Arrow Video has announced an epic line-up of releases for January 2023, which includes a brand new 4K restoration of a cult horror gem starring Dean Stockwell, a double bill of bone-crunching action from the legendary Sonny Chiba, and a beautiful Limited Edition box set of films from one of Sweden’s finest exports.
The releases are packed with a wealth of extras including new commentaries and featurettes, illustrated collector’s booklets, superb, newly commissioned artwork, reversible sleeves, O-cards, deluxe books and much more.
First up, The Dunwich Horror, one of the most successful H.P. Lovecraft adaptations ever committed to film, will be released on Blu-ray on 9th January 2023, newly restored by Arrow Films from the original 35mm camera negative.
Dean Stockwell stars as Wilbur Whateley, a mysterious young man who travels from the small town of Dunwich to the library of the Miskatonic University which holds one of the only copies of the Necronomicon, a legendary book of occult lore that Wilbur hopes to borrow. Graduate student Nancy Wagner (Sandra Dee) falls under his malign influence and travels with him back to his home where Wilbur has plans to use her in a ritual to raise ‘The Old Ones’, cosmic beings from another dimension. But who, or what, is in the locked room at the top of the stairs? And what will happen if they get out?
Directed by Daniel Haller, genius art director of numerous Corman classics, this was also the first screenwriting credit for Curtis Hanson, who would later direct the multi award-winning L.A. Confidential.
SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS:
• New 2K restoration by Arrow Films from the original camera negative
• High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentation
• Original lossless mono audio
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• New audio commentary by Guy Adams and Alexandra Benedict, creators of the audio drama Arkham County
• The Door into Dunwich, a new conversation between film historian Stephen R. Bissette and horror author Stephen Laws in which they discuss The Dunwich Horror, Lovecraft, and their memories of seeing the film on release
• After Summer After Winter, a new interview with science fiction and fantasy writer Ruthanna Emrys, author of The Innsmouth Legacy series
• The Sound of Cosmic Terror, new interview with music historian David Huckvale in which he takes a closer look at Les Baxter’s score for The Dunwich Horror
• Theatrical trailer
• Image gallery
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Luke Preece
FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing by film critics Johnny Mains and Jack Sargeant
Next up, The Executioner Collection, a bone-crunching double whammy of karate exploitation classics from legendary cult director Teruo Ishii (Shogun’s Joy of Torture, Horrors of Malformed Men) and starring martial arts legend Shin’ichi ‘Sonny’ Chiba, will also be released on Blu-ray on 9th January 2023.
Ryuichi Koga (Chiba) is a descendent of the Koga Ninja school, now earning his living through more nefarious means as a gun for hire. When he is enlisted to take down a drug cartel alongside Hayabusa (Makoto Sato), a disgraced former narcotics detective now operating within the criminal underworld, and renegade Aikido master Sakura (Eiji Gō), tensions grow among this three-man team of ne’er-do-wells as each come to question each other’s motives. Koga returns in the even more gung-ho follow up, Karate Inferno, as the ringmaster of a gang of thieves plotting to steal a priceless jewel from a master criminal.
Making its High Definition home-video debut, The Executioner is presented in both its original Japanese-language version and with the English dub track from the 1970s North American release. Fans of the Street Fighter star will delight as Chiba pitches himself into a succession of freewheeling action and feisty fight scenes in this double dish of martial arts mayhem, all served up in director Ishii’s characteristically lurid style.
SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS:
• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
• Original uncompressed Japanese mono audio for both films
• Original uncompressed English mono audio track for The Executioner
• Optional English subtitles
• Brand new audio commentary by Chris Poggiali and Marc Walkow
• Sonny Chiba, Karate King, a 30-minute featurette on the legendary Sonny Chiba, featuring Grady Hendrix, Tom Mes, Chris Poggiali, Marco Joachim and Seiji Anno, from the band Guitar Wolf
• Original trailers
• Image galleries for The Executioner and The Executioner II: Karate Inferno
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Lucas Peverill
FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the films by by Mark Schilling
Finally, The Lukas Moodysson Collection, a Limited Edition 6 Disc Blu-ray box set celebrating the great Swedish filmmaker’s eclectic filmography, will be released on 30th January 2023.
The 6-disc box set, which includes the films Fucking Åmål, Together, Lilya 4-ever, A Hole in My Heart, Container, Mammoth, and We Are The Best!, is packed with brand new extras and comes with a 200-page hardback book featuring new writing on the films.
LIMITED EDITION BOXSET CONTENTS:
• High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentations of all seven films
• Original DTS-HD MA 5.1 surround and 2.0 stereo mixes for all seven films
• Optional English subtitles for all films, plus English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing on Mammoth and the English version of Container
• New video interviews with Lukas Moodysson and other cast and crew, moderated by film programmer Sarah Lutton
• 200-page hardback book featuring new writing by Peter Walsh, excerpts from the original press kits for each film, including interviews with and directors’ statements from Moodysson, and essays on his films from a 2014 special issue of the Nordic culture journal Scandinavica by C. Claire Thomson, Helga H. Lúthersdóttir, Elina Nilsson, Scott MacKenzie & Anna Westerståhl Stenport and Kjerstin Moody
DISC ONE – FUCKING ÅMÅL (aka SHOW ME LOVE)
• 2K restoration by the Swedish Film Institute, approved by director Lukas Moodysson and cinematographer Ulf Brantås
• New interview with Lukas Moodysson
• New interview with star Alexandra Dahlström
• Did You Know She’s A Lesbian?, an appreciation by Dr. Clara Bradbury-Rance, author of Lesbian Cinema After Queer Theory
• Talk (Bara prata lite), a short film directed by Moodysson in 1997
• Theatrical trailer
• Image gallery
DISC TWO – TOGETHER
• 4K restoration by the Swedish Film Institute from the original camera negative, approved by director Lukas Moodysson and cinematographer Ulf Brantås
• New interview with Lukas Moodysson
• New interview with script supervisor Malin Fornander
• New interview with editor Michal Leszczylowski
• Deleted scenes
• Theatrical trailer
• Image gallery
DISC THREE – LILYA 4-EVER
• New interview with Lukas Moodysson
• New interview with costume designer Denise Östholm
• Guardian Interview with Lukas Moodysson, a Q&A with the director filmed at the London Film Festival in 2002
• Theatrical trailer
• Image gallery
DISC FOUR – A HOLE IN MY HEART / CONTAINER
• New interviews with Lukas Moodysson on both films
• Lukas Moodysson Masterclass, an interview with the director filmed at London’s National Film & Television School in 2004
• A Hole in My Second Heart, a behind-the-scenes featurette from 2004
• Swedish and English narration options for Container
• Inside the Container Crypt, a 2007 featurette on the themes of Container
• Theatrical trailers and image galleries for both films
DISC FIVE – MAMMOTH
• New interview with Lukas Moodysson
• New interview with line producer Malte Forssell
• Promotional interviews with Moodysson and Gael Garcia Bernal from 2009
• Theatrical trailer
• Image gallery
DISC SIX – WE ARE THE BEST!
• New interview with Lukas Moodysson
• New interview with cinematographer Ulf Brantås
• A New Expression, a look at the background to the film by Swedish punk historian David Andersson
• Q&A from the 2013 London Film Festival screening, featuring Moodysson and stars Liv LeMoyne and Mira Barkhammar
• Theatrical trailer
• Image gallery
