Arrow Video's June lineup includes a demonic double disc of Lucio Fulci, the Blu-ray debut of a magnificent 1970s TV horror designed to send shivers up our spines, the third volume of films from Rainer Werner Fassbinder, and a superb restoration of an Eighties Anthony Perkins gothic chiller that really delivers. The releases will come in Arrow Video's superb packaging, with fantastic restorations of the films, backed with a host of extras including brand new commentaries and video essays, limited edition booklets, and outstanding new sleeve artwork.
June sees the release of legendary director Lucio Fulci's Demonia, on a Limited Edition 2-disc Blu-ray, the Rainer Werner Fassbinder Vol. 3 box set, Satantic secrets and telekenetic terror combines in The Initiation of Sarah, and offbeat Jekyll and Hyde adaptation Edge of Sanity, starring Anthony Perkins. Also announced is a Zavvi exclusive 4K UHD Steelbook edition of Tremors.
DEMONIA (Italy 1990) | Blu-ray | 6 June 2022 | £34.99
Like many of his contemporaries, Godfather of Gore Lucio Fulci (City of the Living Dead, Don't Torture a Duckling) found his career on a downturn at the end of the 1980s as the bottom fell out of the Italian horror movie market. While much of his latter-day output went straight to video, these low-budget productions nonetheless offer up some diamonds in the rough, among them his 1990 tale of rampaging Satanic Sisters – Demonia, regarded by many as his last great film.
A Canadian archaeological team, led by Professor Evans (Brett Halsey, The Devil's Honey), descends on the ruins of a medieval Sicilian monastery to undertake an excavation. But when Evans' protégé, Liza (Meg Register, Ministry of Vengeance), goes searching for an explanation to the disturbing visions she's been experiencing, she awakens the spirit of three Satan-worshiping nuns put to death centuries earlier by a violent mob, unleashing an orgy of vengeful violence on the unsuspecting explorers.
Originally destined for a theatrical release, Demonia is a return to the atmosphere and gory excesses of Fulci's late 70s/early 80s output – a no-holds-barred Satanic shocker co-starring Lino Salemme (Demons) and Al Cliver (Zombie Flesh Eaters) and co-written by Piero Regnoli (Burial Ground) – presented here in a pristine restoration and accompanied, in this exclusive limited edition, by the feature-length documentary Fulci Talks, assembled from an in-depth archival interview with the man himself!
2-DISC LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY CONTENTS:
- High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
- Deluxe crucifix-style packaging featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphreys
- Illustrated collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film by author and critic Kat Ellinger
- DISC 1: DEMONIA
- 4K restoration from the original 35mm camera negative
- Restored original lossless mono English and Italian soundtracks
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing for the English soundtrack
- English subtitles for the Italian soundtrack
- Audio commentary by Stephen Thrower, author of Beyond Terror: The Films of Lucio Fulci
- Holy Demons, a video interview with uncredited co-writer/assistant director Antonio Tentori
- Of Skulls and Bones, a video interview with camera operator Sandro Grossi
- Fulci Lives!!!, camcorder footage of a visit to the Demonia set, including an interview with Lucio Fulci
- Original trailer
DISC 2: FULCI TALKS
- Fulci Talks, a feature-length 2021 documentary by filmmaker Antonietta De Lillo, based on an in-depth, career spanning video interview with Lucio Fulci from 1993, conducted by De Lillo and critic Marcello Garofalo
- Original lossless mono Italian soundtrack
- Optional English subtitles
THE RAINER WERNER FASSBINDER COLLECTION VOL. 3 | Limited Edition Blu-ray | 13 June 2022 | £64.99
Rainer Werner Fassbinder, the enfant terrible of the New German Cinema, wrote, directed, produced and starred in over 40 films in his short but prolific life, before passing away of a drugs overdose in 1982 aged just 37. Rainer Werner Fassbinder vol. 3 brings together a collection of his lesser seen works from various stages in his career, featuring high definition digital restorations prepared by the Rainer Werner Fassbinder Foundation.
The American Soldier sees Fassbinder continue to pursue the cinephilic homage to classic Hollywood crime films of his feature debut, Love is Colder than Death, in a tale of a German-American Vietnam vet turned small-time hoodlum who finds himself on the wrong side of the law in Munich, where he grew up. Unseen between its first television broadcast in 1970 and its rediscovery in 2002, The Niklashausen Journey chronicles the journey of a young peasant in the 15th century and his quest to overcome social injustice, in Fassbinder's allegorical critique of the student movement.
Gods of the Plague portrays a newly released ex-con as he reacquaints himself with Munich's criminal underworld to plan the robbery of a supermarket. In Rio Das Mortes, two feckless young friends, Michel and Günther, embark on a hare-brained scheme to look for lost treasure in Peru, against strong opposition from Michel's fiancée.
Mother Kusters Goes to Heaven stars Brigitte Mira (Fear Eats the Soul) as a middle-aged housewife who is roused into revolutionary activity after her husband dies in an industrial accident. Based on a story by Asta Scheib, Fear of Fear features Fassbinder favourite Margit Carstensen (The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant) as the young mother plagued with feelings of anxiety and depression as she is left to spend her hours alone surrounded by her judgemental in-laws while her husband spends his days at work. Satan's Brew sees Fassbinder foray into riotous comedy, with Kurt Raab starring as a once famous poet stricken with writer's block who inadvertently assumes the persona of the prewar symbolist Stefan George.
LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY BOX SET CONTENTS:
- High definition digital transfers of The American Soldier, Gods of the Plague, Mother Kusters Goes to Heaven and Satan's Brew prepared by the Rainer Werner Fassbinder Foundation
- High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentations of The American Soldier, Gods of the Plague, Mother Kusters Goes to Heaven and Satan's Brew
- Original uncompressed PCM mono 1.0 sound for all films
- Optional English subtitles for all films
- Exclusive 140-page collectors booklet containing archive articles and new writing by Jonathan Rosenbaum, Eric Rentschler, David Jenkins, Margaret Deriaz and Earl Jackson
DISC ONE – The American Soldier & The Niklashausen Journey:
- Audio commentary by critic Tony Rayns on The American Soldier
- Audio commentary by critic Olaf Möller on The Niklashausen Journey
- Fassbinder Shoots Film No 8, a 1971 television documentary by Michael Ballhaus and Dieter Buchmann on Rainer Werner Fassbinder filming The American Soldier
- Man in the Shadow, an exclusive new in-depth interview with Fassbinder's collaborator Michael Fengler
- Freedom or Death!, an exclusive new interview with Michael König on The Niklashausen Journey
DISC TWO – Gods of the Plague & Rio Das Mortes:
- Alter Ego: Harry Baer on Rainer Werner Fassbinder, a 40-minute interview with the star of Gods of the Plague
- Taking Off, an exclusive new interview with Michael König on Rio Das Mortes
- Original theatrical trailer for Gods of the Plague
DISC THREE – Mother Kusters Goes to Heaven & Fear of Fear:
- Audio commentary by critic Olaf Möller on Mother Kusters Goes to Heaven
- Mother Kusters Goes to Heaven alternate ending
- New interviews with Renate Leiffer, assistant director on Mother Kusters Goes to Heaven and Fear of Fear
- New interview with writer Asta Scheib on Fear of Fear
- Play It Again, Rainer! Fassbinder's Musical Obsessions, a new video essay by Margaret Deriaz on the use of music in Fassbinder's films
DISC FOUR – Satan's Brew:
- Audio commentary by critic Tony Rayns
- The Culture Industry Needs Something Like Me: Views of Rainer Werner Fassbinder, a 1976 documentary portrait of the director by Gert Ellinghaus
- Fassbinder: Love Without Demands, Christian Braad Thomsen's feature-length 2015 documentary portrait of his friend Fassbinder and the people who worked with him
- Original theatrical trailer
THE INITIATION OF SARAH (USA 1978) | Blu-ray | 20 June 2022 | £24.99
Satantic secrets and telekenetic terror combine in this classic made-for-TV horror movie directed by Hammer Films alumnus Robert Day (She), from a story co-written by Tom Holland (Fright Night), featuring cinematography by Ric Waite (48 Hrs).
Shy misfit Sarah Goodwin (Kay Lenz, House), has a secret gift: the ability to control — and destroy — with her mind. When Sarah goes off to college with her more outgoing and popular sister, Patty (Morgan Brittany, Sundown: The Vampire In Retreat), their plans to join the most prestigious sorority on campus are scuttled by snobby president, Jennifer Lawrence (Morgan Fairchild, Phantom of the Mall). Separated from her sister, Sarah is taken in by a rival, less popular sorority, whose mysterious house mother, Mrs. Hunter (Shelley Winters, The Night of the Hunter), is harbouring a secret of her own: a scheme to harness Sarah's terrifying power for revenge. Betrayed by Patty, humiliated by Jennifer, it can only be a matter of time before Sorority Hell Week erupts in flame!
Making its Blu-Ray debut with an all-new restoration by Arrow Films from the original camera negative, The Initiation of Sarah has never looked better and comes packed with all new bonus materials.
SPECIAL EDITION BLU-RAY CONTENTS:
- Brand new 2K restoration from the original camera negative by Arrow Films
- High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentation
- Original lossless mono audio
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- Brand new audio commentary by TV Movie expert Amanda Reyes
- Welcome to Hell Week: A Pledge's Guide to the Initiation of Sarah, a brand new appreciation by film critic Stacie Ponder and Queer Horror programmer Anthony Hudson, co-hosts of the Gaylords of Darkness podcast, celebrating the film through a queer feminist lens
- Cracks in the Sisterhood: Second Wave Feminism and The Initiation of Sarah, a brand new visual essay by film critic and historian Alexandra Heller-Nicholas
- The Intimations of Sarah, a brand new interview with film critic Samantha McLaren looking at witchcraft, empowerment, TV movies, and telekinetic shy girls post Carrie
- The Initiation of Tom, a brand new interview with Tom Holland on this his first film writing credit
- Image gallery
- Reversible sleeve featuring newly commissioned artwork by Luke Insect
- FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Fully illustrated collector's booklet featuring new writing by Lindsay Hallam and Alexandra West
THE EDGE OF SANITY (UK/Hungary 1989) | Blu-ray | 20 June 2022 | £24.99
Anthony Perkins builds upon his legendary status as cinema's seminal psycho in Edge of Sanity, a delirious conflation of Robert Louis Stephenson's classic horror novella Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and Jack the Ripper's real-life reign of terror over Victorian London.
When his experiments into a powerful new anaesthetic go hideously awry, respected physician Dr Jekyll (Perkins) takes off into the night, casting aside the shackles of upper-class propriety as he disappears into the shadowy decadent demimonde of Whitechapel in pursuit of sensual pleasures under the guise of 'Mr Hyde'. As his wife Elisabeth (Glynis Barber) passes her time in charitable work, rehabilitating the district's fallen women, Hyde is drawn into an escalating cycle of lust and murder that seems to know no bounds.
Produced by exploitation maestro Harry Alan Towers (The Face of Fu Manchu, Count Dracula) and directed with a hallucinogenic intensity by Gérard Kikoïne (Lady Libertine, Buried Alive), Edge of Sanity plunges the viewer into a labyrinth of depravity from which there is no escape.
SPECIAL EDITION BLU-RAY CONTENTS:
- Brand new 2K restoration from the original 35mm camera negative by Arrow Films
- High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
- Original uncompressed stereo audio
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
- Brand new audio commentary by writer David Flint and author and filmmaker Sean Hogan
- Over the Edge, a brand new interview with Stephen Thrower, author of Nightmare USA
- Jack, Jekyll and Other Screen Psychos, a brand new interview with Dr Clare Smith, author of Jack the Ripper in Film and Culture
- French Love, a career-spanning interview with director Gérard Kikoïne
- Staying Sane, Gérard Kikoïne discusses Edge of Sanity
- Original theatrical trailer
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphreys
- FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film by Jon Towlson
TREMORS (USA 1990)
Dual Format Limited Edition SteelBook 4K UHD (Zavvi Exclusive) | coming soon | £34.99
A pulse-pounding love letter to 1950s creature features that delivers horror and humor in equal measure, Tremors is a bonafide cult classic that has grabbed audiences' affections ever since its release and spawned a successful franchise that continues to this day.
Good-ol'-boy handymen Val (Kevin Bacon) and Earl (Fred Ward) are sick of their dead-end jobs in one-horse desert town Perfection, Nevada (population: 14). Just as they're about to escape Perfection forever, however, things start to get really weird: half-eaten corpses litter the road out of town; the phone lines stop working; and a plucky young scientist shows evidence of unusually strong seismic activity in the area. Something is coming for the citizens of Perfection… and it's under the goddamn ground!
Bursting with indelible characters, quotable dialogue and jaw-dropping special effects, Tremors is back and bigger than ever in this 4K-restored and fully loaded dual format SteelBook edition.
LIMITED EDITION DUAL FORMAT STEELBOOK CONTENTS:
- 4K restoration from the original negative by Arrow Films, approved by director Ron Underwood and director of photography Alexander Gruszynski
- 4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible) and High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentation
- Limited Edition SteelBook packaging with newly commissioned artwork by Gary Pullin
- Illustrated collector's booklet featuring writing on the film by Kim Newman and Jonathan Melville
- Restored DTS-HD MA original theatrical 2.0 stereo, 4.0 surround, and remixed 5.1 surround audio options
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- Audio commentary by director Ron Underwood and writers/producers Brent Maddock & S.S. Wilson
- Audio commentary by Jonathan Melville, author of Seeking Perfection: The Unofficial Guide to Tremors
- Making Perfection, a documentary by Universal Pictures interviewing key cast and crew from the franchise (including Kevin Bacon, Michael Gross, Ariana Richards, Ron Underwood, Brent Maddock & S.S. Wilson, among many others) and revisiting the original locations
- The Truth About Tremors, an interview with coproducer Nancy Roberts on the film's rocky road to the screen
- Bad Vibrations, an interview with director of photography Alexander Gruszynski
- Aftershocks and Other Rumblings, on-set stories from associate producer Ellen Collett
- Digging in the Dirt, a featurette interviewing the crews behind the film's extensive visual effects
- Music for Graboids, a featurette on the film's music with composers Ernest Troost and Robert Folk
- Pardon My French!, a compilation of overdubs from the edited-for-television version
- The Making of Tremors, an archive documentary from 1995 by Laurent Bouzereau, interviewing the filmmakers and special effects teams
- Creature Featurette, an archive compilation of on-set camcorder footage showing the making of the Graboids
- Electronic press kit featurette and interviews with Kevin Bacon, Michael Gross and Reba McEntire
- Deleted scenes, including the original opening scene
- Theatrical trailers, TV and radio spots for the original film as well as trailers for the entire Tremors franchise
- Comprehensive image galleries, including rare behind-the-scenes stills, storyboards and two different drafts of the screenplay
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