Arrow Video has announced its release slate for February 2017 and it couldn’t be more varied, mixing Blaxploitation with the Shakespearean and the arthouse.

First up is the Dual Format release of Willie Dynamite, one of the most overlooked Blaxploitation films of the 1970s. Released in 1974 and starring Roscoe Orman as Willie Dynamite – the flashiest pimp in New York – it balances action with social commentary as Willie drives his personalised purple and gold Cadillac and strives to be number one.

Next is Tower of London, a 1962 collaboration between Roger Corman and Vincent Price that saw them take a break from their gruesome Edgar Allan Poe adaptations. The Shakespearean plot sees a battle for the English crown take place as Price’s Richard of Gloucester is overlooked as heir in favour of his brother. As he kills his way to the throne, he finds himself haunted by those he left for dead. This Dual Format release presents the film in high and standard definition, transferred from original film elements by MGM.

Last but not least, fresh from recent festival and filmmaker acclaim, We Are the Flesh debuts in the UK on DVD and Blu-ray. We Are the Flesh is a Mexican arthouse head-trip which takes you on a nightmarish journey into a post-apocalyptic hell. Outrageous and explicit, it sees a brother and sister taken in by a strange hermit who uses them as he acts out his own depraved fantasies. The longer they stay, the more they find themselves slipping into the darkness, despite their better judgement.

As always, Arrow Video’s titles come complete with an array of special features and collector’s edition booklets (first pressings only).

Willie Dynamite (1974) | Dual Format (Blu-ray and DVD) ! 6 February 2016 | £19.99

“The hands-down winner of the all-out best blaxploitation movie of the seventies,” declares author and artist Darius James in That’s Blaxploitation! Willie Dynamite may not be as well-known as John Shaft, Sweet Sweetback or Super Fly’s Youngblood Priest, but he certainly deserves to be.

Who is Willie Dynamite? He’s the flashiest pimp in New York – he drives a personalised purple-and-gold Cadillac and wears some of the most eye-catching outfits ever seen on a cinema screen. He wants to be number one, but with the police, the D.A., fellow pimps and a tough-talking social worker on his tail, can a man as arrogant and amoral as Willie D avoid a downfall?

Willie Dynamite competes with the best of blaxploitation on all levels. Roscoe Orman dominates with his central performance – a star turn that’s the equal of Richard Roundtree in Shaft or Pam Grier in Coffy. Multi-award-winning director Gilbert Moses balances action and social commentary as deftly as Gordon Parks, Jr. did with Super Fly. And the score by J.J. Johnson featuring Motown legend Martha Reeves is as catchy as anything composed by Isaac Hayes, Curtis Mayfield or James Brown.

Special Edition contents:

• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentation of the feature, transferred from original film elements by MGM

• Original 1.0 mono audio (uncompressed on the Blu-ray)

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

• Kiss My Baad Asss, a guide to blaxploitation hosted by actor and musician Ice-T, and featuring interviews with Richard Roundtree, Melvin van Peebles, Isaac Hayes and others

• Theatrical trailer

• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Sean Phillips

• First pressing only: Fully illustrated collector’s booklet containing new writing on the film by Cullen Gallagher

Tower of London (1962) | Dual Format (Blu-ray and DVD) ! 13 February 2016 | £19.99

Having made their mark on American horror cinema with three colourful adaptations of Edgar Allan Poe – The Fall of the House of Usher, Pit and the Pendulum and Tales of Terror – Vincent Price and director Roger Corman enjoyed a brief hiatus from the macabre author with Tower of London. Shot in black and white, the film was loosely based on the Universal horror picture of the same name as well as two Shakespeare plays: a dash of Macbeth and a dollop of Richard III.

Price plays Richard of Gloucester, brother to a dying king and eager to take his place on the throne. When he is overlooked in favour of their sibling, the Duke of Clarence, things take a murderous turn. Richard goes on a murderous rage, only for the ghosts of those he has slain to return from the grave and haunt him…

Less well-known than the Poe movies, Tower of London is no slouch. Price relishes the opportunity to flex his Shakespearean muscles, just as he would eleven years later with Theatre of Blood, and Corman works wonders, as usual, with his low budget. If you’ve ever wondered what a drive-in Shakespeare film would look like, you’re in the right place!

Special Edition contents:

• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentation of the feature, transferred from original film elements by MGM

• Original 1.0 mono audio (uncompressed on the Blu-ray)

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

• Brand-new audio commentary by Vincent Price’s biographer David Del Valle and Tara Gordon, daughter of actor-screenwriter Leo Gordon

• Interview with director Roger Corman

• Producing Tower of London, an archive interview with producer Gene Corman

• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Dan Mumford

• First pressing only: Fully illustrated collector’s booklet containing new writing on the film by Julian Upton

We Are the Flesh [Tenemos la carne ] (2016) | Blu-ray (£19.99) and DVD (17.99) ! 13 February 2016

A visionary and bizarre slice of Mexican arthouse cinema, We Are The Flesh is an extraordinary and unsettling film experience, a sexually charged and nightmarish journey into an otherworldly dimension of carnal desire and excess, as well as a powerful allegory on the corrupting power of human desire.

A young brother and sister, roaming an apocalyptic city, take refuge in the dilapidated lair of a strange hermit. He puts them to work building a bizarre cavernous structure, where he acts out his insane and depraved fantasies. Trapped in this maddening womb-like world under his malign influence, they find themselves sinking into the realms of dark and forbidden behaviour.

Mixing the graphic, powerful imagery of Gaspar Noe’s Love and Enter The Void with the surreal, hallucinatory impact of Alejandro Jodorowsky, We Are The Flesh is a bizarre, psychedelic head trip, mixing intense, outrageously explicit imagery with a profound allegory on the nature of existence, to make this an unforgettable, boundary-pushing experience unlike anything you’ve ever seen.

Special Edition contents:

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

• Original 5.1 and stereo audio options

• Optional English subtitles

• New interviews with director Emiliano Rocha Minter and actors Noé Hernández, María Evoli and Diego Gamaliel

• New video appreciation by critic Virginie Sélavy

• Original theatrical trailer

• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork

• First pressing only: Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by critic Anton Bitel, and a note from the producer on the film