British distributors Arrow Video have announced their August Blu-ray slate. Titles include David Cronenberg's
Videodrome (1983), Joe Giannone's
Madman (1982), and John Ford's
My Darling Clementine (1948), amongst others.
Madman
Gather around the campfire, and hear the tale of Madman Marz: an ill-tempered old farmer who, one dark night, chopped up his wife and two children into pieces. When the locals caught wind of his heinous crime, they meted out revenge - sinking an axe into his head and hanging him from a nearby tree. But the next day, Marz's body was gone…
Thus the camp counsellor finishes his tale, closing with the warning never to say Marz's name above a whisper, lest the hideously-deformed farmer comes looking for them… Naturally, of course, the first thing that one of the young campers does is to call out Marz's name – precipitating a terrifying night of murder, mayhem and sexy Jacuzzi vignettes!
Inspired by the same Cropsey urban legend which informed its slasher peer The Burning, Madman stands as one of the very best of the camp-based terror flicks and was a clear influence on Hatchet, Adam Green's love letter to the slasher genre.
Special Features:
- Brand new 4K transfer from the original camera negative
- High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentations
- Original Mono audio (uncompressed PCM on the Blu-ray)
- Optional English SDH subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- Audio commentary with director Joe Giannone, Madman stars Paul Ehlers and Tony Fish and producer Gary Sales
- New Audio Commentary by The Hysteria Continues
- The Legend Lives: Thirty Years of Madman - 90 minute documentary featuring interviews with cast and crew
- New Interview with producer Gary Sales
- New Interview with actor Jimmy Steele
- New Interview with Madman star, Paul Ehlers
- New Rare Acoustic Recording of the song inspired by his first viewing of Madman, 'Escape From Hellview', written, produced and performed by former CKY frontman, Deron Miller
- Theatrical Trailers
- TV Spots
- Stills Gallery
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Matt Griffin
- Collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film, illustrated with original archive stills and posters
- PLUS MORE TO BE ANNOUNCED!
UK RELEASE DATE: AUGUST 3.
My Darling Clementine
Wyatt Earp has long fascinated filmmakers. Actors from Burt Lancaster and James Stewart to Kurt Russell and Kevin Costner have played the legendary gunfighter, but no portrayal is more definitive that Henry Fonda's in My Darling Clementine.
John Ford's first Western since his seminal Stagecoach, My Darling Clementine ranks among the director's finest. Telling the story of the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, and the friendship between Earp and Doc Holliday, Ford renders this famous tale into a lyrical masterpiece, filmed in his beloved Monument Valley and full of iconic moments.
This limited edition contains two versions of the Western classic – the version that premiered in cinemas in December 1946 and the longer 'pre-release' cut that had played to preview audiences earlier that year – as well as another Wyatt Earp movie from 20th Century Fox, Allan Dwan's Frontier Marshal starring Randolph Scott and Cesar Romero.
LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS
- High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentations of My Darling Clementine's theatrical and 'pre-release' versions and Frontier Marshal
- Original uncompressed PCM mono 1.0 sound
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Jay Shaw.
BLU-RAY DISC 1: MY DARLING CLEMENTINE (THEATRICAL VERSION)
- 4K digital film restoration
- Commentary on the theatrical version by author Scott Eyman and Earp's grandson, Wyatt Earp III
- John Ford and Monument Valley - a 2013 documentary on the director's lifelong association with Utah's Monument Valley containing interviews with Peter Cowie (author of John Ford and the American West), John Ford, John Wayne, Henry Fonda, James Stewart and Martin Scorsese
- Movie Masterclass - a 1988 episode of the Channel 4 series, devoted to My Darling Clementine and presented by Lindsay Anderson
- Lost and Gone Forever - a visual essay by Tag Gallagher on the themes that run through My Darling Clementine and the film's relationship with John Ford's other works
- Stills gallery
- Theatrical Trailer
BLU-RAY DISC 2: MY DARLING CLEMENTINE ('PRE-RELEASE' VERSION), FRONTIER MARSHAL AND OTHER WYATT EARP TALES [LIMITED EDITION EXCLUSIVE]
- 2K digital film restoration of the 'pre-release' version of My Darling Clementine
- What is the Pre-Release Version? - a documentary by Robert Gitt, Senior Film Preservation Officer at the UCLA Film and Television Archive, comparing the two versions of My Darling Clementine
- High Definition digital film transfer of Frontier Marshal, Allan Dwan's 1939 Wyatt Earp film starring Randolph Scott
- Two radio plays inspired by Wyatt Earp - a 1947 adaptation of My Darling Clementine starring Henry Fonda as Earp and Richard Conte as Doc Holliday, and a 1949 Hallmark Playhouse production in which Conte played the role of Earp
- Frontier Marshall Theatrical Trailer
40-PAGE BOOKLET [LIMITED EDITION EXCLUSIVE]
- Booklet containing new writing on My Darling Clementine by Kim Newman (author of Wild West Movies) and on Frontier Marshal by Glenn Kenny, plus an extensive archive interview with screenwriter Winston Miller, illustrated with original archive stills and posters
UK RELEASE DATE: AUGUST 10.
Blood Rage
What do you get if you combine Thanksgiving, American TV star Louise Lasser (Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman), killer 80s synths and some of the most gruesome special effects in all of slasher history courtesy of Ed (Terminator 2) French. Why, it's Blood Rage of course!
Todd and Terry seem like sweet kids – that is, until one of them takes an axe to 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 – and he's heading their way. But has the killer twin in fact been in their midst all along? One thing's for sure, there WILL be blood…
Filmed in 1983 at the tail-end of the slasher golden era but not released until 1987, Blood Rage (also re-cut and released to theatres as Nightmare at Shadow Woods) has been lovingly restored from the original vault materials for its first ever appearance on Blu-ray and DVD. Happy Thankskilling!
Special Features:
- Brand new 2K restoration from original vault materials of three versions of the film: Blood Rage, the original "hard" version, completely uncut and uncensored in a Blu-ray/DVD world premiere; the R-rated Nightmare at Shadow Woods 1987 re-cut, and a third "composite" cut combining all the footage from both Blood Rage and Nightmare at Shadow Woods
- High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentations
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- Brand new extensive making-of documentary featuring interviews with various cast and crew
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly-commissioned artwork to be revealed
- Fully-illustrated collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film
- PLUS MORE TO BE ANNOUNCED!
UK RELEASE DATE: 25th August 2015
US RELEASE DATE: 26th August 2015
La grande bouffe
The most famous film by Italian provocateur Marco Ferreri (Dillinger is Dead), La Grande bouffe was reviled on release for its perversity, decadence and attack on the bourgeoisie yet won the prestigious FIPRESCI prize after its controversial screening at the Cannes Film Festival.
Four friends, played by international superstars Marcello Mastroianni (Fellini's 8½), Michel Piccoli (Belle de jour), Ugo Tognazzi (Barbarella) and Philippe Noiret (Zazie dans le métro) retreat to a country mansion where they determine to eat themselves to death whilst engaging in group sex with prostitutes and a local school teacher (Andréa Ferréol, The Tin Drum), who seems to be up for anything…
At once jovial and sinister, the film's jet-black humour has a further twist as the reputed actors (whose characters use their own names) buck their respectable trend for a descent into fart-filled chaos that delivers a feast for the eyes and mind.
Special Feature:
- Brand new 2K restoration of the original camera negative
- High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentation
- Original French audio (uncompressed PCM on the Blu-ray)
- Newly translated English subtitles
- The Farcical Movie – A French television profile of Marco Ferreri from 1975 in which the director discusses, among other things, the influence of Tex Avery, Luis Buñuel and Tod Browning's Freaks
- Behind-the-scenes footage of the making of La Grande bouffe, containing interviews with Ferrari and actors Marcello Mastroianni, Michel Piccoli, Ugo Tognazzi and Philippe Noiret
- Extracts from the television series Couleurs autour d'un festival featuring interviews with the cast and crew recorded during the Cannes Film Festival
- A visual essay on the film with by Italian film scholar Pasquale Iannone
- Select scene audio commentary by Iannone
- News report from the Cannes Film Festival where La Grande bouffe caused a controversial stir, including Ferreri at the press conference
- Original Trailer
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Gilles Vranckx
- Booklet featuring new writing on the film by Johnny Mains, illustrated with original archive stills and posters
UK Release Date: 17th August 2015
US Release Date: 18th August 2015
Pit Stop
The most dangerous game ever devised, to pit man against man, flesh against steel – the figure-8 race! Jack Hill (Coffy, Foxy Brown) follows up Spider Baby, once again teaming up with Sid Haig (House of 1000 Corpses) in one of his greatest roles for this action-spectacular crash-o-rama!
Richard Davalos (East of Eden) stars as Rick Bowman, a street punk who winds up in jail after a street race goes wrong. Bailed out by race promoter Grant Willard, Davalos is put in the deadly track where he comes up against Haig's maniacal winner Hawk Sidney. Featuring an outstanding supporting cast including Brian Donlevy (The Quatermass Xperiment) in his last film appearance, Ellen Burstyn, billed as Ellen McRae (The Exorcist), and Beverly Washburn (Spider Baby), Pit Stop is one of Hill's lesser known films but arguably his greatest.
Filmed on a real figure-8 track, Hill and his crew were able to capture gripping real-life car wreck scenes lending the film a brilliant sense of realism. You've never seen a motion picture like this before – can you take it?
Special Features:
- New High Definition digital transfer supervised and approved by director Jack Hill
- High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentation
- Original Mono 1.0 audio (uncompressed PCM on the Blu-ray)
- New UK exclusive audio commentary with director Jack Hill moderated by his biographer Calum Waddell
- Crash and Burn! - Jack Hill on the making of Pit Stop
- Drive Hard - Actor Sid Haig speaks about his experience of acting in Pit Stop
- Life in the Fast Lane - producer Roger Corman on the genesis of Pit Stop
- Restoring Pit Stop – Restoration demonstration with Technical Supervisor James White
- Original Trailer
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Jay Shaw
- Collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film by critic Glenn Kenny and musicologist and writer Gray Newell on the film's soundtrack, illustrated with original stills and artwork
U.S. STREET DATE: AUGUST 18.
Videodrome
Combining the bio-horror elements of his earlier films whilst anticipating the technological themes of his later work, Videodrome exemplifies Cronenberg's extraordinary talent for making both visceral and cerebral cinema.
Max Renn (James Woods) is looking for fresh new content for his TV channel when he happens across some illegal S&M-style broadcasts called 'Videodrome'. Embroiling his girlfriend Nicki (Debbie Harry) in his search for the source, his journey begins to blur the lines between reality and fantasy as he works his way through sadomasochistic games, shady organisations and body transformations stunningly realised by the Oscar-winning makeup effects artist Rick Baker.
Hailed by his contemporaries John Carpenter ("he's better than all of us combined") and Martin Scorsese ("no one makes films like he does") as a genius, Videodrome, was Cronenberg's most mature work to date and still stands as one of his greatest.
LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS:
- High Definition digital transfers of the uncut version of Videodrome and four of Cronenberg's early works
- Original uncompressed mono audio tracks for all films
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing for all films
- Limited Edition packaging, fully illustrated by Gilles Vranckx
- Limited Edition Exclusive Extras
VIDEODROME – BLU-RAY DISC 1 AND DVD DISC 2:
- Restored high-definition digital transfer of the unrated version, approved by director David Cronenberg and cinematographer Mark Irwin
- Audio commentary by Tim Lucas, the on-set correspondent for Cinefantastique Magazine and author of Videodrome: Studies in the Horror Film
- David Cronenberg and the Cinema of the Extreme – A documentary programme featuring interviews with Cronenberg, George A. Romero and Alex Cox on Cronenberg's cinema, censorship and the horror genre
- Forging the New Flesh – A documentary programme by filmmaker Michael Lennick on Videodrome's video and prosthetic make up effects
- Videoblivion: A brand new interview with cinematographer Mark Irwin
- A brand new interview with producer Pierre David
- AKA Jack Martin - Dennis Etchison, author of novelizations of Videodrome, Halloween, Halloween II and III and The Fog, discusses Videodrome and his observations of Cronenberg's script
- The complete uncensored Samurai Dreams footage with additional Videodrome broadcasts with optional commentary by Michael Lennick
- Helmet Test and Betamax
- Camera (2000) Cronenberg's short film starring Videodrome's Les Carlson
- Fear on Film: A round table discussion from 1982 with Cronenberg, John Carpenter, John Landis and Mick Garris
- Promotional featurette with behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with Cronenberg, James Woods, Deborah Harry and Rick Baker
- Original theatrical trailers
DAVID CRONENBERG'S EARLY WORKS: BLU-RAY DISC 3 AND DVD DISC 4 [LIMITED EDITION EXCLUSIVE]
- High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentation of four Cronenberg films
- Transfer (1966) & From the Drain (1967), Cronenberg's previously unavailable short films newly restored by the Toronto International Film Festival [7 & 12 mins]
- Stereo (1969) & Crimes of the Future (1970): Cronenberg's early amateur feature films, shot in and around his university campus, prefigure his later work's concerns with strange institutions (much like Videodrome's Spectacular Optical) as well as male/female separation (Dead Ringers) and ESP (Scanners). Newly restored from original lab elements [65 & 70 mins]
- Transfer the Future – Author and critic Kim Newman discusses Cronenberg's early works
COLLECTOR'S BOOKLET [LIMITED EDITION EXCLUSIVE]
- An illustrated 100-page hardback book featuring new writing including Justin Humphreys on Videodrome in a modern context, Brad Stevens on the alternate versions, Caelum Vatnsdal on Cronenberg's early works, extracts from Cronenberg on Cronenberg featuring Cronenberg's reminiscences of getting started in filmmaking and shooting all the films in this collection, plus more, illustrated with original archive stills
UK STREET DATE: AUGUST 10.