Noir Classics, Cult Horrors On The Menu For Arrow's March Slate

A double-dose of hardboiled noir, unmissable Japanese sci-fi oddities, unsettling horror debut and a hair-raisingly good howl-at-the-moon are all lined up for March’s Arrow Video and Arrow Academy’s slate.

Up first will be Arrow Academy releasing Tales From the Urban Jungle: Brute Force and The Naked City, which brings together the two films which started an extraordinary streak of hits for writer, director, producer and actor Jules Dassin, one of Hollywood’s most remarkable talents. Each film is a diamond hard classic, weathering the test of time with sharp edges intact; both films feature stark cinematography and taut writing to land an incredible one-two punch that remains impactful to this day. Sourced from new 4K restorations, and complemented by a wealth of bonus features, this Special Edition Blu-Ray™ set is both the perfect entry point for newcomers to the work of a great director, and a must have for die-hard fans of Film Noir and Jules Dassin.

For Arrow Video comes The Invisible Man Appears / The Invisible Man vs. The Human Fly, finally released outside Japan for the very first time. These unique riffs on H.G. Wells’ classic character (though undoubtedly also indebted to Universal’s iconic film series) are two of the earliest examples of tokusatsu (special effects) cinema from Daiei Studios. The Blu-ray debut includes a collector’s booklet, newly filmed appreciation of the Invisible Man in the movies, and fantastic new artwork from Graham Humphreys.

Next up, The Bloodhound, first-time feature director Patrick Picard’s fresh take on one of the best-known stories from the master of mystery and the macabre, Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher, in his new slow-burner horror-thriller The Bloodhound, a hauntingly atmospheric tale described by The Hollywood News as “an impressively stylish and intellectual debut”. From Leal Naim and Thomas R. Burke, producers of The Endless and Synchronic, and featuring some remarkable performances from its trio of lead actors, The Bloodhound leads you on a journey exploring themes that are as relevant to today as ever before, such as the yearning for emotional connection, the perils of social isolation and the fragility of mental health.

Finally in March, An American Werewolf in London, from one of the greatest directors of the 1980s, John Landis (The Blues Brothers, Trading Places), who expertly combines macabre horror with dark humour in the lycanthropic classic. An American Werewolf in London had audiences howling with laughter and recoiling in terror upon its cinema release. Landis’ film has gone on to become one of the most important horror films of its decade, rightly lauded for its masterful set-pieces, uniquely unsettling atmosphere and Rick Baker’s truly ground-breaking, Oscar-winning special makeup effects. Now restored and presented with an abundance of extra features, this big beast of horror can be devoured as never before.

Tales From the Urban Jungle: Brute Force and The Naked City
On Limited Edition Blu-ray, 29 March

In Brute Force, Burt Lancaster is Joe Collins, one of a number of convicts squeezed into cell R17 and intent on breaking out. Desperate to return to his cancer-ridden wife (Ann Blyth), and to escape the clutches of sadistic warden Captain Munsey (an unforgettable performance from Hume Cronyn) who enjoys a reign of terror over the inmates.

Meanwhile, in The Naked City, a blonde ex-model is murdered in her bathtub and detectives Muldoon (Barry Fitzgerald) and Halloran (Don Taylor) are assigned to the case. Their investigation leads them all over New York City, from Park Avenue to the Lower East Side, reaching its thrilling climax atop the Williamsburg Bridge. Inspired by the work of infamous tabloid photographer Weegee, The Naked City was the first major Hollywood production to be shot entirely on the streets of New York, making use of more than a hundred authentic locations.

LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS

• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation of new 4K restorations of both films
• Original uncompressed mono 1.0 audio
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing for both films
• Illustrated booklet featuring writing on the films by Alastair Philips, Barry Salt, Sergio Angelini, Andrew Graves, Richard Brooks and Frank Krutnik
• Reversible sleeves featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Sister Hyde

DISC ONE – BRUTE FORCE

• Brand new commentary by historian and critic Josh Nelson
• Nothing’s Okay, a brand new visual essay by film historians David Cairns & Fiona
Watson
• Josh Olson: Brute Force, a personal appreciation by the Academy Award winning
screenwriter of A History of Violence
• Burt Lancaster: The Film Noir Years, an in-depth look at Burt Lancaster’s early career by
Kate Buford, author of Burt Lancaster: An American Life
• Theatrical Trailers
• Image Gallery
DISC TWO – THE NAKED CITY
• Naked City Radio, a unique new audio commentary by historian and critic David Cairns featuring actors Steven McNicoll and sca Dymond
• The Pulse of the City, a brand new visual essay by historian and critic Eloise Ross
• New York and The Naked City, a personalised history of NYC on the big screen by critic Amy Taubin
• The Hollywood Ten, a 1950 documentary short on the ten filmmakers blacklisted from Hollywood for their refusal to name names before the House Un-American Activities Committee, including The Naked City’s screenwriter Albert Maltz
• Gallery of production stills by photojournalist Weegee
• Theatrical Trailer

1947/1948 | USA | 12 | 98/96 MINUTES | FILM NOIR | B&W | 1.37:1 |ENGLISH SDH

The Invisible Man Appears / The Invisible Man vs. The Human Fly
On Blu-ray, 15 March

In The Invisible Man Appears, written and directed by Nobuo Adachi in 1949, a scientist successfully creates an invisibility serum, only to be kidnapped by a gang of thugs who wish to use the formula to rob a priceless jewel. In addition to being the earliest surviving Japanese science fiction film ever made, the film’s entertaining special effects were an early credit for the legendary Eiji Tsuburaya, five years before he first brought Godzilla to life.

Eight years later, Mitsuo Murayama’s exciting The Invisible Man vs. The Human Fly tells the story of a series of mysterious murders where the only clue is strange buzzing noise at the scene of the crime… could this be linked to secret wartime experiments in shrinking humans to the size of insects? And can a scientist who’s just invented an invisibility ray be the one to stop it?

SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS
• High Definition (1080p) transfers of both films on one Blu-ray disc
• Original lossless Japanese mono audio on both films
• Optional English subtitles for both films
• Transparent Terrors, a newly filmed interview with critic and genre scholar Kim Newman on the history of the “Invisible Man” in cinema
• Theatrical trailer for The Invisible Man Appears
• Image galleries for both films
• Reversible sleeve featuring new and original artwork by Graham Humphreys
FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collectors’ booklet featuring new writing by Keith Allison, Hayley Scanlon and Tom Vincent

1949/1957 | JAPAN| 12 | 87/96 MINUTES | CRIME/SCI-FI | B&W | 1.37:1 |JAPANESE | ENGLISH SDH

The Bloodhound On Blu-ray, 22 March

Francis (Liam Aiken, A Series of Unfortunate Events), a dispossessed young man, is summoned to the secluded home of his wealthy childhood friend, JP Luret (Joe Adler, The Maze Runner), who is suffering from a mysterious affliction. Upon his arrival, Francis realizes that JP and his ethereal twin sister Vivian (Annalise Basso, Ouija: Origin of Evil) are the sole surviving of the privileged Luret family, whose legacy has been one of depression and self-destruction, and the only occupants of their family estate. As the old friends attempt to reconnect, a number of inexplicable incidents begin to occur within the house, and Francis finds himself drawn into a world of malaise and despair, where an act of betrayal might provide his only way out…

SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS

• High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentation
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• Brand new audio commentary by director Patrick Picard and editor David Scorca
• Four experimental short films by director Patrick Picard: bad dream, the muffled hammerfall in action, the mosaic code and wiggleworm
• On the Trail of The Bloodhound: Behind the Scenes of a Modern Chiller exclusive 45-minute making-of featurette
FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated booklet featuring new writing on the film by Anton Bitel

2020 | USA | 15 | 72 MINUTES | HORROR | COLOUR | 1.66:1 | ENGLISH SDH

An American Werewolf in London On Limited Edition Steelbook Blu-ray [Zavvi Exclusive in UK],On Limited Edition Steelbook w/ slipcase Blu-ray [Zavvi Exclusive in UK & Diabolik Exclusive in US], 29 March

American tourists David (David Naughton) and Jack (Griffin Dunne) are savaged by an unidentified vicious animal whilst hiking on the Yorkshire Moors. David awakes in a London hospital to find his friend dead and his life in disarray. Retiring to the home of a beautiful nurse (Jenny Agutter, Walkabout) to recuperate, he soon experiences disturbing changes to his mind and body, undergoing a full-moon transformation that will unleash terror on the streets of the capital…

LIMITED EDITION STEELBOOK + RIGID SLIPCASE CONTENTS
• Limited to 1500 units
• 2019 restoration from the original camera negative supervised by John Landis
• High Definition Blu-rayTM (1080p) presentation
• Original uncompressed 1.0 mono and optional 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• Audio commentary by Beware the Moon filmmaker Paul Davis
• Audio Commentary by actors David Naughton and Griffin Dunne
• Mark of The Beast: The Legacy of the Universal Werewolf, feature-length documentary by filmmaker Daniel Griffith, featuring interviews with John Landis, David Naughton, Joe Dante and more
• An American Filmmaker in London, an interview with John Landis in which he reflects on British cinema and his time working in Britain
• I Think He’s a Jew: The Werewolf’s Secret, video essay by filmmaker Jon Spira (Elstree 1976) about how Landis’ film explores Jewish identity
• The Werewolf’s Call, Corin Hardy, director of The Nun, chats with writer Simon Ward about their formative experiences with Landis’ film.
• Wares of the Wolf, featurette in which SFX artist Dan Martin and Tim Lawes of Prop Store look at some of the original costumes and special effects artefacts from the film
• Beware the Moon, Paul Davis’ acclaimed, feature-length exploration of Landis’ film which boasts extensive cast and crew interviews
• Making An American Werewolf in London, a short archival featurette on the film’s production
• An Interview with John Landis, a lengthy archival interview with the director about the film
• Makeup Artist Rick Baker on An American Werewolf in London, the legendary make-up artist discusses his work on the film
• I Walked with a Werewolf, an archival interview with the make-up artist about Universal horror and its legacy of Wolfman films
• Casting of the Hand, archival footage from Rick Baker’s workshop as they cast David Naughton’s hand
• Outtakes
• Storyboards featurette
• Original trailers, teasers and radio spots
• Extensive image gallery featuring over 200 stills, posters and other ephemera
• Limited edition Steelbook and rigid slipcase featuring newly commissioned artwork by Gary Pullin
• Double-sided fold-out poster
• Limited edition booklet featuring new writing by Craig Ian Mann and Simon Ward