The Arrow Thread

[Susan Foreman]

NEW UK TITLE: 'The Great Escape' (1963) - Pre-order available from Arrow Films directo for Limited Edition Blu-ray - UK$25:00 or 4K UHD - UK$30:00

Release date: December 2

"Director John Sturges reunites with The Magnificent Seven stars Steve McQueen, James Coburn and Charles Bronson in this timeless adaptation of Paul Brickhill's World War II memoir of an audacious prisoner breakout

Stalag Luft III: an impenetrable camp built to hold the most persistent escapees. Under the ruthless vigilance of the Nazi guards, a multinational group of prisoners must work together to enact their daring plan: to break out of the camp, forcing the Germans to divert precious military resources towards apprehending them. But getting beyond the camp's barbed wire fences and gun-towers is only the beginning. Once out, the escapees must make the perilous journey to the border, all the while evading the relentless pursuit of their former captors

Beautifully shot by Oscar-winning cinematographer Daniel L. Fapp (West Side Story) and featuring a rousing, infectiously hummable score by Elmer Bernstein (The Ten Commandments), The Great Escape remains one of the most beloved Hollywood historical action movies - a testament to human ingenuity, camaraderie under pressure and indomitability of the spirit."

Special features:

• Limited edition packaging with reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Sam Hadley
• Collector's booklet featuring new writing by Barry Forshaw, Neil Mitchell, Wickham Clayton and Mark Cunliffe
• Fold-out double-sided poster featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Sam Hadley

DISC 1: THE GREAT ESCAPE

• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
• Newly restored original lossless mono soundtrack
• Optional lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• Audio commentary by filmmaker / historian Steve Mitchell and Steven Jay Rubin, author of Combat Films: American Realism
• Audio commentary featuring director John Sturges and members of the cast and crew, moderated by Steven Jay Rubin
• Theatrical trailer

DISC 2: BONUS FEATURES

• The Real Great Escape - author and historian Guy Walters separates fact from fiction in this brand new interview
• The Great Escapism - brand new appreciation of the film by Jose Arroyo, Associate Professor in Film and Television Studies at the University of Warwick
• The Great Composer - brand new interview with composer / author Neil Brand, discussing Elmer Bernstein and his iconic score
• Freedom Forged - critic and educator Rich Johnson explores the film's place within the war movie canon in this brand new visual essay
• Michael Sragow on The Great Escape - 2020 interview exploring the career of John Sturges and the making of the film
• Heroes Underground - 2001 four-part documentary exploring the making of the film and the events which inspired it, featuring interviews with former POWs
• The Real Virgil Hilts - 2001 featurette interviewing former POW David M. Jones, widely seen as the inspiration for Steve McQueen's character
• The Untold Story - 2001 documentary exploring the planning and execution of the real-life escape
• The Untold Story: Additional Interviews
• Return to The Great Escape - 1993 featurette exploring the making of the film
• Image gallery

DISC 3: THE GREAT ESCAPE II: THE UNTOLD STORY [LIMITED EDITION EXCLUSIVE]

• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
• Original lossless 2.0 stereo soundtrack
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• Original Trailer

It's a true classic, but I already have it

[Susan Foreman]

New UK title: 'The Good, The Bad, The Weird' (2008) - Pre-order available from Arrow Films directo for Limited Edition Blu-Ray - UK$25:00 or 4K UHD - UK$30.00

Release date: December 9

"In the 1930s, three gun-toting Koreans converge on a train with different objectives but after an explosive altercation they leave it with the same goal: track down a map leading to an unfathomable treasure

The 'Good' is bounty hunter Park Do-won (Jung Woo-sung), who is chasing down the 'Bad', the ruthless bandit Park Chang-yi (Lee Byung-hun), rumoured to be the notorious 'Finger Cutter'. Meanwhile, wily thief Yoon Tae-goo (Song Kang-ho), the 'Weird', is on the hunt for anything he can get his hands on

Backs are stabbed, fingers are cut, and many bullets fly as this dangerous trio blast their way through the desert in search of untold riches"

2-DISC LE CONTENTS

• New 4K master, approved by director Kim Jee-woon
• DTS-HD MA 7.1 on both cuts of the film
• Optional English subs
• LE packaging featuring newly commissioned artwork by Nathanael Marsh
• 40-page perfect bound collector's book featuring new writing by Darcy Paquet, Kyu Hyun Kim, Cho Jae-whee, and Ariel Schudson
• Double-sided fold-out poster
• Three postcard-sized artcards
• Reversible sleeve

DISC ONE

• 4K UHD (2160p) in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)
• Includes the International and Korean versions of the film presented via seamless branching
• New commentary by critic James Marsh and critic / producer Pierce Conran
• Archival commentary by Kim Jee-woon and Song Kang-ho, Lee Byung-hun, and Jung Woo-sung (International version)
• Archival commentary by Kim Jee-woon, cinematographer Lee mogae, lighting director Oh Seung-chul, and art director Cho Hwa-sung (Korean Version)
• A new intro to the film by Kim Jee-woon

DISC TWO

• Corralling chaos in the desert, new interview with director Kim Jee-woon
• Dusty dust-ups and sweaty saddles, new interview with martial arts coordinator Jung Doo-hong
• Archival making of films and featurettes
• Trailer gallery
• Image gallery

I've already got this one

[Susan Foreman]

New UK title: 'Critters: A Four Course Feast' (1986 / 1988 / 1991 / 1992) - Limited edition blu-ray pre-order available from Arrow Films direct - UK$55:00

Release date: December 2

"The beloved sci-fi / comedy-horror franchise makes its UK Blu-ray debut.

Critters sees a group of small but toothy extra terrestrials escape from an alien prison and land in small-town America with two shape-shifting bounty hunters in hot pursuit. Directed by Stephen Herek and starring genre stalwarts Dee Wallace and M. Emmet Walsh, the film was a smash-hit on home video, launching a franchise for the ravenous furry fiends. Two years later, Critters 2: The Main Course sees the Krites come back for seconds as leftover eggs hatch and attack the rural town of Grover's Bend.

Celebrated horror author and screenwriter David J. Schow comes aboard for Critters 3, bringing the Krites to the big city. Marking the feature film debut of Leonardo DiCaprio, it was shot simultaneously with the darker, less comedic Critters 4, in which the ferocious furballs battle series stalwart Charlie in outer space"

LE CONTENTS

• HD (1080p) Blu-ray presentations
• Original lossless stereo 2.0 and 5.1 audio options
• Optional English subs
• 60-page hardbound book featuring new writing on the films by Shane Bitterling and Meagan Navarro and Heather Wixson plus archival material
• Double-sided posters
• Limited edition packaging with new artwork by Pye Parr
• Reversible sleeves

DISC 1 - CRITTERS

• New commentary by film critics Matty Budrewicz and Dave Wain with screenwriter Shane Bitterling
• Archival commentary with Barry Opper and Don Opper
• Archival commentary with the Chiodo Brothers
• And more!

DISC 2 - CRITTERS 2: THE MAIN COURSE

• New commentary by Budrewicz and Wain
• Archival commentary with Mick Garris
• Archival commentary with Critters designers Charles Chiodo, Edward Chiodo and Stephen Chiodo
• And more!

DISC 3 - CRITTERS 3

• New commentary by Budrewicz and Wain
• Archival commentary with Barry Opper and Don Opper
• And more!

DISC 4 - CRITTERS 4

• New commentary by Budrewicz and Wain
• Archival commentary with director Rupert Harvey
• And more!

Three for three! I've got all of these as well

[Susan Foreman]

New UK title: 'The Last Video Store' (2023) - Limited Edition Blu-Ray pre-order available from Arrow Films direct - UK$18:00

Release date: December 9

"A love letter to video rental stores and the B-movie treasures that lined their walls, Cody Kennedy & Tim Rutherford's debut feature, The Last Video Store, is a genre-loving blast of pure joy.

When her estranged father passes, twenty-something Nyla is tasked with the thing she hates the most - cleaning up his mess

Left behind are a collection of VHS tapes, and with them, the burden of returning them to "Blaster Video" a time capsule to an era in which cover art and a catchy movie title were king, run by Kevin, a human encyclopaedia of VHS history and a friend of her father. Amongst the returns is an unknown tape, a movie not even Kevin has heard of. Was this the last movie Nyla's father watched before he died? The mystery is too much to resist. But when Kevin and Nyla press play, they unwittingly activate a long-dormant curse and a series of classic cinematic villains are plucked from B-movie heaven and hell to be unleashed into the store itself!"

LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS

• HiD (1080p) Blu-ray presentation
• Original DTS HD M5.1 audio
• Optional English subs for the deaf and hard of hearing
• New commentary by film critics Matt Donato & Meagan Navarro
• The Videonomicon Unleashed, a new visual essay by film critic Heather Wixson co-author of In Search of Darkness
• Nostalgia Fuel, a new visual essay by film critic Martyn Pedlar
• 'Twas the Night of the Tree Beast, a 2012 short by Cody Kennedy & Tim Rutherford
• M is For Magnetic Tape, a 2013 short film Cody Kennedy & Tim Rutherford
• The Last Video Store 2013, the original short from which the feature grew
• The Video Store Commercial, a 2019 short film by Cody Kennedy & Tim Rutherford
• Clips from the first attempted feature version
• BTS
• 3 previs shorts
• Trailer
• Image Gallery
• Illustrated collector's booklet featuring new writing by film critics Anton Bitel and Alexandra West
• Reversible sleeve
• Double-sided fold-out poster

This seems fun. I might look out for it

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

I'm very tempted to buy The Great Escape, but I'm happy enough with my Blu-ray of The Good, the Bad, the Weird. I will need to rewatch my DVD box set of the Critters to see whether or not I want to upgrade them to HD.

[will graham]

Tbh this is the best lineup they've had all year.

I'll get the critters set, as I couldn't afford to import the shout factory set.
I know it's a random thing but I hope they keep the menus from the old dvd set, whoever designed them really had fun making them.

I'll also get demolition man but might wait for a sale.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

My mate is over the moon about The Good, The Bad, The Weird.

The Korean version has never been available on Blu-ray in any English friendly format. In fact it was only available in Korea on dvd as well.

[peter alex]

both version of the good the bad the weird is cut by 5 second for horse falls but I hope the films will be cut and uncut like the films like rabid dogs and bandidos just by watching a few minutes of the cut version before you go back to the main menu then watching it again in full for the uncut version.

[Susan Foreman]

Originally Posted by Susan Foreman

'The Gift' (2000) - Coming soon to 4K UHD from Arrow Video

"Annabelle Wilson, a woman with psychic abilities, tries to find Jessica King, a young socialite who has mysteriously disappeared. While the search continues, she starts to suspect the townspeople"

MORE INFO TBA

Apparently Shout Studios are releasing 'The Gift' in December

[Susan Foreman]

It doesn't look like there is an Arrow Sootlight deal today, so I wonder if the announcement of a Halloween Sale is imminent