Posted Wed Mar 8, 2017 at 08:00 AM PST by Steven Cohen
The distributor has revealed its upcoming slate of May releases.
In an early announcement to retailers, Arrow Video is preparing 'Brain Damage,' 'Cops vs Thugs,' 'Evil Ed,' and 'The Climber' for Blu-ray throughout the month of May.
'Brain Damage' (May 9) - IT'S A HEADACHE FROM HELL! From Frank Henenlotter, the man behind such cult horror favourites as Basket Case and Frankenhooker, comes Brain Damage the ultimate head-trip, now finally on Blu-ray! Meet Elmer. He s your local, friendly parasite with the ability to induce euphoric hallucinations in his hosts. But these LSD-like trips come with a hefty price tag. When young Brian comes under Elmer s addictive spell, it s not long before he finds himself scouring the city streets in search of his parasite s preferred food source brains! Featuring late TV horror host John Zacherley as the voice of Elmer, Brain Damage boasts some of the most astonishing bad taste gore-gags ever realized, including the notorious brain-pulling sequence and another that let's just say ends with a distinctly unconventional climax.
The Blu-ray will feature 1080p video, an English PCM mono soundtrack, and supplements will include:
- Brand new audio commentary by writer-director Frank Henenlotter
- Brand new interviews with cast and crew
- Q&A with Henenlotter recorded at the 2016 Offscreen Film Festival
- Theatrical Trailer
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Sara Deck
- PLUS MORE TO BE ANNOUNCED!!!
- Limited edition O-card with exclusive artwork (FIRST PRESSING ONLY!)
- Collector's Booklet with new writing on the film by Michael Gingold (FIRST PRESSING ONLY!)
Suggested list price for the Blu-ray is $39.95.
'The Climber' (May 16) - After shooting cult favourites Flesh for Frankenstein and Blood for Dracula in Europe, Joe Dallesandro spent much of the seventies making movies on the continent. In France he worked with auteurs like Louis Malle and Walerian Borowczyk, and in Italy he starred in all manner of genre fare from poliziotteschi (Savage Three, Season for Assassins) to nunsploitation (Killer Nun). The Climber follows in the tradition of gangster classics such as The Public Enemy and Scarface as it charts the rise and inevitable fall of small-time smuggler Aldo (Dallesandro). Beaten and abandoned by the local gang boss after he tries to skim off some profits for himself, Aldo forms his own group of misfits in order to exact revenge... Written and directed by Pasquale Squitieri (Gang War in Naples, I Am the Law), The Climber is a prime example of Italian crime cinema a high-octane action-thriller full of brawls, fistfights, shootouts and explosions!
The Blu-ray will feature 1080p video, an Italian PCM mono and alternative English soundtrack, and supplements will include:
- Little Joe s Adventures in Europe, a brand-new interview with Joe Dallesandro on his numerous European film appearances during the 1970s and early 1980s
- Reversible sleeve with original and newly commissioned artwork by Chris Malbon
- FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Booklet featuring new writing on the film by Roberto Curti, author of Italian Crime Filmography, 1968-1980
Suggested list price for the Blu-ray is $39.95.
'Cops vs Thugs' (May 23) - Considered by many to be director Kinji Fukasaku's greatest single-film achievement in the yakuza genre, Cops vs Thugs was made at the height of popularity of Toei Studios' jitsuroku boom: realistic, modern crime movies based on true stories taken from contemporary headlines. Returning to the screen after completing their Battles Without Honor and Humanity series together, Fukasaku joined forces once again with screenwriter Kazuo Kasahara, composer Toshiaki Tsushima and star Bunta Sugawara to create one of the crowning achievements of his career, and a hard-boiled classic which is still ranked as one of the best Japanese films of the 1970's. It's 1963 in the southern Japanese city of Kurashima, and tough-as-nails detective Kuno (Sugawara) oversees a detente between the warring Kawade and Ohara gangs. Best friends with Ohara lieutenant Hirotani (Hiroki Matsukata), he understands that there are no clear lines in the underworld, and that everything is colored a different shade of gray. But when random violence interrupts the peace and an ambitious, by-the-books lieutenant (Tatsuo Umemiya) comes to town, Kuno's fragile alliance begins to crumble. Greedy bosses and politicians alike seize the opportunity to wipe out their enemies, and Kuno faces the painful choice of pledging allegiance to his badge and keeping a promise to his brother. Echoing the great crime films of Sidney Lumet and Jean-Pierre Melville, in Fukasaku's world, there's no honor among thieves or lawmen alike, and the only thing that matters is personal honor and duty among friends. Kasahara's shattering screenplay and Fukasaku's dynamic direction support an all-star, ensemble cast to create one of the most exciting, and deeply moving films about cops and criminals ever made.
The Blu-ray will feature 1080p video, a Japanese mono soundtrack, and supplements will include:
- Audio commentary by film scholar Tom Mes
- New video interview with film scholar & Fukasaku biographer Sadao Yamane
- Sympathy for the Underdog, a new visual essay on Fukasaku's career by Marc Walkow
- Trailer
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Ian MacEwan
- FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collector s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Patrick Macias, Marc Walkow and a newly-translated essay by screenwriter Kazuo Kasahara
Suggested list price for the Blu-ray is $39.95.
'Evil Ed' (May 30) - WHEN HIS MIND BLOWS, ANYTHING GOES! A blood-soaked love letter to the splatter films of the 80s, video rental favourite Evil Ed returns in a brand-new Special EDition featuring an extended cut of the feature and hours of stomach-churning bonus features! Mild-mannered film technician Edward enjoys his job. That is, until he finds himself transferred from his regular post to the Splatter and Gore department , where he s forced to edit hours upon hours of grisly video nasty footage. Traumatized by the onscreen violence, Ed starts to lose his grip on reality with ghastly (and bloody) consequences... Owing a debt to films such as The Evil Dead, Re-animator and the early splatter classics of Peter Jackson, Evil Ed is a veritable smorgasbord of flying limbs, exploding heads, busty babes and creepy creatures!
The Blu-ray will feature 1080p video, Original Stereo and 5.1 Audio Options, and supplements will include:
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphreys
- Collector's booklet with new writing on the film by critic James Oliver
- Keep Em Heads Rollin making-of documentary
- Reconstructing Edward featurette on the creation of the Special EDition cut
- Deleted scenes
- Bloopers
- Teasers and Trailers
- Still Gallery
- Lost in Brainland never-before-seen extended 3 hour version of the making-of documentary
- PLUS OTHER SURPRISES!!!
Suggested list price for the Blu-ray is $39.95.
You can find the latest specs for all of the titles listed above linked from our Blu-ray Release Schedule, where they're indexed throughout May.
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