Cutting edge cult cinema streamer, ARROW, is making headway this month announcing its December line-ups and title release plans well into the new year, starting with the December 1 release of Patrick Picard’s slow-burner horror thriller debut, The Bloodhound. Picard writes and directs this, his feature debut billed as “a hauntingly atmospheric tale”, freshly inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher”.
The film centers on Francis (Liam Aiken – A Series of Unfortunate Events), a dispossessed young man who finds himself drawn into a world of malaise and despair upon visiting the secluded home of his wealthy childhood friend who suffers from a mysterious affliction, and whose family is discovered to carry a dark legacy. The film also stars Joe Adler (The Maze Runner) and Annalise Basso (Ouija: Origin of Evil).
Going forward, the seasons commence with “Naughty or Nice” for its following thematic line-up: Bloody Birthday, Children of the Corn, The El Duce Tapes, Doom Asylum, The Hooked Generation. December 1 will also see the roll out of Jalmari Helander’s celebrated 2010 Finnish holiday thriller, Rare Exports, featuring young actor Onni Tomilla with whom he would later collaborate with for 2014’s Big Game, starring Samuel L. Jackson, and ARROW’s exclusive “Survivor Ballads” section comprised of Three Films by Shohei Imamura: Black Rain (1989), The Ballad of Narayama (1983) and Zegen (1987).
December 7’s seasonal rollouts continue with “It’s Cold Outside” with Christopher Webster’s The Chill Factor (1993), John Adams and Toby Poser’s The Deeper You Dig (2019), Emma Tammi’s The Wind (2018), and more, in addition to Ero guro classic, Shogun’s Joys of Torture (1968) from “The King of Cult” himself, writer/director Teruo Ishii. The AGFA (American Genre Film Archive) will then mark its second team-up with Arrow beginning December 11 for the releases of Isaac Nabwana I.G.G.’s Wakaliwood hits, Bad Black (2016) and Who Killed Captain Alex? (2010), Daniel Erickson’s Scary Movie (1991), Ed Wood’s The Violent Years (1956), and Louis J. Gasnier’s Reefer Madness (1936).
Other releases from December 14 through 21 will go the country route with counterprogramming, Arrow Essentials: Westerns, followed respectively by ARROW’s “Eat Drink and Be Merry” section with La Grande Bouffe (1983), Microwave Massacre (1979), The Happiness of the Katakurisis (2001), The Stuff (1985), Zombie for Sale (2019), and Return of the Killer Tomatoes (1988).
ARROW, which is still priming a UK launch in 2021, is currently available in the US and Canada on the following all Android devices, all Amazon Fire TV Sticks, boxes, etc., all Roku sticks, boxes, devices, and on all web browsers at https://www.arrow-player.com. The streamer is offering fans a 30-day free trial and with subscriptions plans available for $4.99 monthly or $49.99 annually.
Arrow Video’s other remaining coming attractions will see future releases such as Jill Gevargizian’s 2020 horror-drama The Stylist, with rights acquired for the US, UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, with hopes to release the film theatrically in the UK in early 2021. Adapted from her acclaimed 2016 short, the feature follows a lonely hairdresser who becomes obsessed with the lives of her clients and descends into murderous madness. Also starring are Najarra Townsend (Contracted), Brea Grant (Lucky, Beyond the Gates), and Millie Milan (Bonehill Road),
Other upcoming Arrow Video titles are A Ghost Waits and Clapboard Jungle, two of the best-received films from this year’s Arrow Video FrightFest festival.
A Ghost Awaits stars MacLeod Andrews (Doctor Sleep, They Look Like People) and Natalie Walker, and follows a young man employed to clean a house, only to find out it’s haunted and the spirit wants him out. Arrow Video will release this one in the UK, Eire, US, Canada, South Africa, NZ and Australia.
Clapboard Jungle comes from filmmaker Justin McConnell and follows five years of the director’s life in which he highlights the tenacious endeavor of getting a feature film funded, produced, shot and distributed. The documentary features interviews with filmmaking legends including Guillermo del Toro, Paul Schrader, George A. Romero, Larry Fessenden, Frank Henenlotter and more, and has been met with huge acclaim from festivals around the globe as well in Fantasia, and Sitges. Arrow Video has the rights for the UK, Eire, NZ and Australia, and additional home video rights for Canada.
Arrow Video is providing both titles a physical and digital release in Spring 2021.
