The cult cinema experts at Arrow Video are set to guarantee film fans a happy new year come January with some spectacular DVD, Blu-ray and Dual Format releases.

Following on from December’s Limited Edition release of Donnie Darko comes standard edition releases on both DVD and Blu-ray. The DVD release offers the theatrical cut of the mind-bending classic, while the Blu-ray release has both the theatrical and director’s cuts.

January’s a great month for fans of Japanese crime cinema too as Takashi Miike’s Black Society Trilogy arrives on both Blu-ray and DVD. These stylish and gripping crime films put Miike on the cinematic map and proved he was more than just a specialist in blood and guts.

But if it’s blood and guts you want, you’re also in for a treat with Blood Rage. This classic 80s horror is a Thanksgiving-set masterpiece of schlock with amazing effects by Terminator 2: Judgement Day’s Ed French. Out the same week is Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia, the film that director Sam Peckinpah stated as the only film that ended up exactly how he wanted. Arrow Video bring it to Limited Edition Blu-ray.

Last but by no means least in January is the Limited Edition Dual Format release of Brian De Palma’s Raising Cain. The thriller stars John Lithgow in no less than three roles – a pair of twins and their father - and he delivers a startling performance as one of them descends into a psychotic rage.

Donnie Darko | Blu-ray | 9 January 2017

A chance to see this classic cult film as it was intended in this brand new 4K restoration, overseen and approved by director Richard Kelly. With both the director’s cut and the theatrical cut, the release also has a wealth of special features to keep fans enthralled.

Fifteen years before Stranger Things combined science-fiction, Spielberg-ian touches and 80s nostalgia to much acclaim, Richard Kelly set the template – and the high-water mark – with his debut feature, Donnie Darko. Initially beset with distribution problems, it would slowly find its audience and emerge as arguably the first cult classic of the new millennium.

Donnie is a troubled high school student: in therapy, prone to sleepwalking and in possession of an imaginary friend, a six-foot rabbit named Frank, who tells him the world is going to end in 28 days 06 hours 42 minutes and 12 seconds. During that time he will navigate teenage life, narrowly avoid death in the form of a falling jet engine, follow Frank’s maladjusted instructions and try to maintain the space-time continuum.

Described by its director as “The Catcher in the Rye as told by Philip K. Dick”, Donnie Darko combines an eye-catching, eclectic cast – pre-stardom Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal, heartthrob Patrick Swayze, former child star Drew Barrymore, Oscar nominees Mary McDonnell and Katherine Ross, and television favourite Noah Wyle – and an evocative soundtrack of 80s classics by Echo and the Bunnymen, Tears for Fears and Duran Duran. This brand-new 4K restoration, carried out exclusively for this release by Arrow Films, allows a modern classic to finally receive the home video treatment it deserves.

Special Edition contents:

• Brand new 4K restorations of both the Theatrical Cut and the Director’s Cut from the original camera negatives produced by Arrow Films exclusively for this release, supervised and approved by director Richard Kelly and cinematographer Steven Poster

• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentations of both cuts

• Original 5.1 audio

• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing

• Audio commentary by writer-director Richard Kelly and actor Jake Gyllenhaal on the Theatrical Cut

• Audio commentary by Kelly, producer Sean McKittrick and actors Drew Barrymore, Jena Malone, Beth Grant, Mary McDonnell, Holmes Osborne, Katharine Ross and James Duval on the Theatrical Cut

• Audio commentary by Kelly and filmmaker Kevin Smith on the Director’s Cut

• Brand-new interviews with Richard Kelly and others

• The Goodbye Place, Kelly’s 1996 short film, which anticipates some of the themes and ideas of his feature films

• The Donnie Darko Production Diary, an archival documentary charting the film’s production with optional commentary by cinematographer Steven Poster

• Twenty deleted and alternate scenes with optional commentary by Kelly

• Archive interviews with Kelly, actors Jake Gyllenhaal, Jena Malone, Drew Barrymore, James Duval, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Holmes Osborne, Noah Wyle and Katharine Ross, producers Sean McKittrick, Nancy Juvonen, Hunt Lowry and Casey La Scala, and cinematographer Steven Poster

• Three archive featurettes: They Made Me Do It, They Made Me Do It Too and #1 Fan: A Darkomentary

• Storyboard comparisons

• B-roll footage

• Cunning Visions infomercials

• Music video: Mad World by Gary Jules

• Galleries

• Trailers

• TV spots

• Illustrated collector’s booklet containing new writing by Nathan Rabin

• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Candice Tripp

Donnie Darko (Theatrical Cut) | DVD | 9 January 2017

Fans of the original theatrical cut of Donnie Darko can watch Arrow Video’s brand new 4K restoration on DVD along with a fantastic selection of extras.

Special Edition contents:

• Brand new 4K restorations of the Theatrical Cut from the original camera negative produced by Arrow Films exclusively for this release, supervised and approved by director Richard Kelly and cinematographer Steven Poster

• Original 5.1 audio

• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing

• Audio commentary by writer-director Richard Kelly and actor Jake Gyllenhaal

• Audio commentary by Kelly, producer Sean McKittrick and actors Drew Barrymore, Jena Malone, Beth Grant, Mary McDonnell, Holmes Osborne, Katharine Ross and James Duval

• Brand-new interviews with Richard Kelly and others

• The Goodbye Place, Kelly’s 1996 short film, which anticipates some of the themes and ideas of his feature films

• Twenty deleted and alternate scenes with optional commentary by Kelly

• Trailer

Takashi Miike’s Black Society Trilogy | Blu-ray & DVD | 16 January 2017

After several years spent working almost exclusively in the direct-to-video world of "V-cinema" in Japan, Takashi Miike announced himself as a world-class filmmaking talent with this trio of thematically-connected, character-centric crime stories about violence, the underworld of Japanese society, families both real and surrogate, and the possibly hopeless task of finding one's place in the world. His first films made specifically for theatrical release, and his first for a major studio, the "Black Society Trilogy" was the beginning of Miike's mature career as a filmmaker and they remain among the prolific director's finest works.

Set in the bustling Kabuki-cho nightlife neighborhood of Tokyo, Shinjuku Triad Society follows a mixed-race cop (Kippei Shiina – Outrage) struggling with private issues while hunting a psychotic criminal (Tomorowo Taguchi – Tetsuo the Iron Man) who traffics in children's organs. Rainy Dog, shot entirely in Taiwan, is about an exiled yakuza (Dead or Alive's Show Aikawa) who finds himself saddled with a son he never knew he had and a price on his head after the Chinese gang he works for decides to turn on him. Ley Lines moves from the countryside to the city and back, as three Japanese youths of Chinese descent (including The Raid 2's Kazuki Kitamura) seek their fortune in Tokyo, only to run afoul of a violent gang boss (Naoto Takenaka – The Happiness of the Katakuris).

Three of the most dramatically moving films created by the director, the "Black Society Trilogy" offers clear proof that Miike's frequent pigeonholing as a specialist in bloody spectacle is only one aspect of his filmmaking career, and taken as a whole, the films are among the finest works ever to deal with the way violence and brutality can unexpectedly destroy even the most innocent of lives.

Special Edition contents:

• High Definition digital transfers of all three films

• Original uncompressed stereo audio

• Optional English subtitles for all three films

• New interview with director Takashi Miike

• New interview with actor Show Aikawa (Rainy Dog, Ley Lines)

• New audio commentaries for all three films by Miike biographer Tom Mes

• Original theatrical trailers for all three films

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

Blood Rage | Dual Format (Blu-ray & DVD) | 23 January 2017

What do you get if you combine Thanksgiving, American TV star Louise Lasser (Mary Hartman), killer ’80s synths and some truly gruesome special effects courtesy of Ed French (Terminator 2: Judgement Day)? Why, it’s Blood Rage of course!

Twins Todd and Terry seem like sweet boys – that is, until one of them takes an axe to the face of a fellow patron at the local drive-in. Todd is blamed for the bloody crime and institutionalised, whilst twin brother Terry goes free. Ten years later and, as the family gathers around the table for a Thanksgiving meal, the news comes in that Todd has escaped. But has the real killer in fact been in their midst all along?

Shot in 1983 but not released until 1987, Blood Rage is a gloriously gruesome slice of ’80s slasher heaven – now restored from the original negative for its world Blu-ray debut.

Special Edition contents:

• Brand new 2K restoration of the “hard” home video version, transferred from the camera negative and featuring the original title card Slasher

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

• Original Stereo 2.0 sound (Uncompressed PCM on the Blu-ray)

• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing

• Audio commentary with director John Grissmer

• Both Sides of the Camera – an interview with producer/actress Marianne Kanter

• Double Jeopardy – an interview with actor Mark Soper

• Jeez, Louise! – an interview with actress Louise Lasser

• Man Behind the Mayhem – an interview with special make-up effects creator Ed French

• Three Minutes with Ted Raimi – an interview with actor Ted Raimi

• Return to Shadow Woods – featurette revisiting the original locations in Jacksonville, Florida

• Alternate opening titles

• Motion still gallery featuring rare behind-the-scenes make-up photos

• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Marc Schoenbach

Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia | Limited Edition Blu-ray | 23 January 2017

Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia concluded a remarkable period for filmmaker Sam Peckinpah. It brought to an end a seven-year and seven-film run of masterpieces that included the taboo-breaking ultra-violence of The Wild Bunch and Straw Dogs, and the more elegiac tones of The Ballad of Cable Hogue and Junior Bonner. A love story that plays out in a brutal environment, Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia sits somewhere between these moods and may just be Bloody Sam’s greatest work, as well as his most autobiographical.

Warren Oates plays Bennie, a piano player in a Mexican bar who gets himself involved in the manhunt for Alfredo Garcia, a man with a million-dollar price-tag on his head having impregnated the daughter of crime boss El Jefe (Emilio Fernández). Sensing an easy pay day, Bennie takes his girlfriend, Elita (Isela Vega) on a trip that’ll prove fatalistic for many of those involved.

During a career that was blighted by studio interference, Peckinpah would later say that Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia was the only which ended up exactly as he wanted: “I did it exactly the way I wanted to. Good or bad, like it or not, that was my film.” And it was. This is as close to ‘Pure Peckinpah’ as it gets – beautiful, violent, troubling, heartbreaking, astonishing.

Limited 2-Disc Limited Edition contents:

• Brand new 4K restoration from the original camera negative produced by Arrow Films exclusively for this release

• Original 1.0 mono audio

• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing

• Brand new audio commentary by Stephen Prince, author of Savage Cinema: Sam Peckinpah and the Rise of Ultraviolent Movies, recorded exclusively for this release

• Audio commentary by Sam Peckinpah scholars Paul Seydor, Garner Simmons and David Weddle, moderated by Nick Redman

• Sam Peckinpah: Man of Iron, Paul Joyce’s feature-length 1993 documentary featuring interviews with James Coburn, Kris Kristofferson, Monte Hellman, Ali MacGraw, James Robards and others, available on home video in the UK for the first time ever

• The John Player Lecture: Sam Peckinpah, audio recording of the director’s on-stage appearance at the National Film Theatre

• Theatrical trailer

• Bonus Blu-ray: Featuring never-before-seen interviews with Peckinpah colleagues and contemporaries including Kris Kristofferson, Monte Hellman, L.Q. Jones, Alan Sharp and more [Limited Edition exclusive]

• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Peter Strain

• Extensive collector’s booklet containing new writing by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and numerous reprints including interviews and more

Raising Cain | Dual Format (Blu-ray & DVD) | 30 January 2017

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.

Limited Edition contents:

• Limited Edition [3000 copies] containing two versions of the film on Blu-ray and the theatrical version on DVD

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

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

• Booklet featuring new writing on the film by Anne Billson

Discs 2 & 3: Theatrical Version [Blu-ray & DVD]

• High Definition digital transfer of the theatrical version

• Hickory Dickory Doc, a brand-new interview with actor John Lithgow

• The Man in My Life, an interview with actor Steven Bauer

• Have You Talked to the Others?, an interview with editor Paul Hirsch

• Three Faces of Henry, an interview with actor Gregg Henry

• The Cat's in the Bag, an interview with actor Tom Bower

• A Little Too Late for That, an interview with actor Mel Harris

• Raising Pino, a brand-new interview with composer Pino Donaggio

• Father’s Day, a brand-new video essay about the multiple versions of Raising Cain by Chris Dumas, author of Un-American Psycho: Brian De Palma and the Political Invisible

• Theatrical Trailer

Disc 3: Director's Cut [Limited Edition Blu-ray Exclusive];

• Raising Cain: The Director's Cut, a De Palma-endorsed recreation of the film by Peet Belder Gelderblom, re-ordered as originally planned

• Changing Cain: Brian De Palma's Cult Classic Restored, an introduction by Gelderblom to the Director’s Cut

• Raising Cain Re-Cut, a video essay by Gelderblom on the origins and differences of the Director’s Cut