Christmas will officially be starting early for cult film fans this December, with Arrow Video announcing a sleigh-full of titles that will be released throughout the month.

The cherry on the (Christmas) cake is Richard Kelly’s modern cult classic, Donnie Darko, which is getting a Limited Edition Dual Format release from Arrow. Featuring both the Theatrical and Director’s Cuts of the film and a host of time-bending special features, this is the definitive release of one of the biggest cult films of all time (see our previous news story for full details).

Earlier in the month, J-Horror fans (particularly those at Cine Outsider) get a big treat with a Dual Format release of Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s haunting Pulse, which sees people in Tokyo compelled to commit suicide after visiting a mysterious website. Released the same week is classic thriller Cohen & Tate, starring Roy Scheider and Adam Baldwin as two hitmen who go on the road trip from hell when they snatch a youngster from witness protection.

As we creep towards Christmas, Arrow have four more amazing releases lined up. Hellgate is one of the hits of the video rental era, a horror film packed with gore and gags in the vein of Re-animator and Return of the Living Dead. Hell Comes to Frogtown, meanwhile, is a B-movie gem starring Rowdy Roddy Piper as one of the last fertile men on Earth after a nuclear holocaust, enlisted to impregnate a harem of women held prisoner by the mutant amphibian people of Frogtown!

Standout slasher The Burning also pops up in December, bringing its Tom Savini gore effects to a Dual Format release along with a slaughter of special features. This comes alongside cult sci-fi manga adaptation, The Guyver, produced by Brian Yunza and starring Mark Hamill as a rogue CIA agent who, along with a young martial arts student, comes across a dangerous bioweapon that puts him in the sights of an evil corporation.

Pulse | Dual Format (Blu-ray & DVD) | 5th December 2016 | £19.99

Award-winning filmmaker Kiyoshi Kurosawa delivered one of the finest entries in the "J-Horror" cycle of films with this moody and spiritually terrifying film that delivers existential dread along with its frights. Setting his story in the burgeoning internet and social media scene in Japan, Kurosawa's dark and apocalyptic film foretells how technology will only serve to isolate us as it grows more important to our lives.

A group of young people in Tokyo begin to experience strange phenomena involving missing co-workers and friends, technological breakdown, and a mysterious website which asks the compelling question, "Do you want to meet a ghost?" After the unexpected suicides of several friends, three strangers set out to explore a city which is growing more empty by the day, and to solve the mystery of what lies within a forbidden room in an abandoned construction site, mysteriously sealed shut with red packing tape.

Featuring haunting cinematography by Junichiro Hayashi (Ring, Dark Water), a dark and unsettling tone which lingers long after the movie is over, and an ahead-of-its-time story which anticipates 21st century disconnection and social media malaise, Pulse is one of the greatest and most terrifying achievements in modern Japanese horror, and a dark mirror for our contemporary digital world.

Special Edition contents:

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

• Original 5.1 audio (DTS-HD on the Blu-ray)

• New optional English subtitle translation

• New interview with writer/director Kiyoshi Kurosawa

• New interview with cinematographer Junichiro Hayashi

• The Horror of Isolation: a new video appreciation featuring Adam Wingard & Simon Barrett (Blair Witch, You’re Next)

• Archive ‘Making of’ documentary, plus four archive behind-the-scenes featurettes

• Premiere footage from the Cannes Film Festival

• Cast and crew introductions from opening day screenings in Tokyo

• Trailers and TV Spots

• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Tommy Pocket

• First pressing only: Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by critic Chuck Stephen

Cohen & Tate | Dual Format (Blu-ray & DVD) |5th December 2016 | £19.99

They were hired killers going up against the deadliest force of all... Each other.

When a pair of mismatched hitmen — the grizzled, experienced Cohen (Roy Scheider – Jaws, The French Connection) and the impetuous, psychopathic Tate (Adam Baldwin – Full Metal Jacket, Firefly) — are tasked with snatching a young boy living under witness protection and transporting him to their boss in Houston, it seems like a simple enough job. But the pair quickly find that they’ve got more than they bargained for, with both the boy’s unexpected resilience and their own incompatible personalities threatening to derail the entire mission. And, as the night wears on, their cross-state journey truly becomes the road trip from hell...

With Cohen & Tate, writer/director Eric Red (Body Parts, Bad Moon) constructs a truly nail-biting thriller recalling the atmosphere and motif of people driven to desperate lengths in order to survive also present in his script for the celebrated road horror classic The Hitcher. So buckle up for the road trip from hell as Cohen & Tate now shines like never before in this feature-packed, director-approved edition.

Director-Approved Special edition Contents:

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

• Original stereo audio (uncompressed on the Blu-ray)

• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing

• Audio commentary by writer/director Eric Red

• A Look Back at Cohen & Tate, a retrospective documentary featuring Eric Red, cinematographer Victor J. Kemper, editor Edward Abroms, and co-stars Kenneth McCabe and Harley Cross

• Eric Red’s original storyboards for the opening farmhouse shoot-out

• Original, uncut versions of the farmhouse and oilfield shoot-outs

• Original theatrical trailer

• Extensive stills gallery

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

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

Donnie Darko | Limited Edition Dual Format | 12th December 2016 | £39.99

For full details of this release, see our previous news story.

Hellgate | Blu-ray | 19th December 2016 | £17.99

Beyond the darkness terror lives forever.

Legends abound of ‘The Hellgate Hitchhiker’. So the story goes, a beautiful young woman was once brutally defiled and murdered by a biker gang. Now, returned from the dead, she wanders the roadside luring unsuspecting motorists to their doom…

Refusing to heed the warnings of locals, a group of college friends set out on a cross-country road trip looking for fun and frolics. But they get much more than they bargained for when they wind up in the abandoned mining town of Hellgate and hemmed in by hordes of the undead!

Providing gore and gags in equal measure, Hellgate recalls the good old days of video rental frights and challenges other gleefully twisted flicks such as Re-animator and Return of the Living Dead for sheer grisly delirium!

Special Edition contents:

• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation

• Original uncompressed 2.0 PCM audio

• Road to Perdition, B-Movie Style: An extensive interview with Hellgate director William A. Levey

• Alien Invasion, Blaxploitation and Ghost-Busting Mayhem: Scholar, Filmmaker and fan Howard S. Berger reflects on the intriguing film career of William A. Levey

• Video Nasty: Kenneth Hall, writer of the Puppet Master series, speaks about the direct-to-video horror boom that allowed Hellgate to become a classic of the cassette rental era

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

Hell Comes to Frogtown | Blu-ray | 19th December 2016 | £17.99

With the 20th Century drawing to a close, nuclear war has wiped out civilization as we know it. The embattled human race’s last remaining hope lies with one man and his loaded weapon.

Sam Hell may be an ex-con, but he also happens to be one of the last surviving fertile men on the planet. Now, under the custody of a group of feisty female fighters, Sam finds himself enlisted on a mission to impregnate a harem of beauties. Sounds cushy enough, but the ladies in question are prisoners of Frogtown – home to a gang of mutant (and ill-mannered) amphibians!

Starring wrestler-turned-actor Rowdy Roddy Piper, known to John Carpenter enthusiasts for his body-slamming and bubblegum-chewing antics in They Live, Hell Comes to Frogtown is unashamedly a B-movie through and through with more guns and girls than you can shake a frog’s leg at.

Special Edition contents:

• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation

• Original uncompressed 2.0 PCM audio

• Grappling with Green Gargantuans: Wrestling icon "Rowdy" Roddy Piper speaks about his leading man turn in Hell Comes to Frogtown

• Amphibian Armageddon: Actor Brian Frank remembers his role as Commander Toty

• Creature Feature Creator: Effects wizard Steve Wang reveals the secrets behind Hell Comes to Frogtown's mutant manifestations

• Extended Scene

• Original Trailer

The Burning | Dual Format (Blu-ray & DVD) | 19th december 2016 | £19.99

Of all the many slice-and-dice films that emerged in the early ‘80s, few remain as gruesomely effective as The Burning – the notorious “video nasty” now finally unleashed on Blu-ray!

When an ill-advised prank misfires, summer camp caretaker Cropsy is committed to hospital with hideous burns. Released after five years, hospital officials warn him not to blame the young campers who caused his disfigurement. But no sooner is Cropsy back on the streets than he’s headed back to camp with a rusty pair of shears in hand, determined to exact his bloody revenge

With standout gore effects courtesy of FX legend Tom Savini, The Burning proved too shocking for UK censors upon its original video release. Now, fully uncut and in High Definition, The Burning is ready to reclaim its place as the ultimate summer camp nightmare.

Special Edition contents:

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

• Original mono audio (uncompressed PCM on the Blu-ray)

• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing

• Audio commentary with director Tony Maylam and critic Alan Jones

• Audio commentary with stars Shelley Bruce and Bonnie Deroski

• Brand new audio commentary with The Hysteria Continues

• Blood ‘n’ Fire Memories – a look at the creation of the film's make-up effects with FX artist Tom Savini

• Slash & Cut – an interview with editor Jack Sholder

• Cropsy Speaks – an interview with actor Lou David

• Summer Camp Nightmare – an interview with actress Leah Ayres

• Synthly the Best – a brand new interview with composer Rick Wakeman

• Behind-the-Scenes Footage

• Theatrical Trailer

• Image GalleriesReversible sleeve featuring original and new artwork by Justin Erickson

• First pressing only: Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Justin Kerswell

The Gyver | Dual Format (Blu-ray & DVD) | 19 December | £19.99

Mark Hamill (Star Wars) and the team behind horror classic Re-animator join forces for this electrifying live-action adaptation of Yoshiki Takaya’s celebrated manga series!

Having been smuggled out of the mysterious Chronos Corporation by one of its researchers, a bio-weapon known as the “Guyver” unit – which transforms its holder into a lethal super-being – ends up in the hands of Sean, a young martial arts student. Sean soon finds himself in the sights of the Chronos Corporation and its mutant henchmen, who’ll stop at nothing to retrieve the weapon.

Produced by Brian Yuzna (Society, Bride of Re-animator) and co-directed by special-effects masters Screaming Mad George and Steve Wang, The Guyver is an FX-laden extravaganza featuring a plethora of familiar genre faces such as Michael Berryman (The Hills Have Eyes) and David Gale (Re-animator).

Special Edition contents:

• Brand new digital transfer of the Director’s Cut

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

• Original uncompressed audio

• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing

• Brand new interview with producer Brian Yuzna

• Trailer

• Image Gallery

• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Nick Percival

• First pressing only: Fully-illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film