IT CAME FROM THE BOTTOM SHELF!

The Criterion of cult, Arrow Video, posted their November Blu-ray announcements today, and there are some rather surprising (and welcome) titles for fans of Euro-Westerns, Brian De Palma, Robert DeNiro, Guillermo del Toro, and Japanese genre films.

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 UK/US/CA TITLE: De Palma & De Niro: The Early Films (Blu-ray)

Brought together for the first time – and each newly restored – these three films offer a fascinating insight into the early careers of two American cinema’s major talents.

Release dates: 12/13 November

In 1963, Robert De Niro stepped in front of a movie camera for the first time. The resulting film, a low-budget black and white comedy called The Wedding Party, would take three years to complete, and another three years to be released, but it would also establish a hugely important working relationship for the aspiring actor. One of the filmmakers, long before he became synonymous with suspense thanks to Carrie, Dressed to Kill and other classics, was Brian De Palma. He and De Niro would team up again in the next few years for two more comedies, both with a countercultural bent.

Greetings, the first film to receive an X certificate in the United States, is a freewheeling satire focusing on a trio of twentysomething friends – a conspiracy theorist, a filmmaker, and a voyeur played by De Niro – as they try to avoid the Vietnam War draft. Hi, Mom!, originally named Son of Greetings, returns to De Niro’s voyeur, now an aspiring maker of adult films, for another humorous glimpse at late-sixties society, this time turning its attentions to experimental theatre, cinéma vérité, the African American experience, and the white middle classes.

Brought together for the first time – and each newly restored by Arrow Films especially for this release – these three films offer a fascinating insight into the early careers of two American cinema’s major talents.

LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS

• Brand new 2K restoration of The Wedding Party from the original film negative, carried out exclusively for this release by Arrow Films
• Brand new 2K restorations of Greetings and Hi, Mom! from original film materials, carried out exclusively for this release by Arrow Films
• Original uncompressed mono soundtracks
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing on all three films
• Brand new commentary on Greetings by Glenn Kenny, author of Robert De Niro: Anatomy of an Actor
• Brand new appreciation of Brian De Palma and Robert De Niro’s collaborations by critic and filmmaker Howard S. Berger
• Brand new interviews with Charles Hirsch, writer-producer of Greetings and Hi, Mom!
• Brand new interview with actor Gerrit Graham on Greetings, Hi, Mom! and his other collaborations with Brian De Palma
• Brand new interview with actor Peter Maloney on Hi, Mom!
• Hi, Mom! theatrical trailer
• Newly commissioned artwork by Matthew Griffin
• Limited collector’s edition booklet featuring new writing on the films by Brad Stevens, Chris Dumas and Christina Newland, plus an archive interview with Brian De Palma and Charles Hirsch

NEW US/CA TITLE: Django + Texas Adios (Blu-ray) Limited Edition

Presented here in an exclusive new restoration with a wealth of extras including the newly restored bonus feature Texas Adios.

Release date: 19 November

In this definitive Spaghetti Western, Franco Nero (Keoma, The Fifth Cord) gives a career-defining performance as Django, a mysterious loner who arrives at a mud-drenched ghost town on the Mexico-US border, ominously dragging a coffin behind him. After saving imperilled prostitute Maria (Loredana Nusciak), Django becomes embroiled in a brutal feud between a racist gang and a band of Mexican revolutionaries…

With Django, director Sergio Corbucci (The Great Silence) upped the ante for sadism and sensationalism in Westerns, depicting machine gun massacres, mud-fighting prostitutes and savage mutilations. A huge hit with international audiences, Django’s brand of bleak nihilism would be repeatedly emulated in a raft of unofficial sequels.

The film is presented here in an exclusive new restoration with a wealth of extras including the newly restored bonus feature Texas Adios, which also stars Franco Nero, and was released as Django 2 in several territories.

2-DISC LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS

• New restoration from a 4K scan of Django from the original camera negative by Arrow Films
• New restoration from a 2K scan of Texas Adios from the original camera negative by Arrow Films
• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentations
• 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
• Limited edition fully illustrated booklet featuring new writing on the film by Howard Hughes and original reviews

DISC 1 – DJANGO

• Audio commentary by film critic, historian and theorist Stephen Prince
• Newly filmed interview with star Franco Nero
• Newly filmed interview with assistant director Ruggero Deodato
• Newly filmed interview with co-writer Franco Rossetti
• Newly filmed interview with Sergio Corbucci’s wife Nora Corbucci
• Archival interview with co-writer Piero Vivarelli
• Archival interview with stuntman and actor Gilberto Galimberti
• Discovering Django, newly filmed appreciation by Spaghetti Westerns scholar Austin Fisher
• An Introduction to Django by Alex Cox, an archival featurette with the acclaimed director
• Gallery of original promotional images from the Mike Siegel Archive
• Original trailer

DISC 2 – TEXAS ADIOS

• Audio commentary for by spaghetti western experts C. Courtney Joyner and Henry C. Parke
• Newly filmed interview with star Franco Nero
• Newly filmed interview with co-star Alberto Dell’Acqua
• Newly filmed interview with co-writer Franco Rossetti
• Hello Texas!, newly filmed appreciation by Spaghetti Westerns scholar Austin Fisher
• Gallery of original promotional images from the Mike Siegel Archive
• Original trailer

NEW UK/US/CA TITLE: Orgies of Edo (Blu-ray)

Legendary Toei director Teruo Ishii tells three stories of moral sickness set during Japan’s prosperous Genroku era

Release date: 19/20 November

Legendary Toei director Teruo Ishii tells three stories of moral sickness set during Japan’s prosperous Genroku era in this bloody follow-up to his sexploitation classic Shogun’s Joy of Torture, and the fourth entry in Toei’s ‘abnormal love’ film series. Ishii’s politically incorrect moral lessons paint a trio of tales of tragic heroines caught up in violence, sadomasochism, incest and torture.

Told in anthology style by an impassive physician (Teruo Yoshida), the first story follows Oito (Masumi Tachibana), an innocent young girl deceived by a handsome yakuza and sold into prostitution who finds herself in a doomed love affair with the man who brought her to ruin. The tale of Ochise (Mitsuko Aoi) is about the daughter of a rich merchant whose insatiable appetite for filth and perversion draws her deeper into violence, darkness and betrayal. Finally, the story of Omitsu (Miki Obana) follows a sadistic lord (Asao Koike) whose eye is caught one day by a beautiful member of his harem who shares his strange taste for pain and blood, but who holds a secret of her own that will destroy his entire household.

A stylistic about-face from the director’s prior work for Toei on the successful Abashiri Prison action series starring Ken Takakura, Ishii’s erotic films grew increasingly shocking, violent and strange, and Orgies of Edo finds him combining period film detail with carnivalesque grotesquerie to create his own particular vision of love and sex. This landmark ‘ero-guro’ film allowed Ishii to experiment with elements that would later show up in his masterpieces Horrors of Malformed Men and Blind Woman’s Curse, including the participation of sideshow performers and butoh dancer Tatsumi Hijikata.

SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS

• High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentation
• Original uncompressed mono PCM audio
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• The Orgies of Ishii – an exclusive, newly filmed interview with author Patrick Maccias
• Theatrical trailer
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Matt Griffin
• FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by author Tom Mes

NEW UK/US TITLE: Crimson Peak (Blu-ray) Limited Edition

Guillermo del Toro’s lavish, stunningly realised journey into the dark heart of Gothic romance…Release date: 26/27 November

From the imagination of Oscar-winning director Guillermo del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth, The Shape of Water) comes Crimson Peak, a lavish, stunningly realised journey into the dark heart of Gothic romance…

Beginning in Buffalo, New York, during the 1880s, Crimson Peak stars Mia Wasikowska (Alice in Wonderland, Stoker) as Edith Cushing, an aspiring writer who is haunted by the death of her mother. Edith’s falls in love with seductive stranger Thomas Sharpe (Tom Hiddleston, Avengers Assemble), who whisks her off to Allerdale Hall, his baronial, yet dilapidated English mansion built upon a mountain of blood-red clay. Here Edith meets Lucille (Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty), Thomas’s sister who at times seems hostile and jealous. As Edith struggles to feel at home in the imposing residence, she gradually uncovers a horrendous family secret and encounters supernatural forces that will help her discover the terrible truth behind Crimson Peak.

Boasting incredibly intricate and ornate production design and a rich visual style, del Toro’s film is a grandiose, boldly baroque triumph of Gothic decadence, which expertly combines and contrasts the sublimely beautiful with the shockingly grotesque. Crimson Peak is presented here in sumptuous special packaging, with a wealth of extra features, affording unprecedented insight in to the making of this modern Gothic classic.

LIMTED EDITION CONTENTS

• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
• Original 5.1 and 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio and optional English 2.0 DTS Headphone:X Audio
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• Optional Descriptive Video Service® (DVS®) for the visually impaired
• Audio commentary by co-writer and director Guillermo Del Toro
• The House is Alive: Constructing Crimson Peak, a newly edited, feature-length documentary with cast and crew interviews and extensive behind the scenes footage
• Previously unseen Spanish language interview with Guillermo Del Toro
• The Gothic Corridor, The Scullery, The Red Clay Mines, The Limbo Fog Set; four featurettes exploring different aspects of Allerdale Hall
• A Primer on Gothic Romance, the director and stars talk about the key traits of Gothic romance.
• The Light and Dark of Crimson Peak, the cast and crew talk about the film’s use of colour
• Hand Tailored Gothic, a featurette on the film’s striking costumes
• A Living Thing, a look at the design, modelling and construction of the Allerdale Hall sets
• Beware of Crimson Peak, a walking tour around Allerdale Hall with Tom Hiddleston
• Crimson Phantoms, a featurette on the film’s amazing ghosts
• Kim Newman on Crimson Peak and the Tradition of Gothic Romance, a newly filmed interview with author and critic
• Violence and Beauty in Guillermo Del Toro’s Gothic Fairy Tale Films, a new video essay by the writer Kat Ellinger
• Deleted scenes
• Original trailers and TV spots
• Double-sided, fold-out poster
• Six double-sided, postcard-sized lobby card reproductions
• Limited edition packaging newly designed by Crimson Peak concept artist Guy Davis
• Limited edition 80-page, hard-bound book featuring new writing by David Jenkins and Simon Abrams, an archival interview with Guillermo del Toro, and original conceptual design illustrations by artists Guy Davis and Oscar Chichoni