erotic thriller, Cruising, making its world premiere on 4K UHD. Director William Friedkin (The Exorcist) cast Al Pacino (The Godfather) in a riveting film that sparked protests upon its initial release in 1980. The Limited Edition release features a brand new 4K restoration from the original 35mm camera negative in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible), and hours of special features.

A serial killer is preying on the gay men that frequent the underground leather and S&M bars in New York City’s meatpacking district. Detective Steve Burns (Al Pacino, Serpico) is assigned to go under deep cover because he resembles the victims who have been dismembered or stabbed to death in cheap hotels around the Village. A shop owner (Powers Boothe, Red Dawn) explains the handkerchief color code to Burns, who hopes the colors in his back pockets will lure out the killer at the clubs or in the park after midnight. His investigation leads him into shadowy spaces that make him question everything from his pursuit of a murderer to his relationship with his girlfriend (Nancy Allen, Raiders of the Lost Ark). Can he truly return to his normal life when this intense investigation ends? Cruising also features Paul Sorvino (Goodfellas), James Remar (The Warriors), and Joe Spinell (Rocky). 

The special features include two vintage audio commentaries with William Friedkin; audio commentary with musicians from the soundtrack; an alternate music score by Pentagram Home Video; deleted scenes; alternative footage; censored material reels; video interviews with actors Karen Allen, Randy Jurgensen, Mike Starr, Jay Aconvone, Mark Zecca; an interview with the manager of the Mineshaft; a visual essay on the hanky-codes with David McGillivray; a short film on the protests; vintage features on the movie; William Friedkin at BeyondFest 2022; an image gallery; the theatrical trailer; teasers; TV Spots; and a 120-page perfect-bound collector’s book with essays, interviews and vintage articles.

Watch the trailer for Cruising here: 

Alice, Sweet Alice [Limited Edition]

A young Brooke Shields meets an untimely end in this religious-themed proto slasher.

A young Brooke Shields meets an untimely end in this religious-themed proto slasher par excellence from director Alfred Sole. On the day of her first communion, young Karen (Brooke Shields) is savagely murdered by an unknown assailant in a yellow rain mac and creepy translucent mask. But the nightmare is far from over – as the knife-wielding maniac strikes again and again, Karen’s bereaved parents are forced to confront the possibility that Karen’s wayward sister Alice might be the one behind the mask. Bearing influences from the likes of Hitchcock, the then-booming Italian giallo film and more specifically, Nicolas Roeg’s Don’t Look Now, Alice, Sweet Alice is an absolutely essential – if often overlooked – entry in the canon of 1970s American horror.

Bonus Materials

• Brand new 4K restoration of the original theatrical version from the original camera negative by Arrow Films
• 4K (2160p) Ultra HD presentations of three versions via seamless branching: Communion (original), Alice, Sweet Alice (theatrical) and Holy Terror (re-release)
• Original uncompressed mono audio
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• Brand new audio commentary with Richard Harland Smith
• Archival audio commentary with co-writer/director Alfred Sole and editor M.Edward Salier
• First Communion: Alfred Sole Remembers Alice, Sweet Alice, director Alfred Sole looks back on his 1976 classic
• Alice on My Mind, an interview with composer Stephen Lawrence
• In the Name of the Father, an interview with actor Niles McMaster
• Sweet Memories: Dante Tomaselli on Alice, Sweet Alice, filmmaker Dante Tomaselli, cousin of Alfred Sole, discusses his longtime connection to the film
• Lost Childhood: The Locations of Alice, Sweet Alice, a tour of the original Alice, Sweet Alice shooting locations hosted by author Michael Gingold
• Deleted scenes
• Split-screen version comparison
• Trailer and TV spot
• Image gallery, including the original screenplay
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Gilles Vranckx
• Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring writing on the film by Michael Blyth

A Certain Killer/A Killers Key [Limited Edition]

A professional assassin whose modus operandi is poisoned needles.

Anticipating the cool aesthetic of Seijun Suzuki’s Branded to Kill and based on a crime novel by Shinji Fujiwara, the author of the original material for the same year’s A Colt is My Passport, A Certain Killer and A Killer’s Key are similarly stylish contemporary hitman thrillers directed by Daiei’s top director of jidai-geki, Kazuo Mori (The Tale of Zatoichi Continues) and starring the studio’s top actor Raizō Ichikawa (Shinobi: Band of Assassins, Sleepy Eyes of Death). In A Certain Killer, Shiozaki’s low-profile existence as a chef at a local sushi restaurant serves as a front for his true job as a professional assassin whose modus operandi is poisoned needles. He’s approached by Maeda, a low-ranking member of a local yakuza group, to take out a rival gang boss. But the sudden arrival into his life of a spirited young woman, Keiko (Yumiko Nogawa, Gate of Flesh), has dramatic ramifications on his relationship with his new employer. Ichikawa’s lone wolf assassin is back in A Killer’s Key, this time masquerading as a traditional dance instructor named Nitta who is called in to avert a potential financial scandal that threatens to engulf a powerful yakuza group with ties to powerful figures in the political establishment. Co-scripted by the director Yasuzō Masumura (Giants and Toys, Blind Beast) and featuring masterful scope cinematography with an expressionistic eye for colour by one of Japan’s most esteemed cinematographers, Kazuo Miyagawa (Rashomon, Ugetsu), these Japanese crime drama essentials are presented for the very first time to the English-language home video market.

Bonus Materials

• High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentation of both films
• Original uncompressed Japanese mono audio for both films
• Optional newly translated English subtitles
• Brand new audio commentary for both films by critic and Asian cinema expert Tony Rayns
• The Definite Murderer, a brand new 30-minute introduction to the films by Japanese film scholar Mark Roberts
• Original theatrical trailers for both films
• Image gallery
• Reversible sleeve featuring newly commissioned artwork for both films by Tony Stella
• Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the films by Jasper Sharp and Earl Jackson

Cruising [Limited Edition]

Al Pacino is Cruising for a killer.

Legendary director William Friedkin brings together Al Pacino, the 70s New York gay scene and a searing punk-rock soundtrack in this one-of-a-kind serial killer thriller, finally restored to its long-unavailable original theatrical version in 4K. New York is caught in the grip of a sadistic serial killer who is preying on the patrons of the city’s underground gay scene. Young rookie cop Steve Burns (Pacino) is tasked with infiltrating the S&M subculture to try and lure the killer out of the shadows… but as he immerses himself deeper and deeper into the underworld, Steve risks losing his own identity in the process. Taking the premise and title from reporter Gerald Walker’s novel, Cruising was the subject of great controversy at the time of its release and remains a challenging and remarkable movie to this day, with Pacino’s haunted lead performance as its magnetic centrepiece. With hours of brand-new bonus features, including never-before-seen material from the deepest recesses of the studio archives, you’ve never seen Cruising like this.

Bonus Materials

• 2-DISC 4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAY LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS:
• Brand new 4K restoration from the original 35mm camera negative by Arrow Films
• 120-page perfect-bound collector’s book featuring articles from The Village Voice and The New York Times, essays from the film’s extras cast, an introduction from William Friedkin, and an archive interview with Al Pacino
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Sister Hyde
• DISC ONE FEATURE & EXTRAS (4K ULTRA HD):
• 4K (2160p) Ultra HD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)
• Original lossless English mono audio, 2.0 stereo, and 5.1
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• Two archive audio commentaries by director William Friedkin, one solo and one moderated by critic and broadcaster Mark Kermode
• Brand new commentary featuring original musicians involved with the soundtrack
• I Want to Be the Curator, a brand-new interview with actress Karen Allen
• Deleted scenes and alternative footage
• On-set audio featuring the club scenes and protest coverage
• Censored material reels
• Theatrical trailer, teasers, and TV spots
• DISC TWO EXTRAS (BLU-RAY):
• Walking the Line, a brand-new interview with actor, film consultant, and former police detective Randy Jurgensen
• Cut Offs, an interview with editor Bud S. Smith
• Who’s That Guy?, an interview with actor Jay Acovone
• Pounding the Beat, an interview with actor Mike Starr
• Boy on the Bus, an interview with actor Mark Zecca
• Mineshaft Memories, an archive interview with Wally Wallace, former manager of the Mineshaft
• Breaking the Codes, a brand-new visual essay surrounding the hanky-codes featuring actor and writer David McGillivray
• Stop the Movie, a short film by Jim Hubbard capturing the Cruising protests
• The History of Cruising, an archival featurette looking at the film’s origins and production
• Exorcising Cruising, an archival featurette looking at the controversy surrounding the film and its enduring legacy
• William Friedkin’s BeyondFest 2022 Q&A at the American Cinematheque
• Extensive image gallery featuring international promotional material, on-set sketches, and more