Only 2 months until Christmas, don’t fret as Arrow Video have your back covered. In the action packed December, your bank balance might get demolished’ with great films to add to your collection!
The first film on the agenda is Demolition Man in 4K, where Rambo and Rocky superstar Sylvester Stallone goes up against Wesley Snipes (Blade) in the classic sci-fi/action blockbuster from Joel Silver, the producer of Die Hard and The Matrix. With a script co-written by Daniel Waters (Heathers, Batman Returns) and a supporting cast that includes Denis Leary, Benjamin Bratt, and Sandra Bullock in her breakout role, Demolition Man is an awesome mix of action and humour! Featuring a brand new 4K restoration from the original 35mm camera negative by Arrow Films, approved by director Marco Brambilla, the release includes both the domestic “Taco Bell” and international “Pizza Hut” versions of the film, brand new audio commentaries and interviews, and comes with a 60-page perfect bound collector’s book, limited edition packaging, a double-sided fold-out poster, 6 artcards, stickers and a reversible sleeve. The release is available on Limited Edition 4K UHD and Limited Edition Blu-ray, and is a surefire stocking smasher!
Arrow Video is also releasing The Addiction, on Limited Edition 4K UHD, which sees director Abel Ferrara reunited with his King of New York star Christopher Walken, in a distinctly personal take on the vampire story, also starring Lili Taylor (The Conjuring) and Annabella Sciorra (The Hand That Rocks the Cradle). Shot on the streets of New York, like so many of his major works – including The Driller Killer, Ms. 45 and Bad Lieutenant – and beautifully filmed in black and white, The Addiction sees the filmmaker on his own terms and at his very best: raw, shocking, intense, intelligent, masterful. With a brand new 4K restoration from the original camera negative by Arrow Films, an audio commentary by the director, a documentary on the film and numerous interviews, the release includes a reversible sleeve and an illustrated collector’s booklet.
Also this month, The Great Escape, on Limited Edition 4K. Director John Sturges reunites with The Magnificent Seven stars Steve McQueen, James Coburn and Charles Bronson in this timeless adaptation of Paul Brickhill’s World War II memoir of an audacious prisoner breakout. Beautifully shot by Oscar®-winning cinematographer Daniel L. Fapp (West Side Story) and featuring a rousing, infectiously hummable score by Elmer Bernstein (The Ten Commandments), The Great Escape remains one of the most beloved Hollywood historical action movies – a testament to human ingenuity, camaraderie under pressure and indomitability of the spirit. The 3-disc release (also available on Limited Edition Blu-ray) comes with limited edition packaging, a reversible sleeve, collector’s booklet, and double-sided poster; extras include audio commentaries and interviews, numerous featurettes and documentaries, and the 1988 film The Great Escape II: The Untold Story, starring Christopher Reeve.
Next in December, The Good, The Bad, The Weird, on Limited Edition 4K, a rollicking kimchi western from genre maestro Kim Jee-woon (A Tale of Two Sisters) starring three of Korea’s biggest stars – Jung Woo-sung (12.12: The Day), Lee Byung-hun (A Bittersweet Life) and Song Kang-ho (Parasite) – in an audacious action epic, that was the biggest and most ambitious production ever undertaken in Korea. Presented here for the very first time in stunning 4K, experience this spicy slice of wild west mayhem as you’ve never seen it before. The 2-disc release includes limited edition packaging, a 40-page perfect bound collector’s book, a double-sided poster, three postcard-sized artcards, and a reversible sleeve, with international and Korean versions of the film, brand new and archival commentaries, interviews and featurettes. It is also available on Limited Edition Blu-ray.
The Krites have landed! The beloved sci-fi/comedy-horror franchise Critters makes its UK Blu-ray debut in December in this special edition box set from Arrow Video, Critters: A Four Course Feast! The set contains four Critters films, featuring among the cast members genre stalwarts Dee Wallace (The Howling) and M. Emmet Walsh (Blood Simple), Leonardo DiCaprio (Django Unchained) in his film debut, Angela Bassett (Strange Days) and Brad Dourif (Child’s Play). A four course feast of Limited Edition fun, fur, fear and fangs, served with a platter of new and archive extras to whet your appetite, it is presented with a 60-page hardbound collectors book, double-sided fold out posters for all four films, limited edition packaging with newly commissioned artwork, and reversible sleeves! Go on, get stuck in!
Last but not least in December, The Last Video Store, on Limited Edition Blu-ray. A love letter to video rental stores and the B-movie treasures that lined their walls, Cody Kennedy & Tim Rutherford’s debut feature is a genre-loving blast of pure joy, with style, charm and note perfect performances, The Last Video Store is a must for physical media fans, an elegy to the cinephilic havens of movie wisdom that could once be found on every corner, and the heroes who staffed them. Packed with extras and four short films, the release includes an illustrated collector’s booklet, a reversible sleeve, and a double-sided poster.
Demolition Man Limited Edition 4K UHD 16th December
In 2032, arch criminal Simon Phoenix (Snipes) awakens from a 35-year deep freeze in CryoPrison to find a world where crime is almost non-existent – a serene utopia ripe for the taking. With the police no longer equipped to deal with his 90s-style brutality, they revive ‘Demolition Man’ Sgt. John Spartan (Stallone), the no-holds-barred police officer unjustly sentenced to CryoPrison who originally took Phoenix down. Old-school cop against old-school criminal, settling their scores on the streets of San Angeles? The future won’t know what’s hit it.
Also avaiable on: Limited Edition Blu-ray
The Addiction Limited Edition 4K UHD 9th December
Philosophy student Kathleen (Lili Taylor, The Conjuring) is dragged into an alleyway on her way home from class by Casanova (Annabella Sciorra, The Hand That Rocks the Cradle) and bitten on the neck. She quickly falls ill but realises this isn’t any ordinary disease when she develops an aversion to daylight and a thirst for human blood…
The Great Escape Limited Edition Blu-ray 2nd December
Stalag Luft III: an impenetrable camp built to hold the most persistent escapees. Under the ruthless vigilance of the Nazi guards, a multinational group of prisoners must work together to enact their daring plan: to break out of the camp, forcing the Germans to divert precious military resources towards apprehending them. But getting beyond the camp’s barbed wire fences and gun-towers is only the beginning. Once out, the escapees must make the perilous journey to the border, all the while evading the relentless pursuit of their former captors.
The Good, The Bad, The Weird Limited Edition 4K UHD 9th December
In the 1930s, three gun-toting Koreans converge on a train with different objectives but after an explosive altercation they leave it with the same goal: track down a map leading to an unfathomable treasure. The ‘Good’ is bounty hunter Park Do-won (Jung Woo-sung, 12.12: The Day), who is chasing down the ‘Bad’, the ruthless bandit Park Chang-yi (Lee Byung-hun, A Bittersweet Life), rumoured to be the notorious ‘Finger Cutter’. Meanwhile, wily thief Yoon Tae-goo (Song Kang-ho, Parasite), the ‘Weird’, is on the hunt for anything he can get his hands on. Backs are stabbed, fingers are cut, and many bullets fly as this dangerous trio blast their way through the desert in search of untold riches.
Critters: A Four Course Feast! Limited Edition Blu-ray 2nd December
A smart homage to 1950’s B-movies, Critters sees a group of small but toothy extra terrestrials escape from an alien prison and land in small-town America with two shape-shifting bounty hunters in hot pursuit. Directed by Stephen Herek (Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure) and starring genre stalwarts Dee Wallace (The Howling) and M. Emmet Walsh (Blood Simple), the film was a smash-hit on home video, launching a franchise for the ravenous furry fiends. Two years later, Critters 2: The Main Course sees the Krites come back for seconds as leftover eggs hatch and attack the rural town of Grover’s Bend. Directed by Mick Garris (Sleepwalkers) with a script co-written by David Twohy (Pitch Black), Critters 2 is one big ball of toothy delight.
Celebrated horror author and screenwriter David J. Schow (The Crow) comes aboard for Critters 3, bringing the Krites to the big city. Marking the feature film debut of none other than Leonardo DiCaprio (Django Unchained), it was shot simultaneously with the darker, less comedic Critters 4, in which the ferocious furballs battle series stalwart Charlie (Don Opper, Android) in outer space, featuring a cast that includes Angela Bassett (Strange Days) and Brad Dourif (Child’s Play).
The Last Video Store Limited Edition Blu-ray 9th December
When her estranged father passes, twenty-something Nyla is tasked with the thing she hates the most – cleaning up his mess. Left behind are a collection of VHS tapes, and with them, the burden of returning them to “Blaster Video” a time capsule to an era in which cover art and a catchy movie title were king, run by Kevin, a human encyclopaedia of VHS history and a friend of her father. Amongst the returns is an unknown tape, a movie not even Kevin has heard of. Was this the last movie Nyla’s father watched before he died? The mystery is too much to resist. But when Kevin and Nyla press play, they unwittingly activate a long-dormant curse and a series of classic cinematic villains are plucked from B-movie heaven and hell to be unleashed into the store itself!
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