School in the Crosshairs Blu-ray

Cult Epics has dated and detailed its upcoming Blu-ray release of Nobuhiko Ôbayashi's School in the Crosshairs (1981), starring Hiroko Yakushimaru, Ryôichi Takayanagi, Masami Hasegawa, and Shingo Yanagisawa. The release is scheduled to arrive on the market on October 14.

Description: Released months before lead Hiroko Yakushimaru's breakthrough hit Sailor Suit and Machine Gun, Nobuhiko Obayashi's first groundbreaking teenage idol picture is a dazzling mix of special effects and blue-screen artifice--a stylistic flair perfected in Obayashi's debut House, now utilized for the onset of an alien invasion. Ordinary schoolgirl Yuka's (Yakushimaru) new term comes to an odd start when she inexplicably stops an accident by using latent psychic powers. Troubled by her newfound abilities, Yuka also senses a strange force starting to take hold of the school, with students turning into mind-controlled fascists, patrolling school halls, stifling dissent, and mandating the re-education of freethinkers. A psychotronic fantasy forged into a young girl's destiny to defend the planet, School in the Crosshairs is a cosmic overload of extraterrestrial tyrants, preternatural powers and Obayashi's uniquely adroit filmmaking abilities, underlaid with an existential cry for free will.

Special Features and Technical Specs:

• 2K RESTORATION OF THE FILM
• NEW Audio Commentary by film critic Max Robinson
• NEW Sailor Suits and Sound - Visual essay by Phillip Jeffries
• Obayashi Film Poster Gallery
• Theatrical Trailers
• New improved English subtitles
• New Slipcase art design by Sam Smith
• Reversible sleeve with original Japanese poster art
• First Pressing Only: 24-page Japanese reproduction booklet (pamphlet)