As we were incommunicado at the weekend, we came a couple of days late to Arrow's latest release announcements, and we figured it was important to share the details with anyone else who doesn't spend each day glued to Twitter. And there are some absolutely belting titles here from the likes of Russ Meyer, Joe Dante, Brian De Palma, Brian Trenchard-Smith, Juan Piquer Simón and Wes Craven, plus two noir titles on the Arrow Academy label. So let's get started.

Beyond the Valley of the Dolls | Blu-ray | UK only | 5 September 2016 | £19.99

When Easy Rider rewrote the box-office rulebook in 1969, Hollywood scrambled to catch up – and 20th Century Fox noticed that one particular independent filmmaker was seeing impressive returns from tiny investments. So what would happen if he was given a decent budget and the run of a Hollywood studio and told to make the ultimate Russ Meyer film?

Well, this is the result: an initially X-rated cult camp classic about an all-female rock band trying to parlay Midwestern success into a Hollywood contract with the aid of a hefty inheritance. But will they be able to maintain their trademark apple-pie wholesomeness under their new manager, the notorious Ronnie ‘Z-Man’ Barzell? Take a wild guess.

Co-scripted by film critic Roger Ebert, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls is a merciless satire of Hollywood and the music business, a no-holds-barred psychedelic thrill-ride that gleefully stirs sex, drugs, rock’n’roll, fashion, lesbianism, transvestism and Nazis into one of the most riotously unhinged mainstream films ever made.

Special Edition contents:

• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation

• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing

• Original uncompressed PCM mono audio

• Separate music and effects track

• Audio commentary by co-screenwriter Roger Ebert

• Audio commentary by cast members Dolly Read, Cynthia Myers, Harrison Page, John La Zar and Erica Gavin

• Introduction by John La Zar

• Above, Beneath and Beyond the Valley: The Making of a Musical-Horror-Sex-Comedy

• Look On Up at the Bottom, with composer Stu Phillips discussing the film’s music

• The Best of Beyond, favourite moments selected by cast and crew members

• Sex, Drugs, Music & Murder: Signs of the Time, Baby!, a look at the late 1960s culture that spawned Beyond the Valley of the Dolls

• Casey & Roxanne: The Love Scene, discussed by participants Erica Gavin and Cynthia Myers

• Screen tests for Michael Blodgett, Cynthia Myers, Harrison Page, Marcia McBroom

• High Definition photo galleries

• Multiple trailers

• Reversible sleeve featuring two original artworks

The Seven Minutes | DVD | UK only | 5th September 2016 | £14.99

When Twentieth Century Fox signed sexploitation maestro Russ Meyer to a multi-picture deal, this resulted in two films. The first was the legendary Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. The second was the little-seen The Seven Minutes, about a subject that could hardly have been closer to Meyer’s heart.

Based on the best-selling novel by Irving Wallace, The Seven Minutes is also the title of a notorious 1930s book whose belated publication in the US triggers an obscenity lawsuit, prompted by a hitherto clean-living young man raping a fellow student and leaving her for dead. But is the resulting trial a sincere exploration of links between (alleged) pornography and real-life violence or an attempted Kafkaesque stitch-up involving a shady businessman, ambitious politicians in search of a populist bandwagon, and even the Vatican?

With a dazzling cast including cult legends John Carradine, Yvonne De Carlo (The Munsters), Jay C. Flippen (The Killing), Wolfman Jack (Motel Hell), Charles Napier (The Blues Brothers) and future star Tom Selleck (Magnum P.I.), The Seven Minutes is an absorbing, intelligent and thought-provoking drama.

Special Edition contents:

• DVD presentation of the longer cut of The Seven Minutes, including the notorious sex-film studio scene

• Dolby Digital 1.0 sound, with optional English subtitles for the deaf and hearing-impaired

• Sinister Image, an interview with Russ Meyer and his former model Yvette Vickers

• Theatrical trailer

Matinee | Dual Format Blu-ray & DVD | UK only | 12th September 2016 | £19.99

HALF MAN… HALF ANT… ALL TERROR!

So says the advertising campaign for Mant!, the latest low-budget schlock-horror classic from cigar-chomping producer Lawrence Woolsey (John Goodman – The Big Lebowski), who more than makes up for his films' lack of production values by festooning them with gimmicks that would turn even William Castle (The Tingler) green with envy.

But the most potent gimmick of all is accidental: Woolsey schedules a sneak preview of Mant! in Key West, Florida, in October 1962, unaware that the Cuban missile crisis is about to flare up. Will the threat of genuine nuclear war distract the locals from the movie, or will they find it doubly terrifying?

Directed by the legendary Joe Dante (The ’Burbs), this delightful film isn’t just an affectionate love-letter to the sci-fi and horror films that he grew up with in the 1950s and 60s, it’s also a witty and intelligent exploration of the way that the most successful genre films worked by preying on the very real fears of their audiences about everything from Soviet satellite launches to atomic mutation.

Special Edition contents:

• High definition digital transfer supplied by NBC Universal

• Lossless stereo audio

• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing

• Paranoia in Ant Vision, a discussion with director Joe Dante about the making of the film

• Mant!, the full length version of the film-within-a-film

• Discussion with Joe Dante on the effects of Mant!

• Vintage ‘making of’ featurette

• Rare on-set footage, sourced from Joe Dante’s personal collection

• Original theatrical trailer

• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphrey

• First pressing only: Booklet featuring new writing on the film by David Jenkins

Raising Cain | Dual Format Blu-ray & DVD | UK only | 12th September 2016 | UK only | £19.99

Having spent the latter half of the eighties trying out new styles of filmmaking – Wise Guys’ knockabout comedy, The Untouchables’ prestige gangster pic, Casualties of War’s Vietnam movie and The Bonfire of the Vanities’ satirical misfire – Brian De Palma returned to what he knew best, the Hitchcockian psycho-thriller, for Raising Cain.

John Lithgow plays three roles: child psychologist Carter, his evil twin brother Cain, and their Norwegian father, Dr Nix, who likes to experimental on the young. Carter’s wife is concerned that her husband isn’t quite paying their daughter the right kind of attention; she’s also having an affair which, upon discovery, threatens to send him into a psychotic rage…

A relentless blend of murder, multiple personalities, cross-dressing, crazed parents, bizarre dream sequences and stunning cinematic assurance, Raising Cain harks back to those twin masterpieces Psycho and Peeping Tom, but is pure unadulterated De Palma.

Special Edition contents:

• Brand new 2K restoration from original film materials

• High Definition (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD Presentations

• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing

• Brand new interview with John Lithgow

• Theatrical trailer

• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Nathanael Marsh

• MORE to be announced!

• First pressing only: Collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Anne Billson

Dead-End Drive-In | Blu-ray & DVD | UK & USA | 20th September 2016

One of Quentin Tarantino s favourite directors, Brian Trenchard-Smith was a key figure in the Ozploitation movement, responsible for The Man from Hong Kong, Stunt Rock, Turkey Shoot, BMX Bandits... and dystopian cult classic Dead-End Drive-In!

Set in a near-future where the economy has crumbled and violent gangs play havoc in the streets, the powers-that-be have decided to lure the delinquent youth into drive-in cinemas and keep them there. No longer just a place to watch trashy movies and make out, these outdoor picture shows have become concentration camps for the unruly and unwanted.

With its day-glo colour scheme, new wave soundtrack and extraordinary stunt work, Dead-End Drive-In is in the tradition of Ozploitation milestones Mad Max and The Cars That Ate Paris only very, very eighties.

Special Edition contents:

• Brand new 2K restoration from original film materials

• High Definition (1080p) Presentation

• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing

• Audio commentary by director Brian Trenchard-Smith

• The Stuntmen, Trenchard Smith's classic television documentary on Grant Page (Mad Max, Road Games) and other Australian stunt performers

• Hospitals Don't Burn Down, Trenchard-Smith s 1978 public information film told in pure Ozploitation fashion

• Theatrical trailer

• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Chris Malbon

• First pressing only: fully-illustrated collector s booklet containing writing on the films by Cullen Gallagher and Neil Mitchell

Slugs | Blu-Ray and DVD | UK and USA | 26 September 2016

From celebrated Spanish director Juan Piquer Simón, the man behind the truly demented slasher flick Pieces (1982), comes a terrifying tale of mutant slugs on the rampage in small-town America.

The townsfolk of a rural community are dying in strange and gruesome circumstances. Following the trail of horrifically mutilated cadavers, resident health inspector Mike Brady is on the case to piece together the mystery. He soon comes to a terrifying conclusion giant slugs are breeding in the sewers beneath the town, and they re making a meal of the locals!

Based on the novel by acclaimed British horror author Shaun Hutson, Slugs outdoes its creature feature peers by adding an extra dose of gross-out gore into the equation, culminating in one of the most squirm-inducing animal attack movies ever to slither its way across screens.

Special Edition contents:

Brand new restoration from original film elements

• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation

• Original Uncompressed PCM Stereo audio

• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing

• Audio commentary by writer and filmmaker Chris Alexander

• Here's Slugs In Your Eye, an interview with actor Emilio Linder

• They Slime, They Ooze, They Kill: The Effects of Slugs, an interview with special effects artist Carlo De Marchis

• Invasion USA, an interview with art director Gonzalo Gonzalo

• The Lyons Den, an interview and locations tour with production manager Larry Ann Evans 1988 Goya Awards promo reel

• Original Theatrical Trailer

• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Wes Benscoter

• Fully-illustrated collector's booklet featuring new writing by writer Michael Gingold

The Hills Have Eyes | Blu-ray & DVD | UK and USA (Blu-ray only in USA) | 26 September 2016

Horror master Wes Craven achieved critical and commercial success with the likes of Scream and A Nightmare on Elm Street but for many genre fans, the director s seminal 1977 effort The Hills Have Eyes remains his masterpiece.

Taking a detour whilst on route to Los Angeles, the Carter family run into trouble when their campervan breaks down in the middle of the desert. Stranded, the family find themselves at the mercy of a group of monstrous cannibals lurking in the surrounding hills. With their lives under threat, the Carters are forced to fight back by any means necessary.

As gruelling a viewing experience today as it was upon initial release, The Hills Have Eyes stands alongside the likes of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and Night of the Living Dead as one of the defining moments in American horror cinema.

Limited Edition contents:

• Brand new 4K restoration from original film elements, supervised by producer Peter Locke

• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation

• Original mono audio

• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing

• 6 x postcards

• Reversible fold-out poster featuring new and original artwork

• Limited edition booklet featuring new writing on the film by critic Brad Stevens and a consideration of the Hills franchise by Ewan Cant, illustrated with original archive stills

• Audio commentary with Wes Craven and Peter Locke

• Looking Back on The Hills Have Eyes, making-of documentary featuring interviews with Craven, Locke, actors Michael Berryman, Dee Wallace, Janus Blythe, Robert Houston, Susan Lanier and director of photography Eric Saarinen

• The Desert Sessions brand new interview with composer Don Peake

• Alternate ending, in HD for the first time

• Trailers and TV spots

• Image gallery

• Original screenplay (BD/DVD-ROM content)

• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Paul Shipper

• + MORE TO BE ANNOUNCED!

ARROW ACADEMY TITLES:

The Glass Key | Blu-ray | 19th September 2016 | £19.99

Twists, double-crosses and political intrigue abound in this classic thriller starring the golden couple of film noir, Veronica Lake and Alan Ladd (The Blue Dahlia, This Gun For Hire).

A crooked political boss, Paul Madvig (Brian Donlevy), falls for Janet Henry (Lake), daughter of a prospective Baltimore governor, and decides to mend his ways. However, when Janet’s no-good brother turns up dead, Madvig’s colourful past returns to haunt him as he is fingered as the likely suspect. Which of his many enemies conspired to frame him? And can he, with the assistance of right-hand man Ed Beaumont (Ladd), prove his innocence before he is sent down for murder?

The earliest collaboration between Lake and Ladd, The Glass Key boasts a screenplay adapted from the novel by Dashiell Hammett (The Maltese Falcon), father of hard-boiled crime. Now appearing for the first time ever on Blu-ray in the UK, this timeless noir thriller shines like never before.

Special Edition contents:

• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation

• Original uncompressed PCM mono audio

• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing

• Audio commentary by Adrian Wootton, CEO of Film London

• New visual essay on the film by Alastair Phillips, co-author of 100 Film Noirs

• Rare 1946 half-hour radio dramatization of The Glass Key by The Screen Guild Theater, starring Alan Ladd, Marjorie Reynolds and Gene Kelly

• Original theatrical trailer

• Extensive gallery of vintage stills and promotional materials

• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Tonci Zonjic

• First pressing only: collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by critic Kat Ellinger

The Blue Dahlia | Blu-ray | 19th September 2016 | £19.99

Hollywood legends Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake (The Glass Key, This Gun For Hire) team up for a masterfully told tale of suspense and intrigue in the classic noir tradition.

When discharged navy officer Johnny Morrison (Ladd) comes home from war to his old stomping ground in the Hollywood Hills, he is shocked to discover his wife Helen (Doris Dowling) having an affair with the proprietor of the glamorous Blue Dahlia nightclub. But when Helen is murdered and Johnny is fingered as the prime suspect, he is forced to prove his innocence, aided by a woman harbouring a dark secret, the beautiful and enigmatic Joyce (Lake).

Directed by George Marshall (Destry Rides Again, How the West Was Won) from a script by acclaimed hard-boiled novelist Raymond Chandler – his only produced original screenplay – The Blue Dahlia sparkles with wit and old Hollywood glamour, showcasing some of the most celebrated talent of the golden age of the silver screen at their iconic best, making its high definition debut in this feature-packed release from Arrow Academy.

Special Edition contents:

• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation

• Original uncompressed PCM mono audio

• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing

• Selected scene commentary by Frank Krutnik, author of In a Lonely Street: Film Noir, Genre, Masculinity

• Introduction to the film by Frank Krutnik

• Rare 1949 half-hour radio dramatization of The Blue Dahlia by The Screen Guild Theater, starring Veronica Lake and Alan Ladd

• Original theatrical trailer

• Extensive gallery of vintage stills and promotional materials

• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Tonci Zonjic

• First pressing only: collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Adrian Wootton, CEO of Film London