Arrow Video has announced the May 2024 lineup for its subscription-based ARROW platform, which is lead with the exclusive ARROW release of Quarxx’s French macabre horror “Pandemonion,” which will be available on May 27.
Drawing on themes found in “Dante’s Inferno” and Milton’s “Paradise Lost,” “Pandemonium” is a multi-textured existential fantasy topped with signature notes of visceral horror, disturbing fairy tale, wry comedy, and dark thriller. From the creative mind of Quarxx, “Pandemonium” follows Nathan (Hugo Dillon), an ordinary man on a journey he never expected. After realizing he has died at the scene of a car crash, Nathan descends into the depths of hell, where he is doomed to experience the pain of tortured souls along the way. After making its rounds on the festival circuit, you can finally catch the film at home with a host of brand-new extras.
But before the arrival of “Pandemonium,” ARROW has plenty of other genre fun in store in May. It kicks off with “Jennifer Reeder Selects,” a collection of cult favorites curated by Jennifer Reeder, director of “Perpetrator,” “Knives and Skin,” and “Night’s End.”
“My list of ARROW Selects range from some undeniable classics by genre auteurs to more recent films from stylish storytellers who are just getting started,” said Reeder. “Generally, I am drawn to films that are peripherally or directly related to the films I make both in terms of form and content. I am a visual storyteller and I prioritize allegory over reality which is also what I appreciate about the films on this list. Each of these films, for me, is an unrelenting celebration of cinema as a profound form of fine art.”
The collection includes titles such as “Switchblade Sisters,” “The Sacred Spirit,” and “Lady Morgan’s Vengeance.”
Also, on May 3, subscribers can enjoy a pair of violent short films, “The Host” and “The Adventures of Denchu-Kozo.”
“The Host” is a tense, violent 1960 short from Jack Hill (“Coffy”). Sid Haig (“House of 1000 Corpses”) plays an on-the-run cowboy laying low. But, to remain safe and appease a local tribe, he must commit another terrible crime.
“The Adventures of Denchu-Kozo” is a 1987 short from “Tetsuo: The Iron Man” director Shin’ya Tsukamoto. The film follows Hikari, a boy bullied at school because he has an electricity pole growing out of his back. One of his classmates named Momo comes to his rescue and he thanks her by sharing his secret possession with her: a time machine. Activating the time machine transports him 25 years into a dark, dystopian, world of the future. There, he encounters members of the Shinsengumi Vampire Gang who are hunting a woman named Dr. Sariba, who is revealed to be Momo’s future self. He and he alone must save the world.
On May 10, ARROW debuts “Cunning Folk,” a collection focused on folklore and folktales, the locals who believe in them, and the outsiders who inevitably fall foul of them. Titles in the collection include “The Wyrm of Bwlch Pen Barras,” “Threshold,” and “Bloody Spear at Mount Fuji.”
A trio of recent additions to the indie horror lexicon will also arrive on May 10: “Legs,” “The Afterlife Bureau,” and “Ouzo and Blackcurrant.”
In “Legs,” Joy and Harry are trying to have a baby. One night, Joy swallows a spider in her sleep. When Joy subsequently develops an insatiable appetite for flies, it dawns on her that there may be more than one way of becoming a mother.
“The Afterlife Bureau” is a dark comedy that parodies the transition process after death, bringing Earthly nuisances such as bureaucracy to the afterlife.
“Ouzo and Blackcurrant” is a short film about two old school friends, Jeanie and Esta, who take a nostalgic trip to the junkyard where they used to drink as wayward teens. But the location is now tainted by tragedy, and Jeanie makes a horrific discovery when she raises her phone to take a photo. They are not alone—there’s someone there who never left.
On May 17, ARROW debuts “The City That Never Sleeps,” a collection of films set in the Big Apple filled with psychopathic gangsters, deranged killers, out-of-control street gangs, zombies, and more. Get a taste of an older, scarier, grittier, scuzzier New York in “The City That Never Sleeps,” with titles like “The Driller Killer,” “Basket Case,” and “Mammoth.”
Also, on May 17, you can enjoy early entries from genre legends Robert Englund and Jack Hill with “Eaten Alive” and “Spider Baby.”
Nearly a decade before he donned Freddy Krueger’s famous red and green sweater, horror icon Robert Englund delivered a supremely sleazy performance in “Eaten Alive,” another essay in taut Southern terror from Tobe Hooper, director of “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.” The film tells of a psychotic redneck who owns a dilapidated hotel in rural East Texas that kills anyone who crosses him and feeds their bodies to a giant crocodile that he keeps as a pet.
“Spider Baby” was the first solo feature by Jack Hill, who would go on to direct genre classics like “Coffy,” “Switchblade Sisters,” and “Foxy Brown.” Lon Chaney Jr gives one of his most memorable late performances as Bruno, a caretaker who devotes himself to three demented siblings after their father’s death. When two distant relatives lay claim to their house and insist on moving in, Bruno has to cross his fingers and hope that the ‘children’ behave towards their new guests.
On May 24, ARROW introduces “The Ick,” a collection of some of the sleaziest and skeeziest films on ARROW that are guaranteed to gross you out. Titles include “Doom Asylum,” “Hellish Flesh,” and “The Baby.”
On May 31, ARROW closes out its May lineup by sending audiences to “Heaven or (Mostly) Hell” with a collection of films featuring the recently dead stuck in limbo. Titles include “Pandemonium,” “Hotel Poseidon,” and “A Ghost Waits.”
ARROW is available in the US, Canada, the U.K., and Ireland on Roku, Apple T.V. & iOS devices, Android T.V. and mobile devices, Amazon Fire devices, and on all web browsers at https://www.arrow-player.com. Specially curated by members of the ARROW team, ARROW is home to premium film and TV entertainment, exclusive new premieres, cutting-edge cinema, international classics, and cult favorites. Subscriptions are available for $6.99 monthly or $69.99 yearly. Title availability can vary by region.
