Arrow Video gives us both ends of the action budget spectrum in April. Long Kiss Goodnight instantly made waves in Hollywood when Shane Black’s script sold for $4 million. Renny Harlin made it a spectacular film with Geena Davis and Samuel L. Jackson teaming up for an explosive adventure. The Long Kiss Goodnight is arriving on 4K UHD. V-Cinema Essentials: Bullets & Betrayal is from when Toei Studios decided to create original action films for VHS instead of begging audiences to return to the theaters. The boxset contains nine of the best from the era. Here’s the press release from Arrow Video with all the details:

New from Arrow Video US

 The Long Kiss Goodnight 

[Limited Edition]

[4K UHD]

4/8/25

V-Cinema Essentials: Bullets & Betrayal

[Limited Edition]

[5-Disc Blu-ray]

4/29/25

via MVD Entertainment Group

On April 29, Arrow Video delivers a definitive collection of iconic Japanese crime films with V-Cinema Essentials: Bullets & Betrayal, a 5-disc, nine-film set on Blu-ray. Starting in 1989, the legendary Toei Studios began producing movies for VHS and other home video formats under their V-Cinema label. By avoiding the ratings board process for a cinematic release, filmmakers working in V-Cinema had creative freedom to be extreme when it came to violence, gore, and eroticism. The Limited-Edition release features nine of the best titles of the era presented in 1080p, and packed with special features – making this the perfect primer for the best genre you didn’t know.

Crime Hunter: Bullets of Rage was the first V-Cinema release and introduced the studio’s new approach to films. A rogue cop looking to avenge the death of his police partner teams up with a gun-packing nun that wants the same killer for ripping off her church’s collection plate.

Shô Aikawa (Takashi Miike’s Rainy Dog) is the newest member of a yakuza family who is ordered to take part in a retaliatory hit job but is faced with a big decision when his fellow family members abandon him in Neo Chinpira: Zoom Goes the Bullet. The movie also stars Joe Shishido (Gate of Flesh) as his uncle. 

Stranger, directed by Shunichi Nagasaki (Shikoku), pumps up the paranoia as a female taxi driver is being followed by a stranger in an SUV during her late shift and fears it has something to do with her nefarious past.

Carlos features a Brazilian-Japanese crook under the impression that he can outsmart rival yakuza families and pit them against each other, but he doesn’t quite cover all the angles. Burning Dog centers on a thievery ring eager to pull off a major heist on the U.S. military base on Okinawa, but the one thing they didn’t plan for was the betrayal of each other. 

Female Prisoner Scorpion: Death Threat revives the hit movie series with a female assassin hired to go undercover in a prison to release the infamous Scorpion from a subterranean cell.

When his girlfriend is turned into a human shield during a yakuza shootout, a man submerges into the underground for revenge in The Hitman: Blood Smells Like Roses. The film was directed by the legendary Teruo Ishii who also helmed Shogun’s Joy of Torture, Orgies of Edo, and Abashiri Prison.

Danger Point: The Road to Hell stars Shô Aikawa (The Eel) and Joe Shishido (Branded To Kill) as a pair of contract killers who find their partnership in question after their most recent hit. Makiko Kuno (Mari’s Prey) has been trained by a blind priest to be a contract killer for the church, but her latest target awakens her in XX: Beautiful Hunter.

The special features include introductions on all films by Japanese film critic Masaki Tanioka; newly filmed interviews with Crime Hunter: Bullets of Rage director Shundo Okawa, Neo Chinpira: Zoom Goes the Bullet writer-director Banmei Takahashi, Stranger writer-director Shunichi Nagasaki, Carlos writer-director Kazuhiro Kiuchi; and XX: Beautiful Hunter screenwriter Hiroshi Takahashi; brand new video essays; original trailers for most of the films; nine postcard-sized art cards; and an illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing by Earl Jackson, Daisuke Miyao, and Hayley Scanlon.

Watch the trailer for Burning Dog here:

The Long Kiss Goodnight [Limited Edition]

Eight years ago, Samantha Caine washed up on a beach, pregnant, with no memory. She’s given up on uncovering her past, until her memories are awoken.

From screenwriter Shane Black (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, The Nice Guys) and director Renny Harlin (Die Hard 2, Cliffhanger) comes ass-kicking action thriller The Long Kiss Goodnight.

Eight years ago, Samantha Caine (Geena Davis) washed up on a beach, pregnant, with no memory. Now she’s a school teacher living an idyllic small town life with a daughter and boyfriend who love her. She’s almost given up on ever finding out about the life she used to lead, until an accident awakens hidden memories and her past comes back with all guns blazing. With the help of low rent private eye Mitch Henessey (Samuel L. Jackson) Samantha must uncover who she was and why so many people want her dead before it kills them both.

With unforgettable action sequences and dialogue to die for, The Long Kiss Goodnight ranks among the very best of 90s action thrillers. Geena Davis is a revelation as the wholesome school teacher struggling to reconcile with her deadly alter ego Charly, while Samuel L. Jackson brings his quintessential charm to a role that so enamored test audiences they refused to let him die. Strap yourselves in and hold on tight!

Bonus Materials

• 2-DISC 4K ULTRA HD LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS
• Limited edition packaging with reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Sam Hadley
• Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Clem Bastow, Richard Kadrey, Maura McHugh, and Priscilla Page
• Seasonal postcard
• Thin Ice sticker
• DISC 1 (4K ULTRA HD) – FEATURE & EXTRAS
• Brand new 4K restoration by Arrow Films from the original 35mm negative approved by director Renny Harlin
• 4K Ultra HD (2160p) presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)
• Original DTS-HD MA 5.1, stereo 2.0. and new Dolby Atmos audio options
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• Brand new audio commentary by film critic Walter Chaw
• Brand new audio commentary by film critics Drusilla Adeline and Joshua Conkel, co-hosts of the Bloodhaus podcast
• Theatrical trailer
• Image gallery
• DISC 2 (BLU-RAY) – BONUS FEATURES
• Symphony of Destruction, a new interview with stunt co-ordinator Steve Davidson
• Long Live the New Flesh, a new interview with make-up artist Gordon J. Smith
• Girl Interrupted, a new interview with actress Yvonne Zima
• Amnesia Chick, a new visual essay by film scholar Josh Nelson
• The Mirror Crack’d, a new visual essay by critic and filmmaker Howard S. Berger
• A Woman’s World, a new visual essay by film scholar Alexandra Heller-Nicholas
• Deleted scenes
• Archive promotional interviews with with director Renny Harlin and stars Geena Davis, Samuel L. Jackson and Craig Bierko
• Making Of, an archive promotional featurette
• Behind the Scenes, archive EPK footage from the filming of The Long Kiss Goodnight

V-Cinema Essentials: Bullets & Betrayal [Limited Edition]

Filled with action, thrills and double-crosses, V-Cinema Essentials: Bullets & Betrayal is a compendium of gems from the Japanese video underworld.

V-Cinema Essentials: Bullets & Betrayal presents nine explosive titles representing some of the best the Japanese crime film has to offer.

Fast-paced and action-packed, Crime Hunter: Bullets of Rage sees detective Joe Kawamura out for revenge against the men who gunned down his partner. Along the way he teams up with Lily, a gun-toting nun looking to get back five million dollars that was stolen from her church. Next up, Neo Chinpira: Zoom Goes the Bullet sees wannabe yakuza Junko get more than he bargained for when tasked with avenging the murder of a fellow gang member, or face the consequences for betrayal. Meanwhile, in Shunichi Nagasaki’s unbearably tense thriller Stranger, a late-night taxi driver is stalked by the unseen driver of an SUV, who just might have a connection to the taxi driver’s criminal past. In Carlos, the eponymous Brazilian-Japanese petty criminal sees an opportunity to play rival yakuza gangs against each other, but bites off much more than he can chew. Burning Dog is a gripping heist film where a gang of thieves plot to rob a US military base in Okinawa, but rising tensions in the group threaten to put the plan in jeopardy.

The sequel to one of the most iconic Japanese franchises of all time, Female Prisoner Scorpion: Death Threat sees a female assassin hired to infiltrate a women’s prison and search for The Scorpion, a legendary rebellious prisoner hiding in the bowels of the building. After his fiancée is killed in the crossfire of a yakuza turf war, a man on the edge remorselessly hunts down the gangsters responsible in legendary director Teruo Ishii’s The Hitman: Blood Smells Like Roses. Meanwhile in Danger Point: The Road to Hell, duo of contract killers’ fragile partnership is tested when their most recent hit starts to have unforeseen consequences. Finally, assassin and femme fatale Shion rebels against the fanatical religious order who prepared her from birth to be the perfect killer in the pulpy XX: Beautiful Hunter.

Bonus Materials

• LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS
• High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentations of all films
• Original lossless Japanese mono audio on Crime Hunter: Bullets of Rage and original lossless Japanese stereo audio for all other films
• Optional newly translated English subtitles for all films
• Nine postcard-sized artcards
• Limited edition packaging with reversible sleeves featuring newly commissioned artwork by Chris Malbon
• Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing by Earl Jackson, Daisuke Miyao, and Hayley Scanlon
• DISC 1 – CRIME HUNTER: BULLETS OF RAGE / NEO CHINPIRA: ZOOM GOES THE BULLET
• Newly filmed introductions to both films by Japanese film critic Masaki Tanioka
• Loose Cannon, a newly filmed interview with Crime Hunter: Bullets of Rage director Shundo Okawa
• Zooming Out, a newly filmed interview with Neo Chinpira: Zoom Goes the Bullet writer-director Banmei Takahashi
• Crime Hunter and the Dawn of V-Cinema, a brand new video essay on Crime Hunter: Bullets of Rage by Japanese cinema expert Tom Mes
• Original trailers for both films
• DISC 2 – STRANGER / CARLOS
• Newly filmed introductions to both films by Japanese film critic Masaki Tanioka
• Stranger than Fiction, a newly filmed interview with Stranger writer-director Shunichi Nagasaki
• From Manga to Movies, a newly filmed interview with Carlos writer-director Kazuhiro Kiuchi
• An Extra Round in the Chamber, a brand new video essay on Carlos by critic and Japanese cinema expert Jonathan Clements
• DISC 3 – BURNING DOG / FEMALE PRISONER SCORPION: DEATH THREAT
• Newly filmed introductions to both films by Japanese film critic Masaki Tanioka
• Fire and Ice, a brand new video essay on Burning Dog by critic and Japanese cinema expert Mark Schilling
• Toshiharu Ikeda’s Beautiful Monster of Vengeance, a brand new video essay on Female Prisoner Scorpion: Death Threat by film historian Samm Deighan
• Original trailers for both films
• DISC 4 – THE HITMAN: BLOOD SMELLS LIKE ROSES / DANGER POINT: THE ROAD TO HELL
• Newly filmed introductions to both films by Japanese film critic Masaki Tanioka
• The Versatility of Teruo Ishii, a brand new video essay on The Hitman: Blood Smells Like Roses and its director Teruo Ishii by Japanese cinema expert Frankie Balboa
• The Road to V-Cinema, a brand new video essay on Danger Point: The Road to Hell by critic and Japanese cinema expert James Balmont
• Original trailer for The Hitman: Blood Smells Like Roses
• DISC 5 – XX: BEAUTIFUL HUNTER
• Newly filmed introduction by Japanese film critic Masaki Tanioka
• The Sacred and the Profane, a newly filmed interview with screenwriter Hiroshi Takahashi
• They Brought Back the Sleaze, a brand new video essay on XX: Beautiful Hunter by critic and Japanese cinema expert Patrick Macias
• Original trailer