Key highlights this February on the essential, alternative streaming service ARROW include a second season of films from the legendary Brazilian director José Mojica Marins, a devilish double-bill from Spanish director Álex de la Iglesia, a season of wonderfully weird short films, Valentine’s Day done ARROW-style, and much more.
In February, ARROW presents a season of bite-sized shocks in the form of the very best wild and weird short films, including Smile, the extraordinarily imaginative and disturbing award-winning short from director Joanna Tsanis; as well as The Wyrm of Bwlch Pen Barras, a Welsh language folk horror film about modern Wales, rooted in the country’s rich mythology, shot on 16mm and featuring a score by Cian Ciaran and Dafydd Ieuan from The Super Furry Animals; and ab adaptation of the famous short story by W.W. Jacobs, The Monkey’s Paw, produced by the newly revived Hammer Films, and sure to send a shiver up the spine. Be careful what you wish for!
Also not to be missed in February is Back Inside the Mind of Coffin Joe: Part Two, with more films from legendary Brazilian filmmaker José Mojica Marins, who wrote, directed and starred in a series of outrageous movies from 1964 to 2008, including the rarely-seen When the Gods Fall Asleep, where messianic cult figure Coffin Joe sets out to right wrongs, expose corruption and end social unrest; the luridly titled The Strange Hostel of Naked Pleasures, Hellish Flesh and Hallucinations of a Deranged Mind; Embodiment of Evil, where Marins returns to the role that made his name one last time, as Coffin Joe emerges onto the streets of São Paulo in 2008; and the fascinating documentary Inside the Mind of Coffin Joe.
There’s also a pair of unmissable cult films from Spanish director Álex de la Iglesia, the jet-black chiller comedy Day Of The Beast; and Perdita Durango, novelist Barry Gifford’s prequel to Wild at Heart, starring Oscar nominee Rosie Perez and Academy Award winner Javier Bardem and The Sopranos star James Gandolfini.
Seasons in February include The Radiance Collection, a selection of films – from Yakuza to French serial killers to giallo to mafia thrillers – from the brand new label that specialises in rediscovered cinematic gems and offbeat classics; Filmmakers on Filmmaking, featuring interviews and commentaries from ARROW’s vast library of extras that feature some of the coolest and smartest filmmakers in the world discussing their craft; This Means War, a collection of battle-hardened movies so good you’ll be left shell-shocked; Jill Gevargizian Selects Vol. II, with The Stylist director choosing her favourites from the ARROW catalogue, including A Tale of Two Sisters, Blade of the Immortal and Crimes of Passion; and Billy Butcher Selects, where the iconic illustrator lines up some gruesome horrors for your delectation, including Hellraiser and Demons.
FEBRUARY RELEASE CALENDAR
New Seasons this February
From February 2nd: Sharp Shorts
Featuring the very best wild and weird short films, Sharp Shorts is the place to be for quick fixes of micro features that will leave you in shock and awe.
Creepy, classy, stomach-churning, jaw-dropping, award-winning and even those that have gone on to become full features, Sharp Shorts is the best place to get a shot of Cult if you only have minutes to spare. But be warned, you could also very easily become sucked into spending hours at the mercy of some of the best short filmmakers around!
The Wyrm of Bwlch Pen Barras – 2023
Early one winter morning in the rural town of Rhuthun in North Wales, three men are called upon once again to carry out a terrible assignment on the Bwlch Pen Barras mountain pass. Shot on 16mm by cinematographer Sean Price Williams (Good Time, Her Smell) and featuring a score by Cian Ciaran and Dafydd Ieuan from The Super Furry Animals, The Wyrm of Bwlch Pen Barras is a Méliès d’argent-nominated Welsh language folk horror film about modern Wales, rooted in the country’s rich mythology.
The Monkey’s Paw – 2022
The White family awaits their guest. Sergeant-Major Morris has just returned from serving in India. He carries a cursed monkey’s paw. It can grant the owner three wishes. Is it magic? A curse? Or pure coincidence?
Itch – 2021
Sister Jude (Loren O’Dair) is a novice nun about to take her simple vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience in a cloistered convent. However, before she does, she develops a mysteriously severe skin condition that continues to worsen along with her mental state. Trying her best to obey Mother Superior (Shenagh Govan) and Father Paul (Christopher Saul) in accordance with her future vows, she struggles with her feelings for another nun, Sister Agatha (Alexandra Dowling), who she frequently dreams about. The insistent need to scratch overwhelms anything else and clouds Sister Jude’s mind, who will do anything to make the itch stop.
Smile – 2021
When a young woman struggles to smile, her depression becomes something truly monstrous.
From February 5th
The Day of the Beast – 1995
Bent on committing as many sins as possible to avert the birth of the beast, a Catholic priest teams up with a Black Metal aficionado and an Italian connoisseur of the occult. Now, he must become an unrelenting sinner. Is there still hope?
Perdita Durango – 1997
From writer/director Álex de la Iglesia comes novelist Barry Gifford’s prequel to Wild at Heart featuring sociopath priestess Perdita Durango. Starring Oscar nominee Rosie Perez and Academy Award winner Javier Bardem in the “amoral love story” (DVD Talk) filled with human sacrifices, kidnapping, murder, fetus trafficking and the dogged DEA agent (James Gandolfini).
From February 6th: Jill Gevargizian Selects Vol. II
Jill Gevargizian, the writer/director of the award-winning ARROW release The Stylist, producer of horror thriller Black Mold, and director of the upcoming haunted house chiller Ghost Game, makes a selection from ARROW’s esoteric archive, including J-horror, samurai action and Ken Russell madness among her picks.
Titles Include: A Tale of Two Sisters, Blade of the Immortal, Crimes of Passion
From February 9th: The Radiance Collection
Founded on a passion for cinema, Radiance Films’ titles are curated from a variety of genres and modes of filmmaking, from arthouse provocateurs to genre classics, and each release is created from the best available materials.
Explore this brave brand-new label’s films on a dedicated shelf full of all manner of their titles, from Yakuza to French serial killers to Giallo to mafia thrillers, in the Radiance Films collection.
Titles Include: How To Kill a Judge, Yakuza Graveyard, Red Sun
From February 14th: Romance is Dead
They say the course of true love never runs smooth, and that’s something of an understatement here on ARROW where the course of true love often features seductive witchcraft, torture, madness, murder, extreme violence and a gorilla. Ah, l’amore!
Titles Include: Yakuza Graveyard, Melo, Tokyo Fist
From February 16th: Filmmakers on Filmmaking
Who needs Film School? A collection featuring interviews and commentaries from our vast library of extras that feature some of the coolest and smartest filmmakers in the world discussing their craft, Filmmakers on Filmmaking is a crash course for all budding Cult filmmakers of tomorrow!
Titles Include: Mike Hodges: A Film-Maker’s Life, Naked Flesh, When Romero Met Del Toro
From February 19th: Back Inside the Mind of Coffin Joe: Part Two
Cultural icon, anti-establishment statement, sadistic lord of carnival horror! With his iconic long fingernails, top hat and cape, Zé do Caixão (Coffin Joe) was the creation of Brazilian filmmaker José Mojica Marins, who wrote, directed and starred in a series of outrageous movies from 1964 to 2008.
The rarely-seen When the Gods Fall Asleep continues the series’ blackly comic trajectory as our messianic cult figure sets out to right wrongs, expose corruption and end social unrest. The Strange Hostel of Naked Pleasures brings Zé do Caixão back to the screen as the proprietor of an isolated guest house where, on a dark and stormy night, an eclectic group of strangers seek shelter.
In Hellish Flesh, Dr George Medeiros is a brilliant scientist, but a neglectful husband whose wife takes a lover and plans to murder George for his fortune, but the doctor is only disfigured and returns with a plan for revenge! Meanwhile, in Hallucinations of a Deranged Mind, the colleagues of a psychiatric doctor driven to insanity by nightmare visions of Zé do Caixão enlist the character’s creator, José Mojica Marins, to convince the patient that Zé does not exist – but all is not as it seems!
Finally, in Embodiment of Evil, Marins returns to the role that made his name one last time, as Zé do Caixão emerges onto the streets of São Paulo in 2008, haunted by ghostly visions and the spirits of past victims, and still in pursuit of the woman who can give him the perfect child.
Newly restored from the best available elements and packed with new and archival extras, Inside the Mind of Coffin Joe is a love letter to one of the great iconoclasts of horror, who forged his films in the face of military dictatorship and religious censorship to become Brazil’s national Boogeyman.
Titles Include:
When The Gods Fall Asleep – 1972
Prophet Finis Hominis escapes from jail and resumes his mission of saving humanity from its moral ruin.
The Strange Hostel of Naked Pleasures – 1976
Coffin Joe opens a hostel which will be run by himself and five other carefully chosen people. The hostel soon fills up with dozens of guests including partying hippies and gambling gangsters, who soon begin to suspect that this hostel is far from normal….
Hellish Flesh – 1977
Dr. Jorge Medeiros is a weird scientist who does not have time for his beautiful wife Rachel and is always busy with his so-called experiences. She falls in love with Oliver, best friend of her husband, and soon after the two plan to kill Jorge and inherit his fortune. Benefiting from the distraction of her husband in the laboratory, Raquel throws acid on Jorge’s face, disfiguring it. As he recovers in the hospital, Raquel and Oliver spend all his money. After months in hospital, the beguiled husband comes back home, with a special plan for revenge in mind.
Hallucinations of a Deranged Mind – 1978
A psychiatric doctor is driven insane plagued by nightmarish visions of Coffin Joe’s subterranean world of bizarre horror. Under analysis, it’s discovered that he has a pathological fear that Joe has sexual designs on his beautiful wife. Unable to cure him, his fellow doctors enlist the services of José Mojica Marins, the creator of Coffin Joe, in an attempt to convince the patient that Joe does not exist. But all is not how it might first appear.
Embodiment of Evil – 2008
After 40 years in a cell for the mentally ill, Coffin Joe is finally freed. Back on the streets, the sadistic gravedigger is set on fulfilling that for which he was imprisoned: find the woman who can give him the perfect child. During his wanderings through the city of São Paulo leaves behind a trail of horror as he faces unnatural laws and popular beliefs.
From February 19th: Butcher Billy Selects
Brazilian illustrator Billy Butcher – renowned for his art pieces that blend pop art with vintage comic book styles to stupendous effect – has taken his pick of the formidable ARROW catalogue, and chosen a selection of horrors that will thrill, astound and excite – much like his work.
Titles Include: Hellraiser, Deep Red, Elvira: Mistress of the Dark
From February 23rd: This Means War
Featuring incredible, brutal, sometimes harrowing – and even sometimes full of crazy creatures – Cult films, ARROW goes to war with a collection of battle-hardened movies so good you’ll be left shell-shocked.
Titles Include: JSA, The Annihilators, Warning From Space
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About ARROW
From Arrow Films, a recognised world-leader in curation and creation, ARROW is a premium platform giving you an unparalleled viewing experience across multiple devices, so you can explore the films and TV shows that the Arrow brand is famous for.
Specially curated by members of the ARROW team, ARROW will be home to premium film and TV entertainment, exclusive new premieres, cutting edge cinema, international classics and cult favourites – such as the works of Lars Von Trier, Brian De Palma, Dario Argento, David Cronenberg and Park Chan-wook – plus the very best in acclaimed TV series, including The Bridge and Italian crime series Gomorrah, and brand-new short films from both new and established filmmakers. In the coming months, ARROW will be adding Oscar-winning hits, European classics, Asian cinema masterworks, rediscovered Westerns, offbeat gems and much more, along with such festival favourites The Sacred Spirit and Dinner in America as part of ARROW’s international strategy to support and celebrate the medium of film.
ARROW will also be home to ARROW Stories – an ever-growing collection of interviews, trailers, documentaries and additional extras, newly created just for the service and from its extensive archives. The service will be updated regularly with fresh content, new curation focuses and never-before-seen content, all selected by the ARROW team as well as the filmmakers themselves. With a slickly designed and user-friendly interface ARROW is the new alternative place to go for the very best in On-Demand entertainment.