The Arrow Thread

[Susan Foreman]

Originally Posted by Susan Foreman

NEW UK TITLE: Macabre Visions: The Films of Mario Bava (Blu-ray)

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[Rob4]

it's a well known psychological fact that people enjoy the most what they experienced at a young age and therefore get the most enjoyment from revisiting those experiences. it's also a well known fact that our long term recall is much better at a young age and diminishes as we get older, which is we why we recall things that happened in our childhood much better than something that happened just a few years ago. there has also been recent experiments into the beneficial effects of nostalgia on older people.

all this, i'd say is why we think the films of yesteryear are much better.

however, there are also good reasons why those films are better e.g. story, plotting, dialogue, character development, and the most important for me moving at a pace that gives the film time to breathe and have an effect.

i think there is a good reason why bizarre's list is considered very good and that's because they take account of the things that made the old movies great instead of relying solely on flashy visuals, epileptic editing and spasmodic shaky cam...

...or all this might be me just being grumpy

[Nordicdusk]

Originally Posted by Susan Foreman

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Great looking set but can't justify it when i have all but one of the releases from Arrow.

[Susan Foreman]

Arrow @ 10

Top 10 Arrow Picks with Heather Buckley


TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE 2 (1986) : This is one of my favourite movies of all time, I can quote most of it and I own a 35mm print of it! This was actually the first time I met Michael Felsher because I had the on-set production stills which Michael used on your release. So that was the first time I ever participated in any capacity on an Arrow release.

THE THING (1982): One of the ones my friend Daniel Griffiths worked on. I just loved the different approach this release took to the existing Shout Factory one, making sure it was actually adding a specific point of view to the world and to the film. Critically speaking it set a standard.

BETWEEN NIGHT AND DAWN (1971/1972/1973): Putting these Romero films, THERE’S ALWAYS VANILLA, THE CRAZIES, SEASON OF THE WITCH, is so valuable to talk about the fullness of his career and the breadth of work he’s done. We already celebrate his take on zombies, but with The Crazies in particular, that’s his take on the infected. Having them in this boxset as well means that the more obscure areas of his career can be easily introduced to new generations of horror fans, and again within such a gorgeous presentation.

PSYCHO II (1983): One of the greatest commentaries on any Arrow release, which is saying something as my first love before Texas Chainsaw Massacre even was the Psycho series.

NEKROMANTIK (1988): Alongside NEKROMANTIK 2.One of the things I just love about Arrow is that you put out these heavy-duty German cult films alongside the more ‘classic’ horror – but again you don’t just put them out, in here there are lobby cards, there are alternate versions of the film. It’s really with these releases in particular that the care Arrow puts behind them is incredible. It’s a movie with necrophilia that’s gory and gross, but you treat it like this beautiful gilded thing that’s been brought down by angels. That point of view that Arrow takes on Blu-rays is key, especially speaking as a horror fan; when someone takes that bespoken, elevated care for a movie like Nekromantik, it makes me very happy.

VIDEODROME (1983): It’s another one of the editions I worked on, and I’m so happy that we were able to include an interview with Dennis Etchison on it, the author of the novelisation, before he passed.

CRIMES OF PASSION (1984): Dovetailing back to my love of the Psycho series and Anthony Perkins means this one’s up there for me. I’m a big fan of Ken Russell as well and the box art is again so gorgeous, so the fact that this exists and I can watch it on my beautiful 4K LED is very cool.

THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT (1972): This may be the first disc I ever had. I love how proudly Arrow represents these films from the Video Nasty era – these films that you had to sneak into places to watch, that had to be slid across to you over the counter, almost like you’re buying pornography. I think that’s why people especially in the UK really care about these movies, because they were banned in the culture for so long and they were so taboo. It’s a very punk rock feeling that Arrow Video embodies: ‘you say this is vile or exploitative, well we’re not only going to document them but we’re going to put them out in the most beautiful sets as well’.

SHOCK TREATMENT (1982): I love the soundtrack, all of the supplements on here are incredible, and I’m going to be very controversial and say that I actually prefer this movie to Rocky Horror. I hate that it’s a movie that isn’t talked about as much, so I love that your release brought it back into the conversation. The Mark Kermode interview with Patricia Quinn on here is brilliant as well, and again the packaging – it’s saying something when Arrow Video outdoes itself, and you outdid yourselves on Shock Treatment.

SLUGS (1988): Out of all the Arrow releases I worked on, this is what I bring up most. With a movie like that, people often ask me whether it needs that many extras or that much care, and the answer is always YES. This is a movie I used to watch on cable channels growing up, and it was amazing as an adult to work on it and give it the extra mile of extras that it deserves. We were literally able to find leftover slugs to put photos in there of! We need to care about every single movie, and I think Arrow cares about every single movie it puts out regardless how obscure. You go the distance. So Slugs man. Slugs.

[trebor8273]

Originally Posted by Rik

That and Shit Follows (apart from the soundtrack) are still 2 of the worst horror films I’ve had the misfortune to sit through in the last few years, awful in every way despite the critical acclaim

Totally agree people raved about those two and they had to be some the biggest piles of shite .

[Nordicdusk]

I really enjoyed It Follows

Next ill be reading The Goonies and The Lost Boys are shit.

[Rik]

Originally Posted by Nordicdusk

I really enjoyed It Follows

Next ill be reading The Goonies and The Lost Boys are shit.

Not from me you won’t, but a certain pair of mods might

[Nordicdusk]

Originally Posted by Rik

Not from me you won’t, but a certain pair of mods might

[Graveyard]

Originally Posted by Nordicdusk

I really enjoyed It Follows

Next ill be reading The Goonies and The Lost Boys are shit.

I enjoyed a lot It Follows, but to be honest, on a recent re-watch of The Goonies was not that spectacular any more.. - Never watched Lost Boys..

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Nordicdusk

I really enjoyed It Follows

Next ill be reading The Goonies and The Lost Boys are shit.

I think both The Babadook and It Follows are great horror films, regardless of era.

I also highly rate The Goonies and The Lost Boys, though Near Dark is the best of the 1987 vampire films.