IT CAME FROM THE BOTTOM SHELF!

The Criterion of cult, Arrow Video, posted their January 2019 Blu-ray announcements today, including well-loved titles in the blaxploitation and giallo genres.

Being that Arrow is a British company, keep in mind that not all of their titles will be released both in the U.K. and the U.S., due to distribution rights. However, Arrow always makes it perfectly clear which Blu-rays will be offered in both the U.K. and U.S. versus which ones are U.K. only.

Listed below are the disc descriptions directly from the Arrow Video Facebook page:

NEW US/CA TITLE: Willie Dynamite (Blu-ray)

Competes with the best of blaxploitation on all levels.

Pre-order in the US via DiabolikDVD: http://bit.ly/2EPqhib
Release date: January 8

“The hands-down winner of the all-out best blaxploitation movie of the seventies,” declares author and artist Darius James in That’s Blaxploitation! Willie Dynamite may not be as well-known as John Shaft, Sweet Sweetback or Super Fly’s Youngblood Priest, but he certainly deserves to be.

Who is Willie Dynamite? He’s the flashiest pimp in New York – he drives a personalised purple-and-gold Cadillac and wears some of the most eye-catching outfits ever seen on a cinema screen. He wants to be number one, but with the police, the D.A., fellow pimps and a tough-talking social worker on his tail, can a man as arrogant and amoral as Willie D avoid a downfall?

Willie Dynamite competes with the best of blaxploitation on all levels. Roscoe Orman dominates with his central performance – a star turn that’s the equal of Richard Roundtree in Shaft or Pam Grier in Coffy. Multi-award-winning director Gilbert Moses balances action and social commentary as deftly as Gordon Parks, Jr. did with Super Fly. And the score by J.J. Johnson featuring Motown legend Martha Reeves is as catchy as anything composed by Isaac Hayes, Curtis Mayfield or James Brown.

SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS

• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation of the feature, transferred from original filmelements by Universal
• Original uncompressed 1.0 mono audio
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
• Brand new audio commentary by critic and lecturer Sergio Mims
• Theatrical trailer
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Sean Phillips
• FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring writing on the film by Cullen Gallagher

NEW UK/US/CA TITLE: The Forbidden Photos of a Lady Above Suspicion (Blu-ray)

A trippy giallo delight that brings together the talents of many of the genre’s leading lights on both sides of the camera.

Pre-order in the UK via Arrow: http://bit.ly/2PWbh3j
Pre-order in the US via DiabolikDVD: http://bit.ly/2ELjcz7
Release dates: January 14

Before the influence of Dario Argento’s The Bird with the Crystal Plumage permeated every corner of the giallo genre, another strain of these distinctive Italian thrillers enjoyed considerable success. These “melodrama gialli”, heavily inspired by Clouzot’s Les diaboliques, relied less on graphic violence and high body counts and more on psychological tension.

Minou (Dagmar Lassander, Lucio Fulci’s The Black Cat) leads a pampered but dull life with her frequently absent husband, Peter (Pier Paolo Capponi, The Cat O’ Nine Tails). One night, while out walking on the beachfront, Minou is accosted by a mysterious blackmailer (Simón Andreu, Death Carries a Cane) who informs her that Peter is a murderer. Driven by misplaced loyalty to her husband, Minou gives in to the blackmailer’s every perverted whim in exchange for his silence. But as the blackmailer ups the ante, demanding that she submit to his increasingly obscene demands, can Minou hold on to what little remains of her sanity?

Written by the prolific Ernesto Gastaldi (Torso), infused with a seductive score by the great Ennio Morricone (The Cat O’ Nine Tails) and featuring a memorable turn by Nieves Navarro a.k.a. Susan Scott (Death Walks at Midnight) in the role of Minou’s best friend, The Forbidden Photos of a Lady Above Suspicion is a trippy giallo delight that brings together the talents of many of the genre’s leading lights on both sides of the camera.

SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS

• Brand new 2K restoration from the original camera negative by Arrow Films
• 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 Kat Ellinger, author and editor-in-chief of Diabolique Magazine
• Private Pictures, a newly-edited documentary featuring archival interviews with actress Nieves Navarro and director Luciano Ercoli, and new interview material with writer Ernesto Gastaldi
• The Forbidden Soundtrack of the Big Three, a new appreciation of the music of Forbidden Photos and 70s Italian cult cinema by musician and soundtrack collector Lovely Jon
• The Forbidden Lady, a Q&A with actress Dagmar Lassander at the 2016 Festival of Fantastic Films
• Original Italian and English theatrical trailers
• Image gallery
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Twins of Evil
• FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by author and critic Michael Mackenzie

NEW UK TITLE: Climax (Blu-ray and DVD releases)

Gaspar Noé’s latest offering shows a director at the height of his hallucinatory filmmaking powers.

Pre-order on Blu-ray via Arrow: http://bit.ly/2qbTytl
Pre-order on DVD via Arrow: http://bit.ly/2SkV7lA
Release date: January 21

With Climax, Gaspar Noé, enfant terrible of French cinema and director of the highly controversial Irreversible, Enter the Void and Love, returns with perhaps his most critically-acclaimed work yet.

Following a successful and visually dazzling rehearsal, a dance troupe set about celebrating with a party. But when it becomes apparent that someone has spiked the sangria, the dancers soon begin to turn on each other in an orgiastic frenzy.

Starring Sofia Boutella (The Mummy, Atomic Blonde) and featuring a pulse-pounding score by the likes of Daft Punk, Aphex Twin and Gary Numan, Gaspar Noé’s latest offering shows a director at the height of his hallucinatory filmmaking powers.

BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS

• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• An Antidote to the Void – a brand new interview with director Gaspar Noé
• Disco Infernal – film journalist Alan Jones 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
• Trailer
• Reversible sleeve featuring two new artwork options
• FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Collector’s booklet featuring new writing by critic Anton Bitel and a reproduction of the original press kit

NEW UK TITLE: Dave Made a Maze (Blu-ray)

Dubbed by Variety as a homemade Labyrinth for adults, this critically acclaimed indie offers a modern comedic edge and an even higher body count.

Pre-order via Arrow: http://bit.ly/2CIyXV7
Release date: January 28

Meet Dave. Dave is stuck in a maze. A maze he made. Out of cardboard. In his living room…

While his girlfriend Annie is out of town, Dave decides to build a fort in his living room from cardboard boxes – only to be become trapped in a world that he himself created. It’s up to Annie and an oddball group of friends to rescue him, avoiding booby traps, giant human-eating Tiki faces, a bloodthirsty minotaur and fatally painful puns along the way.

In a homage to fantasy adventure films from the 1980s, Dave Made a Maze features incredible and imaginative production design that literally takes you out of this world, and into the chaotic and creative mind of debut director Bill Watterson. Dubbed by Variety as a homemade Labyrinth for adults, this critically acclaimed indie offers a modern comedic edge and an even higher body count. Come and enter Dave’s maze – but be wary of finding your way back out!

SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS:

• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
• 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio and Uncompressed Stereo PCM
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• Feature-length audio commentary with writer/director Bill Watterson and co-writer Steven Sears
• Making-of documentary
• Deleted and alternate scenes with optional audio commentary by Watterson
• The Worst Fundraising Pitch Video Ever
• Storyboard and concept galleries
• Exclusive UK theatrical teaser
• US theatrical teasers
• Original theatrical trailer
• Reversible sleeve featuring two artwork choices
• FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by author and critic Anton Bitel