It is a new month, and with it comes a new lineup of cult films for Arrow Video’s streaming platform, ARROW.
The September 2024 lineup leads with the ARROW debut of Sergio Martino’s 1973 classic “Torso.” ARROW’s streaming launch features a brand new 4K restoration from the original camera negative for North American subscribers beginning September 17. A talented and versatile journeyman, director Sergio Martino (“The Case of the Scorpion’s Tail”) lent his talents to multiple genres across his long and varied career but is undoubtedly best known for his giallo thrillers from the early 70s.
ARROW’s signature curation starts September 6 with a new Season from the creator of the “Hatchet” franchise with “Adam Green Selects.” Green curates a collection of cult favorites that include titles like “The Mutilator,” “Basket Case,” and “Hellraiser.”
“What an honor to be asked by ARROW to highlight some of my personal favorites in their amazing collection,” said Green. “From Romero, Craven, and Barkerโฆ to Argento, Henenlotter, and Ferrara, the ARROW library includes some of the most uniquely fearless works by some of the filmmakers who influenced me the most. Whether you’re watching these films for the very first time or having your own “dog flashback” and revisiting them again, I have no doubt that you’ll find something to love about each of them!”
Also, on September 6, ARROW will close out the Summer with “Sun, Sand and Screams,” a collection of films filled with killers, monsters, bodies, paranoid friends, and sunny shenanigans. Titles in the collection include “Death Has Blue Eyes,” “Loop Track,” and “Bloodstone.”
September 6 will also mark the arrival of four horror titles from the days of free love.
- “Scream of the Demon Lover”: Writer/director Josรฉ Luis Merino embraces the genre’s classic elements and ravishes them to vivid extremes. When a beautiful biochemist (Erna Schurer) arrives at a foreboding castle to work for a sinister baron, she’ll unlock a nightmare of dark romance, sexual violence, grisly family secrets, and some of the most perverse moments in ’70s gothic.
- “Madame O”: At the tender age of 16, Seiko was sexually abused by three men. This horrifying attack scarred her mentally and resulted in her getting pregnant and infected with syphilis. Possessing a raging desire for revenge against men, she destroys them with the one weapon they cannot resistโฆsex!
- “Libido“: Ernesto Gastaldi made his directorial debut with one of the most groundbreaking yet underseen gialli of them all: When a boy witnesses his father kill a woman during an S&M session, he’ll grow into a disturbed young man tormented by images of violence, perversion, madness, and murder.
- “The Threat”: “The Threat” is a gritty crime drama in the vein of Kurosawa’s High and Low, set against the backdrop of a rapidly modernizing Japan that has left many of its citizens behind. Misawa (Rentarล Mikuni, “Fugitive from the Past”) appears to lead a charmed life, the very model of Japan’s post-war economic miracle. Then, one day, the fragility of his existence is revealed when two violent jail-breakers turn up on his doorstep seeking refuge and threatening to embroil Misawa in their criminal activities.
On September 13, ARROW gets “Cursed” with a collection of films in which people are jinxed, including “Ringu,” “Threshold,” and “Death Curse of Tartu.”
September 13 also marks the debut of “The Nico Mastorakis Collection.” Dedicated to one of the most infamous B-movie maestros to have ever sat in a director’s chair, “The Nico Mastorakis Collection” features fresh sci-fi shenanigans and screwball comedies, plus hair-raising horror and adrenaline-soaked action that will take you out of this world!
Zany, shocking, and unhinged, Mastorakis’ films span every genre, from horror to sci-fi to action to comedy and everything in between. Made with a chutzpah that must be seen to be believed, you haven’t lived until you’ve entered Mastorakis’ wild cinematic world! Titles include: “The Wind,” “Hired to Kill,” and “The Naked Truth.”
September 13 concludes with a midnight snack of four shorts from the genre festival circuit:
- “Only Yourself to Blame”: When Mai sends her drunk friend Sian home in a taxi, she finds herself being pursued by a shadowy assailant who is copying her every move. Unable to outrun her stalker, she confronts them to discover something deeply unsettling.
- “Nosepicker”: In this slimy ‘tale of the unexpected,’ young schoolboy Georgie (Leo Adoteye), bullied for his nasty habit of picking his nose, retreats into himself with macabre results.
- “Viola VS. The Vampire King”: When her big sister is taken under the spell of the dreaded Vampire King, Viola embarks on a mystical quest for revenge.
- “Connie”: Dolly Diggs needs a voice, and Connie needs a body, but she’s nobody’s puppetโฆ Who’s the dummy in the dead of night?
On September 17, Sergio Martino’s trailblazing 1973 slasher “Torso” will debut in 4K UHD on ARROW. Featuring a brand-new 4K restoration from the original camera negative, Torso revels in the time-honored traditions of erotic thrillers while simultaneously laying the groundwork for the modern slasher movie.
A sex maniac is prowling the streets of Perugia, targeting the picturesque university town’s female students. Alarmed at the plummeting life expectancy of the student body, Jane (Suzy Kendall, “The Bird with the Crystal Plumage”) and her three friends elope to a secluded country villa โ only to discover that, far from having left the terror behind, they’ve brought it with them!
Also known as “Carnal Violence,” “Torso” was released in Italy towards the end of the giallo boom before enjoying a second life on the American grindhouse circuit. Co-starring Tina Aumont (“Salon Kitty”) and Luc Merenda (“The Violent Professionals”), the film finds Sergio Martino at the top of his game, delivering copious levels of violence, sleaze, and one of the tensest cat-and-mouse games ever committed to celluloid!
The director of “Beyond the Door” and “Madhouse” brings his vision to subscribers with “Ovidio G. Assonitis Selects,” launching September 20.
“ARROW have gathered an impressive collection of motion pictures from all over the world. It was difficult to pick my highlights, but enjoyable,” said Assonitis. “There are some truly memorable cult movies here, made by talented artists, some of whom are no longer with us. I am honoured to have some of my movies in a collection alongside these works. They are very important pictures.”
Titles in the collection include “Don’t Torture a Duckling,” “The Case of the Scorpions Tail,” and “Beyond the Door.”
September 20 closes with a special four-pack for subscribers: a quartet of 70s vampire flicks.
- “Count Dracula“: This gothic masterpiece from writer/director Jess Franco can now be experienced like never before, from its brilliant performances by Christopher Lee as the Count, Herbert Lom as Van Helsing, Soledad Miranda as Lucy, Maria Rohm as Mina and Klaus Kinski as Renfield to its sumptuously unnerving cinematography and eerie Bruno Nicolai score.
- “Bloodsuckers”: When a brilliant young Oxford professor disappears while researching in Greece, the British government launches an investigation that will trigger a nightmare of ritual sacrifice, sadomasochistic perversion, deranged academia, and one of the most unique takes on vampirism in genre history.
- “Dracula Prisoner of Frankenstein”: Inspired by Universal’s 1940s monster mash-ups, writer/director Jess Franco instead delivered “a weird and wonderful masterpiece that transports you to a world like no other” (Scream Magazine): With minimal dialogue and maximum gothic atmosphere, Franco crafts a fever dream of erotic horror in which Count Dracula, Dr. Frankenstein and Frankenstein’s monster battle gypsies, showgirls and a wolfman.
- “Tender Dracula”: When horror’s biggest star (Peter Cushing) announces his retirement from the genre, two dimwit screenwriters and a pair of sexy actresses are dispatched to the actor’s castle for a lavish farce d’horreur รฉrotique of violence, whippings, orgies, tender romance and a devilishly dignified performance by Cushing, even while spanking the bare bottom of French starlet Miou-Miou.
On September 27, ARROW closes out the month with a a Japanese monster ravaging a rural school, as well as four monster classics:
- “Vampire Clay”: In their quest to gain a coveted place at one of the prestigious art schools in Japan, a group of students attend prep school in a decrepit rural art studio. Whilst honing their skills, star student Kaori (Kyoka Takeda) is entrusted with a bundle of discarded art supplies from the studio’s mysterious previous owner to work with. However, when Kaori cuts herself on a razor blade buried in one of her projects, the fresh drops of human blood awaken an insatiable form of evil hidden within the clayโฆ
- “The Monster of the Opera”: Conceived as a sequel to their landmark “The Vampire and the Ballerina,” director Renato Polselli (“The Reincarnation of Isabel”) and screenwriter Ernesto Gastaldi (“All the Colors of the Dark”) resurrected their gothic-fiend-stalks-a-theatrical-troupe framework for an over-the-top aria of reincarnated lovers, sheer nightgowns, sapphic hunger, interdimensional damnation, and frenzied ‘opera.’
- “Mary, Mary, Bloody Mary”: A beautiful American artist named Mary, who just so happens to be a vampire living in Mexico, has authorities baffled and in full investigation after her lust for blood has left a trail of bodies across the country.
- “Lady Frankenstein”: Co-produced by Roger Corman, “Lady Frankenstein” features lurid direction by Mel Welles (“Little Shop of Horrors”) from a story by Dick Randall (“Pieces”), and a cast that includes Hollywood legend Joseph Cotten alongside EuroCult icons Rosalba Neri (“The Devil’s Lover”), Paul Muller (“Nightmare Castle”), and Mickey Hargitay (“Bloody Pit of Horror”).
- “The Devil’s Lover”: When a trio of free-spirited young women – led by a smoldering Rosalba Neri of “Lady Frankenstein” fame – insists on spending the night in a castle rumored to be owned by the Devil himself, their cobweb-and-candelabra lark triggers a nightmare of lust, violence, vampirism and the ultimate ecstasy of Satanic seduction.
The September lineup goes out guns blazing with “Hired Guns” on September 27. ARROW’s “Hired Guns” collection features many highly-trained professionals whose trigger fingers are itching to make your problem disappear. For a price. Titles include: “Suture,” “Terminal Exposure,” and “The Most Dangerous Game.”
ARROW is available in the US, Canada, the U.K., and Ireland on Roku,ย Appleย T.V. & iOS devices, Android T.V. and mobile devices, Amazon Fire devices, and on all web browsers atย 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.
