ARROW VIDEO FEBRUARY 2019 RELEASE SCHEDULE

Arrow Video have released their schedule for February 2019 and we have details on the DVD, Blu-ray and dual format releases. Below you will find the February 2019 release schedule for U.K., U.S.A. and Canada releases.

If you missed what Arrow Video released in January 2019 you can find all the details HERE.

THE POSSESSED

Release Date: 4th February 2019 (U.K. Release)

5th February 2019 (U.S.A./Canada Release)

Format: Blu-ray

Directed by: Luigi Bazzoni, Franco Rossellini

The Possessed is a wonderfully atmospheric proto-giallo based on one of Italy’s most notorious crimes, The Alleghe killings, and adapted from the book on that case by acclaimed literary figure Giovanni Comisso.

Peter Baldwin (The Ghost, The Weekend Murders) stars as Bernard, a depressed novelist who sets off in search of his old flame Tilde (Virna Lisi, La Reine Margot), a beautiful maid who works at a remote lakeside hotel. Bernard is warmly greeted by the hotel owner Enrico (Salvo Randone, Fellini’s Satyricon) and his daughter Irma (Valentina Cortese, Thieves Highway, The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire), but Tilde has disappeared under suspicious circumstances. Bernard undertakes an investigation and is soon plunged into a disturbing drama of familial secrets, perversion, madness and murder…

Co-written by Giulio Questi (Death Laid an Egg, Arcana) and co-directed by Luigi Bazzoni (The Fifth Cord, Footprints on the Moon), The Possessed masterfully combines film noir, mystery and giallo tropes, whilst also drawing on the formal innovations of 1960s art cinema (particularly the films of Michelangelo Antonioni). A uniquely dreamlike take on true crime, The Possessed is presented here in a stunning new restoration.

SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS:

• Brand new 2K restoration from the original camera 
• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
• Original Italian and English soundtracks, titles and credits
• Uncompressed Mono 1.0 PCM audio
• 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 writer and critic Tim Lucas
• Richard Dyer on The Possessed, a newly filmed video appreciation by the cultural critic and academic
• Cat’s Eyes, an interview with the film’s makeup artist Giannetto De Rossi
• Two Days a Week, an interview with the film’s award-winning assistant art director Dante Ferretti
• The Legacy of the Bazzoni Brothers, an interview with actor/director Francesco Barilli, a close friend of Luigi and Camillo Bazzoni
• Original trailers
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Sean Phillips

First pressing only: Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Andreas Ehrenreich, Roberto Curti and original reviews

THE FIFTH CORD

Release Date: 4th February 2019 (U.K. Release)

5th February 2019 (U.S.A./Canada Release)

Format: Blu-ray

Directed by: Luigi Bazzoni

The success of Dario Argento’s The Bird with the Crystal Plumage ushered in a host of imitators, seeking to capitalise on this new, modern take on the giallo thriller. Many were highly derivative, but a number nonetheless rose above the crowd thanks to skilful execution and a willingness to experiment stylistically. Once such example is The Fifth Cord ¬– which, in the hands of director Luigi Bazzoni (The Possessed, Footprints on the Moon), turns a conventional premise into a visually stunning exploration of alienation and isolation.

When a man barely survives a brutal assault en route home from a New Year’s party, washed-up, whisky-swilling journalist Andrea Bild (Franco Nero, Django) is assigned to report on the case. Before long, the maniac strikes again, this time with fatal results. As the body count rises, Andrea falls under suspicion himself, making it even more imperative that he crack the case. His only clue lies in a series of black gloves found at the location of every attack, each with a finger cut off…

Adapted from a novel by David McDonald Devine, The Fifth Cord boasts a complex, Agatha Christie-esque plot, outstanding cinematography courtesy of future Oscar-winner Vittorio Storaro (Apocalypse Now) and supporting appearances by a raft of genre stalwarts, including Silvia Monti (A Lizard in a Woman’s Skin), Edmund Purdom (Nightmare City) and Rossella Falk (Sleepless). Debuting here in high definition, arguably the most visually stunning giallo ever made now shines like never before.

SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS:

• Brand new 2K restoration from the original camera negative
• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
• Original lossless mono Italian and English soundtracks
• English subtitles for the Italian soundtrack
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing for the English soundtrack
• New audio commentary by critic Travis Crawford
• Lines and Shadows, a new video essay on the film’s use of architecture and space by critic Rachael Nisbet
• Whisky Giallore, a new video interview with author and critic Michael Mackenzie
• Black Day for Nero, a new video interview with actor Franco Nero
• The Rhythm Section, a new video interview with film editor Eugenio Alabiso
• Rare, previously unseen deleted sequence, restored from the original negative 
• Original Italian and English theatrical trailers
• Image gallery
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Haunt Love

First pressing only: Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Kat Ellinger and Peter Jilmstad

BEFORE WE VANISH

Release Date: 11th February 2019 (U.K. Release Only)

Format: Blu-ray

Directed by: Kiyoshi Kurosawa

A genre-bending alien invasion mashup of darkly comedic sci-fi and action spectacle, from the director of Japanese horror classic Pulse.

Three aliens on a reconnaissance mission to Earth take over the bodies of human hosts to explore the world they’re about to invade. On the way they steal individual concepts from the minds of anyone who crosses their path, from work, to free will, to love, leaving behind them a trail of soulless bodies.

The film follows Narumi, whose husband Shinji becomes one of the three hosts. As the invasion grows nearer, Narumi’s attempts to save humanity from extinction become increasingly entwined with Shinji’s decision on whether to save the humanity within himself.

Prolific Japanese filmmaker Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Pulse) returned to Cannes with this alien invasion movie with a difference, a deft mix of love story, blackly comic sci-fi and all out action. From its opening sequence – where a laughing, blood-splattered schoolgirl walks along a highway as a massive traffic pile-up takes place behind her – it is clear Before We Vanish is something spectacular, stylish, and very very different.

Combining the best of Kurosawa’s genre stylings with his forays into dark family dramas, Before We Vanish sees the director delivering a twist on the classic Invasion of the Body Snatchers narrative by recontextualising it in the disconnected modern world.

Beautifully paced, and with a lavish score by Yûsuke Hayashi that wouldn’t be out of place in one of Spielberg’s lavish Hollywood sci-fi epics, the film presents a unique vision to how alien invasions have been portrayed in popular culture in the past, and asks the question, how much is humanity worth, if we’ve become too alienated to be able to recognise the aliens among us?

A thought-provoking, intelligent and witty examination of the human condition, this sits along recent sophisticated sci-fi films like Interstellar and Ex Machina, lingering long in the mind after viewing.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

• FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Neil Mitchell
• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
• Original 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
• Optional English subtitles
• The Making Of Before We Vanish, an 53-minute featurette including on-set footage and interviews with cast and crew
• Inside The Story and Inside The Characters, two featurettes with cast and crew interviews
• Looking Back, members of the cast reunite to discuss memories of the production
• Red carpet interviews from the Cannes Film Festival premiere
• Cast and crew Q&As from four screenings including the Japanese premiere
• Trailer
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Tommy Pocket

CLIMAX

Release Date: 11th February 2019 (U.K. Release Only)

Format: DVD & Blu-ray

Directed by: Gaspar Noé

Gaspar Noé, director of the hugely controversial Irreversible, Enter the Void and Love, makes a triumphant return with Climax – a visually dazzling feast of music and mayhem, and perhaps his most critically acclaimed work to date.

Following a successful rehearsal, a dance troupe set about celebrating with a party. But when it becomes apparent that someone has spiked the sangria, the joyous atmosphere soon transforms into a nightmarish hellscape of violence and twisted carnality as the dancers begin to turn on each other in an orgiastic frenzy.

Inspired equally by the worlds of modern dance and esoteric arthouse-horror (chief among them, Dario Argento’s Suspiria and Andrzej Żuławski’s Possession), Climax – which pulses towards its astonishing conclusion with a thumping score by the likes of Daft Punk, Aphex Twin and Gary Numan – illustrates a director at the height of his hallucinatory filmmaking powers.

BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS:

• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
• 5.1 DTS-HD MA Audio
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• Audio commentary with writer-director Gaspar Noé
• An Antidote to the Void – a brand new interview with Gaspar Noé
• Performing Climax – newly-produced featurette comprising interviews with actors Kiddy Smile, Romain Guillermic and Souhelia Yacoub
• Disco Infernal: The Sounds of Climax – Alan Jones, author of Saturday Night Forever: The Story of Disco and Discomania, offers up a track-by-track appreciation of the Climax soundtrack
• Shaman of the Screen: The Films of Gaspar Noé – a brand new video essay by writer Alexandra Heller-Nicholas looking as Gaspar Noé’s evolution as a filmmaker
• Trailer
• Reversible sleeve featuring two artwork options

FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Anton Bitel alongside the original press kit

DVD SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS:

• Standard Definition DVD presentation 
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• Audio commentary with writer-director Gaspar Noé
• An Antidote to the Void – a brand new interview with Gaspar Noé
• Performing Climax – newly-produced featurette comprising interviews with actors Kiddy Smile, Romain Guillermic and Souhelia Yacoub
• Disco Infernal: The Sounds of Climax – Alan Jones, author of Saturday Night Forever: The Story of Disco and Discomania, offers up a track-by-track appreciation of the Climax soundtrack
• Shaman of the Screen: The Films of Gaspar Noé – a brand new video essay by writer Alexandra Heller-Nicholas looking as Gaspar Noé’s evolution as a filmmaker
• Trailer
• Reversible sleeve featuring two artwork option

HORROR EXPRESS

Release Date: 11th February 2019 (U.K. Release)

12th February 2019 (U.S.A./Canada Release)

Format: Blu-ray

Directed by: Eugenio Martín

Horror royalty and Hammer alumni Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee reunite for this tale of mad monks, primitive humanoids and bloodthirsty zombies set aboard a train bound for Moscow – all aboard the Horror Express!

Renowned anthropologist Saxton (Lee) boards the Trans-Siberian Express with a crate containing the frozen remains of a primitive humanoid which, he believes, may prove to be the missing link in human evolution. But all hell breaks loose when the creature thaws out, turning out to be not quite as dead as once thought!

Directed by Spanish filmmaker Eugenio Martin, Horror Express remains one for the most thrilling (and, quite literally!) chilling horror efforts of the early 1970s.

SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS:

• Brand new 2K restoration from original film elements
• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
• Original Uncompressed mono audio
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• Brand new audio commentary with Stephen Jones and Kim Newman
• Introduction to the film by film journalist and Horror Express super-fan Chris Alexander
• Murder on the Trans-Siberian Express – an interview with director Eugenio Martin
• Notes from the Blacklist – Horror Express producer Bernard Gordon on working in Hollywood during the McCarthy Era
• Telly and Me – an interview with composer John Cacavas
• Original Theatrical Trailer
• Reversible sleeve featuring newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphreys

First pressing only: Illustrated collector’s booklet with new writing by Adam Scovell

AUDITION

Release Date: 12th February 2019 (U.S.A./Canada Release Only)

Format: Blu-ray

Directed by: Takashi Miike

One of the most shocking J-horror films ever made, Audition exploded onto the festival circuit at the turn of the century to a chorus of awards and praise. The film would catapult Miike to the international scene and pave the way for such other genre delights as Ichii the Killer and The Happiness of the Katakuris.

Recent widower Shigeharu Aoyama is advised by his son to find a new wife, so he seeks the advice of a colleague having been out of the dating scene for many years. They take advantage of their position in a film company by staging an audition to find the perfect woman. Interviewing a series of women, Shigeharu becomes enchanted by Asami, a quiet, 24-year-old woman, who is immediately responsive to his charms. But soon things take a very dark and twisted turn as we find that Asami isn’t what she seems to be…

Pulling the audience into a story that will lead to one of the most harrowing climaxes in cinema history, Miike twists and turns us through delirious editing and shocking visuals for one of the most depraved nightmares of all time!

SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS:

• Brand new 2K restoriation of original vault elements. 
• Original 5.1 Dolby Surround Audio
• Optional English subtitles
• Audio commentary with director Takashi Miike and screenwriter Daisuke Tengan
• Brand new commentary by Miike biographer Tom Mes examining the film and its source novel
• Introduction by Miike
• Ties that Bind – A brand new interview with Takashi Miike
• Interviews with stars Ryo Ishibashi, Eihi Shiina, Renji Ishibashi and Ren Osugi
• Damaged Romance: An appreciation by Japanese cinema historian Tony Rayns
• Trailers
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Matthew Griffin

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

COLOR ME BLOOD RED

Release Date: 18th February 2019 (U.K. Release)

19th February 2019 (U.S.A./Canada Release)

Format: Blu-ray

Directed by: Herschell Gordon Lewis

For the third and final instalment in his infamous ‘Blood Trilogy’, Color Me Blood Red, splatter movie pioneer Herschell Gordon Lewis turned to the world of fine art for this tortured tale of a troubled artist turned homicidal maniac. Painter Adam Sorge has found himself in a bit of a creative lull. But when his girlfriend accidentally cuts her finger, he realizes what his work has been missing all this time – human blood! With pressure mounting from local gallery owner Farnsworth to deliver his next masterpiece, Adam sets about procuring as much glorious haemoglobin as he can muster – first from himself, and then from anyone unfortunate enough to pass by his sickening studio of slaughter. The final filmic collaboration between H.G. Lewis and producer/master exploiteer David F. Friedman, who collectively delivered the equally demented Blood Feast and Two Thousand Maniacs!, Color Me Blood Red is a crazed creation that truly puts the pain in painting!

SPECIAL FEATURES:

• Bonus Feature! 1967’s Something Weird
• Introductions to the films by H.G. Lewis
• Audio commentary on Color Me Blood Red with H.G. Lewis and David Friedman
• Audio commentary on Something Weird with H.G. Lewis and David Friedman
• The Art of Madness – a video essay on the recurring motif of mad artists as killers in horror films
• Weirdsville – film scholar Jeffrey Sconce on Something Weird
• H.G. Lewis on Jimmy, The Boy Wonder
• A Hot Night at the Go Go Lounge! – 1966 dance short
• Color Me Blood Red Outtakes
• Color Me Blood Red Trailer
• Something Weird Trailer
• Jimmy, The Boy Wonder Trailer
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly-commissioned artwork by The Twins of Evil