Yesterday (we had a late night, okay?), Arrow Video announced the November release of four new Blu-ray and DVD titles, all featuring new restorations and new special features.

The month kicks off with The Initiation on Dual Format (Blu-ray & DVD), one of the best of the college-based slasher movies of the 1980s. One of the later entries into the genre, it had horror fans hooked with its tense stalk ‘n’ slash scenes and it’s surprising twist of an ending.

The horror continues with the Dual Format release of Howling II: Your Sister is a Werewolf, the campy follow-up to Joe Dante’s The Howling. Starring the legendary Christopher Lee, this is a barmy joy of a horror film that throws everything from werewolf orgies to killer dwarves into the mix!

Heading into thriller territory, November also sees the Dual Format release of William Friedkin’s seminal 80s crime opus To Live and Die in L.A.. Starring William Petersen as well as Willem Dafoe at his villainous best, this is one of the most stylish thrillers of the decade.

Last but by no means least comes Arrow Video’s landmark release of The Driller Killer as a Limited Edition Dual Format SteelBook. One of the most infamous of the video nasties, Abel Ferrara’s psychological horror masterpiece is presented fully uncut and comes with several new, exclusive special features.

The Initiation | Dual format (Blu-ray & DVD) | 7th November 2016 | £19.99

Marking TV star Daphne Zuniga’s debut in a leading role, The Initiation ranks amongst the finest of the college-based stalk-and-slash flicks – now finally restored in glorious High-Definition.

Kelly’s new sorority has a special initiation ritual in store for her – an after-hours break-in of her father’s department store. But what begins as a night of harmless college fun turns sour when, once inside the enormous mall, Kelly and her fellow pledges find themselves locked in for the night… with a deadly intruder stalking the corridors.

Arriving in 1984, The Initiation might have been late to the slasher party, but, alongside the likes of The House on Sorority Row and The Mutilator, it remains one of the stronger entries to emerge in the latter days of the slice-and-dice boom.

Special Edition contents:

• Brand new restoration from original film elements

• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation

• Original Uncompressed Mono PCM audio

• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing

• Brand new audio commentary by The Hysteria Continues

• Brand new interview with actor Christopher Bradley

• Brand new interview with actress Joy Jones

• Original theatrical trailer

• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Justin Osbourn

• First pressing only: Collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by critic James Oliver

Howling II: Your Sister is a Werewolf | Dual format Blu-ray & DVD | 14th November 2016 | £19.99

How do you follow up a film as iconic as Joe Dante’s seminal werewolf epic The Howling? With a star turn from horror legend Christopher Lee and a leather-clad Sybil Danning (The Red Queen Kills Seven Times), Howling II is more than up to the challenge.

After a young woman dies in violent circumstances, her brother is approached by a stranger (Lee) who reveals that she was in fact a werewolf. The brother’s initial scepticism is quickly diffused when he encounters the fanged beasts first-hand. Now the pair, joined by a plucky journalist, must travel to Transylvania to destroy werewolf queen Stirba (Danning), and rid the world of lycanthropes once and for all.

Helmed by director Philippe Mora (Mad Dog Morgan, The Beast Within), who would go on to direct the equally barmy follow-up Howling III: The Marsupials, Howling II is a campy horror extravaganza featuring killer dwarves, werewolf orgies and ‘80s punk rock galore.

Special Edition contents:

• Brand new digital transfer

• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation

• Original Uncompressed Mono PCM audio

• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing

• Audio commentary with director Philippe Mora

• Audio commentary with composer Steve Parsons and editor Charles Bornstein

• Leading Man – an interview with actor Reb Brown

• Queen Of The Werewolves – an interview with actress Sybil Danning

• A Monkey Phase – interviews with special make-up effects artists Steve Johnson and Scott Wheeler

• Behind-the-scenes footage

• Alternate opening and alternate ending

• Stills gallery

• Theatrical trailer

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

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

To Live and Die in L.A. | Dual format Blu-ray & DVD | 21st November 2016 | £19.99

In the seventies William Friedkin made The French Connection, The Exorcist and Sorcerer. In the eighties he equalled them with To Live and Die in L.A., one of the most stylish thrillers the decade had to offer.

When his partner is murdered just days before retirement, Secret Service Agent Richard Chance (William Petersen, Manhunter) begins an obsessive hunt for his killer – counterfeiter and all-round psychopath Eric Masters, played by Willem Dafoe at his villainous prime.

Beautifully shot by Robby Muller (Repo Man, Paris, Texas) and with a driving score with British new wave act Wang Chung, To Live and Die in L.A. looks and sounds exceptional in this brand-new 4K restoration from the original 35mm negative.

Special Edition contents:

• Brand new 4K restoration from the original 35mm negative supervised and approved by director William Friedkin

• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentations

• Original Uncompressed Mono PCM audio

• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing

• Audio commentary by director and co-writer William Friedkin

• Counterfeit World: The Making of To Live and Die in L.A. – Archive featurette containing interviews with Friedkin, actors William Petersen and Willem Dafoe, and others

• Alternative ending

• Deleted scene

• Stills gallery

• Trailers

• MORE SPECIAL FEATURES TO BE ANNOUNCED

• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by the Twins of Evil
  

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

The Driller Killer | Limited Edition dual format Blu-ray & DVD Steelbook and Special Edition dual format Blu-ray & DVD | 28th November 2016 | £24.99 (Steelbook), £19.99 (Special Edition)

One of the most notorious of the ‘video nasties’, Abel Ferrara’s exploitation-art-house crossover was judged almost entirely on its video artwork with the film itself left out of the equation. Now it gets the release it deserves with a stunning Limited Edition SteelBook from Arrow Video with the film fully uncut and in all its unnerving, stylish glory.

In career that has encompassed such controversial classics as Ms. 45, Bad Lieutenant and King of New York, none of Abel Ferrara’s films have quite managed to match the shock, extremity and downright notorious nature of The Driller Killer.

Ferrara plays struggling artist Reno, a man pushed to the edge by the economic realities of New York living in the late seventies and the No Wave band practising in the apartment below. His grip on reality soon begins to slip and he takes to stalking the streets with his power tool in search of prey…

One of the most infamous ‘video nasties’, in part thanks to its drill-in-head sleeve, The Driller Killer has lost none of its power to unnerve and is presented here fully uncut.

Limited Edition contents:

• Limited Edition SteelBook featuring original artwork (2500 copies)

• Brand new restoration from original film elements

• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentations

• Original Uncompressed Mono PCM audio

• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing

• Audio commentary by director and star Abel Ferrara, moderated by Brad Stevens (author of Abel Ferrara: The Moral Vision) and recorded exclusively for this release

• Brand new interview with Ferrara

• Willing and Abel: Ferraraology 101 – a new visual essay guide to the films and career of Ferrara by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, author of Cultographies: Ms. 45

• Mulberry St. (2010), Ferrara’s feature-length documentary portrait of the New York location that has played a key role in his life and work, available on home video in the UK for the first time ever

• Trailer

• Collector’s booklet featuring new writing by Michael Pattison and Brad Stevens

Special Edition contents:

• Brand new restoration from original film elements

• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentations

• Original Uncompressed Mono PCM audio

• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing

• Audio commentary by director and star Abel Ferrara, moderated by Brad Stevens (author of Abel Ferrara: The Moral Vision) and recorded exclusively for this release

• Brand new interview with Ferrara

• Willing and Abel: Ferraraology 101 – a new visual essay guide to the films and career of Ferrara by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, author of Cultographies: Ms. 45

• Mulberry St. (2010), Ferrara’s feature-length documentary portrait of the New York location that has played a key role in his life and work, available on home video in the UK for the first time ever

• Trailer

• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by the Twins of Evil

• First pressing only: Collector’s booklet featuring new writing by Michael Pattison and Brad Stevens