Arrow Video has announced its July 2023 lineup for its subscription-based ARROW platform. Among the July highlights are the “Permanent Vacation” collection and “Josh Ruben Selects,” a collection of films that inspired actor-writer-director Josh Ruben.
The fun starts on July 7 with the “Permanent Vacation” collection. In desperate need of a vacay? Well, be careful who you book with, because the flicks trips in Permanent Vacation are dream holidays that you’ll never return from.
Featuring murderous mini-breaks and sun, sea, sand, and psychos, these gory getaways feature everything from island paradises full of monsters and mutants to nature breaks from the rat race that will be the death of you. So, pack your sunglasses and flip-flops, but don’t bother buying a return ticket because you’re going on a Permanent Vacation.
Titles in the collection include “Horrors of Malformed Men,” “Lake Michigan Monster,” and “The Wind.”
Also on July 7, subscribers are invited to dig up “Yakuza Graveyard.” When he falls for the beautiful wife of the jailed boss of the Nishida gang, things start to spiral out of control for Detective Kuroiwa (Tetsuya Watari, “Graveyard of Honour”). In a world where the line between police and organized crime is vague, he finds himself on the wrong side of a yakuza war when his superiors favor Nishida’s rivals, the Yamashiro gang. Co-starring the iconic Meiko Kaji (“Lady Snowblood”) and featuring Nagisa Oshima as chief of police, “Yakuza Graveyard” sees director Kinji Fukasaku (“Battles without Honour and Humanity”) at the peak of his powers.
On July 14, take a trip through the ages with “You’re History,” a selection of trips to all the time periods you could possibly imagine. This curated collection features historical epics, time capsule slices of life, and period pieces, all featuring blood, swords, romance, political intrigue, unforgettable events, crazed killers, and flying fighters. The past has never been as entertaining or dangerous as it is in “You’re History.”
Titles in the collection include “Eros + Massacre,” Vengence is Mine,” and “Khrustalyov My Car!”
Also, on July 14, Bruce Campbell is “Running Time.” Campbell (“The Evil Dead” franchise) stars as Carl, a man who launches a full-scale heist to steal mob money from the prison that just released him. With the help of an old friend (Jeremy Roberts, “The People Under the Stairs”), a driver, and a safe-cracker, Carl’s attempt to carry out the heist is fraught with incompetence and bad luck. As the clock ticks and the circumstances turn tragic, Carl is forced to make the most important decision of his life.
“Josh Ruben Selects” arrives on July 21 to showcase some of the cinema that inspires the multi-hyphenate director behind films like “Scare Me,” “Werewolves Within,” “Death to 2021,” and “A Wounded Fawn.”
“First, ARROW asked if I’d list my favorite movies currently streaming on their epic service… then came a flood of shame… cult films? Have I seen any!? Am I a bad cinephile,” said Ruben. “And yet, there they emerged, one after another in alphabetical order, from ‘Basket Case’ onward came title after title, some of which I haven’t thought about since I was a wee one. Enjoy a taste of the delightfully dark and salacious gems, many of which moulded me at too young an age.”
Titles Include: “Elvira: Mistress of the Dark,” “Bad Moon,” and “The Guyver.”
July 24 brings the spaghetti westerns to subscribers with the “Blood Money Collection.”
In the mid-1960s, the runaway success of Sergio Leone’s “Dollars” trilogy gave rise to an explosion of similar productions. Filmmakers by the dozen sought to capitalize on this new, uniquely Italian take on the western, characterized by their deeply cynical outlook, morally compromised antiheroes, and unflinching depictions of savage violence. This specially curated selection gathers together four outstanding examples of the genre from the height of its popularity, all centered around the theme of blood money.
In Romolo Guerrieri’s “$10,000 Blood Money” (a.k.a. “$10,000 for a Massacre”), Gianni Garko, best known for his portrayal of supernatural gunslinger Sartana, takes on the part of another beloved western antihero, Django, who is on the trail of bandit Manuel Vasquez (Claudio Camaso, “A Bay of Blood”). But what started as a job for hire soon turns personal, with Django swearing vengeance against the unscrupulous outlaw.
Then, in the film’s spiritual successor, Giovanni Fago’s “Vengeance is Mine” (a.k.a. “$100,000 for a Killing”), Garko and Camaso once again lead the cast, this time as estranged half-brothers, one a Confederate soldier now riding with renegade outlaws, the other a bounty hunter tasked with bringing him in alive.
Next, in Giuliano Carnimeo’s “Find a Place to Die” (1968), Jeffrey Hunter (“The Searchers”) plays Joe Collins, a disgraced former soldier who assembles a ragtag band of scoundrels. They are lured into helping a woman (Pascale Petit, “A Queen for Caesar”) to rescue her prospector husband, who is trapped at their gold mine cave-in, though in reality, they have designs on the gold strike themselves.
Finally, in Cesare Canevari’s psychedelic “Matalo! (Kill Him),” double- and triple-crosses abound as a band of outlaws, having holed up in an isolated ghost town, set about terrorizing travelers Ray (Lou Castel, “Orgasmo”) and Bridget (Ana MarÃa Mendoza, “7 Women for the MacGregors”) – only to get more than they bargained for when Ray fights back, armed only with his weapon of choice: a bag full of boomerangs.
Featuring a wealth of key Euro-cult talent both behind and in front of the camera, Arrow Films is proud to present these four classic westerns in sparkling High Definition restorations alongside a plethora of brand-new bonus materials.
ARROW closes out July with the arrival of “Sam Ashurst Selects” on July 28. Director of “Frankenstein’s Creature,” writer/director of “A Little More Flesh” and “A Little More Flesh II,” and the co-host of the Arrow Video podcast, Ashurst has curated a collection of films that include “Boxer’s Omen,” “Day of Anger,” and “Burst City.”
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. Subscriptions are available for $6.99 monthly or $69.99 yearly. Title availability can vary by region.
