Arrow Video Announces US Releases for May; Brian Yuzna’s Society!
John Squires
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Unless you don’t listen to the things we tell you, you’re surely aware of the fact that fan-favorite label Arrow Video is branching out, bringing its incredible home video releases to those of us who live here in the States. On tap for you today is Arrow’s May release schedule so read on!
From the Press Release:
MVD Entertainment Group announced the distribution of Arrow Video in North America last month with a host of cult titles receiving deluxe treatment in video, audio, supplements, and artwork.
Arrow’s global reputation as one of the finest labels in the world has come about through consistent high quality product and a focus on fan-based products always at its core. This includes a major investment in restoring original material through modern techniques as well as pioneering packaging solutions and newly commissioned artwork for each release.
In 1969 future sexploitation specialist Yasuharu Hasebe (Stray Cat Rock: Sex Hunter) teamed up with the inimitable Jô Shishido (Tokyo Drifter, Branded to Kill) for a follow-up to their yakuza hit Massacre Gun.
A tale of gang warfare that features a raft of the period’s most iconic stars, Akira Kobayashi (Battles Without Honor and Humanity, The Flowers and the Angry Waves) is a yakuza lieutenant who emerges from jail to find his gang dispersed and his aging boss in his sickbed. Shishido is the rival waiting to kill him, and a young Meiko Kaji (Lady Snowblood) is the girl caught in the crossfire.
Gritty and cynical, Retaliation is a hardboiled precursor to Kinji Fukasaku’s revisionist yakuza pictures of the 1970s.
Special Edition Contents:
- Limited Edition Blu-ray (3000 copies only)
- Restored High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentation, on Blu-ray for the first time in the world!
- Original uncompressed mono PCM audio
- Newly translated English subtitles
- Brand new interview with star Jô Shishido
- Interview with renowned critic and historian Tony Rayns
- Original theatrical trailer
- Gallery featuring rare promotional images
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Ian MacEwan
- Booklet featuring new writing on the film by Japanese cinema expert Jasper Sharp, newly illustrated by Ian MacEwan and featuring original archive stills
After producing Stuart Gordon’s hit Re-Animator, Brian Yuzna (Bride of Re-Animator, Return of the Living Dead III) turned his hand to directing with 1989’s Society and gave birth to one of the ickiest, most original body horror shockers of all time.
Teenager Bill Whitney (Billy Warlock) has always felt like the odd one out in his wealthy, upper-class Beverly Hills family. For some reason, he just doesn’t seem to fit in. But his sense of alienation takes a sinister turn when he overhears a surreptitious audio recording of his sister’s coming-out party, which seems to implicate his family and others in a bizarre, ritualistic orgy. And then there are the strange things he’s been seeing – glimpses of people with their bodies contorted impossibly out of shape… Is Billy going mad or is there something seriously amiss in his neighbourhood?
Packing stomach-churning grue and thought-provoking social commentary in equal measure, Society is a biting horror satire which culminates in one of the most left field, gag-inducing “climaxes” in all of horror history – just don’t eat beforehand!
Special Edition Contents:
- High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentation
- Optional English SDH subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- New Audio Commentary with Director Brian Yuzna
- Governor of Society with Brian Yuzna
- The Masters of the Hunt with stars Billy Warlock, Devin Devasquez, Ben Meyerson, and Tim Bartell
- The Champions of the Shunt with FX Artists Screaming Mad George, David Grasso, and Nick Benson
- Screaming Mad George music video
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork
- Collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film, illustrated with original archive stills and posters
Welcome to Mykonos, the holiday destination of choice for sun, sea, and slaughter! From cult director Nico Mastorakis, Island of Death is a travelogue of atrocities with scenes so strong that the British Government was once compelled to ban it as a “video nasty.”
Arriving on the idyllic Greek island, Christopher and Celia appear to be every inch the perfect, handsome young couple. Little do the welcoming locals realise that they are in fact a pair of murderous degenerates, determined to spread their own particular brand of perversion across the island. DIY crucifixions, opportunistic bestiality, sexual peeing, and murder by all conceivable forms ensue – including death by makeshift blowtorch, samurai sword, dump truck, and more!
Shocking, brutal, and totally politically incorrect in its outlook, Island of Death is a grueling cinematic experience devised by director Mastorakis to out do the excesses of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, which he was hugely inspired by. Now fully uncut and newly restored from the original negative, fans can enjoy Island of Death in all its sleazy, lurid glory.
Special Edition Contents:
- Brand new restoration from the original negative
- High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentation
- Optional English SDH subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- Brand new interview with director Nico Mastorakis
- The Films of Nico Mastorakis – the director hosts this documentary covering his varied career in cinema, including a look at Island of Death
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphreys
- Collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film, illustrated with original archive stills and posters
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