Arrow Video’s subscription-based ARROW platform kicks off its August lineup on Friday. This month’s lineup is headlined by the exclusive ARROW release of Andrew van den Houten’s feature adaptation of Jack Ketchum’s “Offspring,” which will arrive on August 27. But there is plenty of other content to consume in August, and ARROW is kicking off the month with selections from horror author Grady Hendrix.
ARROW’s signature curation begins August 2 with a new Season from one of the most popular authors in modern horror: Grady Hendrix. Hendrix is the writer of “My Best Friend’s Exorcism,” “The Southern Book Club’s Guide To Slaying Vampires,” and “How To Sell A Haunted House;” the screenwriter of “Satanic Panic;” and also one of the founders of Subway Cinema and the New York Asian Film Festival. Grady Hendrix selects includes titles like “The 36th Chamber of Shaolin,” “The Leg Fighters,” and “The Boxer’s Omen.”
August 2 also marks the arrival of three titles featuring ARROW’s signature blend of action, murder, and seduction:
- Bruce’s Deadly Fingers: After malicious gangsters capture Bruce Lee’s ex-girlfriend, a young martial artist attempts to rescue her – and the late master’s book containing lethal techniques for killing with one’s fingers.
- Jailhouse Wardress: While behind bars for murdering her abusive father, Maria (Lina Romay, Female Vampire) encounters a sadistic female warden and hatches an escape plan involving the seduction of a male nurse.
- Crazy Fat Ethel: After years in a mental institution, Ethel Janowski is released and taken in by her aunt to live a quiet existence. But for many people, including the institution’s staff and a local detective, discharging Ethel was a colossal mistake, and they will soon discover that her appetite for murder is stronger than it ever was for food.
For subscribers with only a few minutes to indulge, ARROW has a selection of eclectic short films launching August 9, available in all subscriber territories.
The shorts include “Flamingo,” where an alienated dancer descends into the world of self-amputation; “Eject,” about a woman discovering a USB port in her wrist that uncovers a world where she has the ability to change herself for the better; “Red Gloves,” set in 1980s New York City, where a young dancer at the top of her class is stalked by a shadowy figure wearing red gloves; and “Fck’n Nuts,” the story of a melancholy teenager meeting the boy of her dreams, but desperately attempting to prevent him meeting her parents, who have scared all of her previous boyfriends away.
August 9 will also see the arrival of “Snatched,” a collection of films featuring protagonists who have been kidnapped and kept against their will. The collection will feature titles like “The Woman” and “Stray Cat Rock: Wild Jumbo.”
On August 16, wake up and turn on the TV for ARROW’s “Hangover From Hell,” a collection of booze-fueled and tipsy cult films that include “This Stuff’ll Kill Ya!,” “Hotel Poseidon,” and “A Taste of Blood.”
Also arriving on August 16 is “Vital,” an award-winning medical thriller from Japanese auteur Shinya Tsukamoto.
After a tragic car accident where his girlfriend Ryôko Ooyama (Nami Tsukamoto) dies, Hiroshi Takagi (Tadanobu Asano) suffers amnesia, with his memories completely blanked. When he sees a book about dissection, he decides to join the medical school with the support of his parents. In the dissection class, his group participates in the autopsy of a young woman, and while cutting apart the tissue, he partially recalls his accident. Later, when he sees a tattoo on the arm of the corpse, he realizes that she is his girlfriend and becomes obsessed with going further in the examination of the body.
On August 23, ARROW has three new films curated exclusively for subscribers in North America:
- The Dead Mother: Ismael (Karra Elejalde, “Timecrimes”) breaks into the house of a fine art restorer and shoots the homeowner dead, leaving her daughter orphaned and traumatized for life. Years later, Ismael is working in a bar where he sees the daughter again. Paranoid that she has recognized him and will report him, he kidnaps her and holds her hostage, demanding that her hospital pay a ransom for her release.
- Prague Nights: In the vein of horror anthologies like Mario Bava’s “Black Sabbath,” the long-unseen “Prague Nights” is a gorgeous and supernatural vision of ancient and modern Prague: caught between Mod Sixties fashions and nightmarish Medieval catacombs, it is filled with Qabbalistic magic, giant golems, occult rituals, clockwork automatons, and satanic visitors.
- The Terror: An 18th-century French lieutenant sees a ghostly apparition of a woman. After two failed attempts to keep up with her, he heads to the baron’s castle, where he notices a painting of the Baron’s late wife, who looks like the ghostly woman.
The 4K release of “Offspring,” directed by Andrew van den Houten, will launch exclusively on ARROW on August 27. It is a brutal adaptation of cult horror novelist Jack Ketchum’s book about a deadly clan of feral cannibals on the prowl.
The film features Pollyanna McIntosh (“The Walking Dead”), who would reprise her role in Lucky McKee’s “The Woman, “and is set against the backdrop of grisly murders and child abductions. In it, a clan of cannibalistic savages that have plagued the Northeast Coast since 1858 is after an unsuspecting family and their innocent baby girl. Do they have what it takes to survive?
“It’s been fun producing and directing horror films all these years,” says van den Houten, “and I cannot wait for people to see my latest version of Offspring in 4K HDR.”
Quickly following the exclusive release of “Offspring,” on August 30, ARROW will premiere Andrew van den Houten Selects. The director of “Offspring,” and producer of “The Ranger” curates a selection of horror titles that include “Children of the Corn,” Ringu,” and “Two Witches.”
“Horror is such a great world to explore all the dark and twisted ideas buried in our minds, says van den Houten. “I hope you enjoy my selections from the Arrow Player and can’t wait to direct another horror film for the fans soon! It’s been an honour being part of this community.”
August’s lineup wraps on August 30 with three more titles set to chill North American subscribers as fall approaches:
- Night of the Scorpion: a man brings his new wife to his sinister Spanish mansion, much to the displeasure of his family, who also live there. It is then that the sinister happenings start, and it appears a killer might be on the loose trying to cover up the tragic death of wife #1…or recommit murder again. Spanish Giallo at its best!
- Terror at Tenkiller: Leslie and Jana are attractive young ladies who take off on vacation, and strange things start to happen at their remote cabin in the woods.
- Castle of Blood: It was begun by Sergio Corbucci (“Django”), completed by Antonio Margheriti (“The Long Hair of Death”), and remains one of the true masterpieces of Gothic Horror: When a journalist accepts a wager that he won’t survive the night in a haunted castle, it will unlock an odyssey of sexual torment, undead vengeance and a dark seductress (the legendary Barbara Steele) who surrenders the gravest of pleasures.
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.
