Arrow Video June Slate Offers Sci-fi Classics To Obscure Horrors

The Beatles sang ‘Here Comes The Sun’, in June that sun will bring out the genre fans with Arrow Video June slate.
The month will bring a prophetic sci-fi classic, a post-apocalyptic Canuxploitation action thriller, a cult spine-chiller, a new volume of unmissable horror obscurities, and a dazzling giallo.

First up is The Andromeda Strain, a brilliant sci-fi thriller from the mind of Michael Crichton, who would go on to create Jurassic Park. Directed by Robert Wise (The Haunting) this suspense classic about a killer virus.

More sci-fi in June with Def-con 4, a slice of post-apocalyptic ‘Canuxploitation’ from legendary producer Roger Corman’s New World Pictures. Bearing more than a ing resemblance to George Miller’s Ozploitation classic Mad Max, Def-Con 4 is an inventive and action-packed low budget sci-fi romp, making its UK High Definition debut with this brand new restoration.

The Sender, a shocking psychic thriller filled with unforgettably chilling nightmare imagery, hailed by none other than Quentin Tarantino as his favourite film of 1982. Directed by Academy Award winner Roger Christian, and starring the wonderful Kathryn Harrold (Modern Romance).

Fans of horror obscurity will be in seventh heaven with the eagerly-awaited release of American Horror Project Vol 2, containing three little seen 1970s offerings – Dream No Evil, Dark August and The Child.

Finally in June, the legendary Klaus Kinski stars in Double Face, a psychological, psychedelic, and at times just plain psychotic crime story that stands as one of the most engaging and enjoyable films in the career of director Riccardo Freda (I vampiri, The Horrible Dr. Hichock). A densely-plotted, visually-stunning giallo, that evokes much of the same ambience of paranoia and decadence as such classics of the genre as One on Top of the Other and A Lizard in a Woman’s Skin.

The Andromeda Strain |Blu-ray | 3/4 June 2019

A government satellite crashes outside a small town in New Mexico – and within minutes, almost every inhabitant of the town is dead. Realising that the satellite brought back a lethal organism from another world, a team of government scientists race against the clock to understand the extraterrestrial virus – codenamed “Andromeda” – before it can wipe out all life on the planet.

SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS

New restoration by Arrow Films from a 4K scan of the original camera negative
High Definition (1080p) Blu-Ray presentation
Original uncompressed mono audio, newly remastered for this release
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
Audio commentary by critic Bryan Reesman
A New Strain of Science Fiction, a newly-filmed appreciation by critic Kim Newman
The Andromeda Strain: Making The Film, an archive featurette from 2001 directed by Laurent Bouzereau and featuring interviews with director Robert Wise and screenwriter Nelson Gidding
A Portrait of Michael Crichton, an archive featurette from 2001 directed by Laurent Bouzereau and featuring an interview with author Michael Crichton
Cinescript Gallery, highlights from the annotated and illustrated shooting script by Nelson Gidding
Theatrical trailer, TV spots and radio spots
Image gallery
BD-ROM: PDF of the 192-page “cinescript” with diagrams and production designs
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Corey Brickley

FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Peter Tonguette and archive publicity materials

Def-con 4 | Blu-ray |10 June 2019

Two months after the planet is ravaged by nuclear war, three astronauts are forced to return to earth – now an apocalyptic wasteland consumed by radiation and roamed by cannibal gangs. Forced into desperate pacts with unlikely allies, among them eccentric survivalist Vinny (Maury Chaykin, WarGames), the astronauts must draw on all their resourcefulness to survive this brave new world.

SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS
New 2K restoration from the original 35mm interpositive
High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
Original lossless mono soundtrack
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
Brave New World, a new video interview with New World Pictures editor Michael Spence
Nemesis Descending, a new video interview with composer Christopher Young
New video interview with author Chris Poggiali on the history and legacy of New World Pictures
Theatrical trailer
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Gary Pullin

FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Neil Mitchell

The Sender |Blu-ray | 17 June 2019

After an unsuccessful suicide attempt, an amnesiac young man is itted to a psychiatric hospital for evaluation. Dr Gail Farmer (Kathryn Harrold) tries to establish a connection with him, but soon begins to experience frightening hallucinations. She quickly realises that the cause of these waking nightmares is none other than the mysterious man, and the strange woman (Academy Award nominee Shirley Knight, The Dark at the Top of the Stairs) who visits the hospital claiming to be his mother.

SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS

High Definition (1080p) Blu-Ray presentation
Original uncompressed stereo audio
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
Audio commentary by director Roger Christian
Newly-filmed interview with screenwriter Tom Baum
Newly-filmed appreciation by critic Kim Newman
Deleted scenes from the screenplay, including the original ending
Theatrical trailer
Image gallery
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Luke Insect

FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Alan Jones and an excerpt from the novelisation by Tom Baum

American Horror Project Vol 2 | Blu-ray | 24/25 June 2019

In Dream No Evil a young woman finds herself drawn into a fantasy land of homicidal madness; in Dark August a man is pursued by a terrifying and deadly curse in the wake of a hit-and-run accident; and The Child sees a young girl raise an army of the dead against the people she holds responsible for her mother’s death. All three films have been newly remastered from the best surviving film elements, and appear for the first time ever on Blu-ray, alongside a wealth of supplementary material.

LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS
Brand new 2K restorations from original film elements
High Definition Blu-ray presentation
Original uncompressed PCM mono audio
English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
Reversible sleeves for each film featuring original and newly-commissioned artwork by The Twins of Evil
American Horror Project Journal Vol. II – limited edition 60-page booklet featuring new writing on the films by Stephen R. Bissette, Travis Crawford and Amanda Reyes

DREAM NO EVIL
Filmed appreciation by Stephen Thrower
Brand new audio commentary with Kat Ellinger and Samm Deighan
Hollywood After Dark: The Early Films of John Hayes, 1959-1971 – brand new video essay by Stephen Thrower looking at Hayes’ filmography leading up to Dream No Evil
Writer Chris Poggiali on the prodigious career of celebrated character actor Edmond O’Brien
Excerpts from an audio interview with actress Rue McClanahan (The Golden Girls) discussing her many cinematic collaborations with director John Hayes

DARK AUGUST
Filmed appreciation by Stephen Thrower
Brand new audio commentary with writer-director Martin Goldman
Brand new on-camera interview with Martin Goldman
Brand new on-camera interview with producer Marianne Kanter
The Hills Are Alive: Dark August and Vermont Folk Horror – author and artist Stephen R. Bissette on Dark August and its context within the wider realm of genre filmmaking out of Vermont
Original Press Book

THE CHILD
1.37:1 and 1.85:1 presentations of the feature
Filmed appreciation by Stephen Thrower
Brand new audio commentary with director Robert Voskanian and producer Robert Dadashian, moderated by Stephen Thrower
Brand new on-camera interviews with Robert Voskanian and Robert Dadashian
Original Theatrical Trailer
Original Press Book

Double Face| Blu-ray | 24/25 June 2019

When the unfaithful wife of a wealthy businessman (Klaus Kinski) dies in a car crash, it initially looks like a freak accident, but the plot thickens when evidence arises suggesting that the car was tampered with prior to the crash. And the businessman’s entire perception of reality is thrown into doubt when he discovers a recently-shot pornographic movie which appears to feature Helen.

SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS

Brand new 2K restoration of the full-length Italian version of the film from the original 35mm camera negative
High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
Uncompressed mono 1.0 LPCM audio
Original English and Italian soundtracks, titles and credits
Newly translated English subtitles for the Italian soundtrack
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing for the English soundtrack
New audio commentary by author and critic Tim Lucas
New video interview with composer Nora Orlandi
The Many Faces of Nora Orlandi, a new appreciation of the varied career of the film’s composer by musician and soundtrack collector Lovely Jon
The Terrifying Dr. Freda, a new video essay on Riccardo Freda’s gialli by author and critic Amy Simmons
Extensive image gallery from the collection of Christian Ostermeier, including the original German pressbook and lobby cards, and the complete Italian cineromanzo adaptation
Original Italian and English theatrical trailers
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 Neill Mitchell