HORROR, HUMOUR AND HEART THIS APRIL

TWO MUST-SEE DEBUTS, A NINETIES SUSPENSE CLASSIC IN 4K, NINE JAPANESE CRIME THRILLERS, ALEXANDRA HELLER-NICHOLAS SELECTS, FOUND FOOTAGE, TERRY GILLIAM & MUCH MORE

This April let ARROW take you on a streaming voyage of discovery with a pair of brilliant indie debuts, a rediscovered and restored Hitchockian thriller in 4K, two documentaries on Terry Gilliam, a Japanese V-Cinema bonanza, a found footage frenzy, a selection of out there short films, genre author Alexandra Heller-Nicholas raiding the ARROW library, and much, much more.

First off in April, exclusively on ARROW in the UK, Booger, multi-talented director Mary Dauterman’s unflinching exploration of grief, identity and resilience with a darkly comic edge. With a unique blend of horror, humour and heart, Booger transforms the mundane into the macabre, delivering a deeply human exploration of love, loss, and the strange ways we cope with pain, that lingers long after the credits roll. Be sure to pick it on ARROW in April - and don’t miss the exclusive extras either, including two brand new video essays.

Then there’s Stéphane, a bleakly funny and disturbingly twisted thriller set in the world of amateur film-making. Deftly blending elements of Mark Duplass’ Creep with Man Bites Dog and mismatched buddy movies such as The Cable Guy, Stéphane, written and directed by Timothée Hochet and Lucas Pastor, is part found-footage, part sinister thriller and part self-reflexive black comedy - punk filmmaking at its finest and “a real rollercoaster ride” (Eye For Film) that will “keep you squirming on the edge of your seat” (Splatter Punk Reviews), right until the final, chilling, post-credits scene.

Also in April, Mute Witness, showing in 4K on ARROW. Director Anthony Waller (The Piper, An American Werewolf in Paris) combines cat-and-mouse suspense with classic intrigue, in an updated take on the Hitchcockian thriller, in which the only witness to a brutal crime (Marina Sudina) can neither speak nor cry out in terror. Filmed on location in Moscow and co-starring Fay Ripley (Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein) and Evan Richards (Society), Mute Witness is an unpredictable, nerve-shreddingly tense viewing experience, now fully restored in 4K - there has never been a better opportunity to discover – or rediscover – this gem of 90s thriller cinema.

If Japanese crime films are your thing, look no further than ARROW this April - streaming nine V-cinema direct-to-video genre features from the legendary Japanese studio Toei. Bursting with action, thrills, and double-crosses, this electrifying selection of gems from the Japanese video underworld includes Crime Hunter: Bullets of Rage, Neo Chinpira: Zoom Goes the Bullet, Stranger, Carlos, Burning Dog, Female Prisoner Scorpion: Death Threat, The Hitman: Blood Smells Like Roses, Danger Point: The Road to Hell, and XX: Beautiful Hunter.

Also streaming in April: Sci-fi chiller Xtro 3, slasher horror Hide and Go Shriek, short film delights, Tanya Roberts stuck in Purgatory, terrifying found footage shocker The Outwaters, theatrical frights in the comedic chiller Ghost Light, chemical chaos in Capsules, Rick Sloane’s sci-fi comedy The Visitants, two Terry Gilliam documentaries, and more.

Seasons in April include:

Found Footage, where you can discover the fates of those who have been caught on film forever, going places they maybe shouldn’t have gone, with their cameras rolling… with titles including Ghost Light, Kolobos and Stéphane

Alexandra Heller-Nicholas Selects, where award-winning film critic and author of ten books on cult, horror and exploitation cinema, raids the Arrow archives, with choices including Mirror Mirror, Female Prisoner #701 Scorpion and The Red Queen Kills Seven Times

APRIL RELEASE CALENDAR

From April 4
Stéphane - 2023
The Outwaters - 2023
Ghost Light - 2018
Rejected (short) - 2024
FROM.BEYOND (short) - 2022
They Called Me David (short) - 2021

From April 7
Booger - 2024
Burning Dog - 1991
Carlos - 1991

From April 11
Capsules - 2023
The Visitants - 1985

From April 14
Crime Hunter: Bullets of Rage - 1989
Danger Point: The Road to Hell - 1991

From April 18
Xtro 3 - 1995
Hide and Go Shriek - 1988

From April 21
Neo Chinpira: Zoom Goes The Bullet - 1991
Female Prisoner Scorpion: Death Threat - 1991

From April 25
He Dreams of Giants - 2019
Lost in La Mancha - 2002
Purgatory - 1988
Mute Witness 4K - 1995

From April 28
Stranger - 1991
The Hitman: Blood Smells Like Roses - 1991
XX: Beautiful Hunter - 1994

New Seasons this April

April 4: FOUND FOOTAGE

While shooting a documentary in the woods at midnight (don't ask) we stumbled across a strange sack hidden among a tangle of roots. Back at ARROW HQ, we soon discovered that the mysterious bag was full of tapes containing found footage films, each scarier than the last.

Join us as we film ourselves going through the tapes, discovering the fates of those who have been caught on camera forever, never stopping shooting, recording it all, and learning all we can from this frightening... Found Footage.

Titles Include: Ghost Light, Kolobos, Stéphane

Please note that additional films are incoming for this season - details TBC

April 11: ALEXANDRA HELLER-NICHOLAS SELECTS

Alexandra Heller-Nicholas is an award-winning film critic and author of ten books on cult, horror and exploitation cinema, including 1000 Women in Horror, 1895 - 2018, The Giallo Canvas: Art, Excess and Horror Cinema, and her latest The Cinema Coven: Witches, Witchcraft and Women’s Filmmaking.

“Raiding the Arrow archives is the cinephile equivalent of being a kid in a candy store! From classic beats to deeper cuts, I’ve primarily selected titles that tie into the subjects I’ve written about in my books, with a couple of personal favourites thrown in for good measure - enjoy, sickos!”.

Titles Include: Mirror Mirror, Female Prisoner #701 Scorpion, The Red Queen Kills Seven Times

APRIL TITLES - IN DEPTH

FROM APRIL 3: STEPHANE

When Tim (Bastien Garcia), an ambitious and aspiring filmmaker out making his latest short film, encounters the eccentric Stéphane (played by the film's co-director, Lucas Pastor), it seems like a match made in heaven. Stéphane claims to be an experienced special effect supervisor and stuntman and, after impressing Tim with his home-made pyrotechnics, the two embark on a journey to Stéphane’s private island to set about making a World War II epic, along with Stephane’s friend, a strange and mostly-mute refugee actress named Bianca (Eva Gregorieff). But as their filmmaking odyssey continues, it soon becomes apparent that neither men may be what they claim, and tensions quickly escalate...

THE OUTWATERS

Four travellers encounter menacing phenomena while camping in a remote stretch of the Mojave Desert.

GHOST LIGHT

Disgruntled actor shouts "Macbeth" on an empty stage and unwittingly unleashes the play's legendary curse on his fellow Shakespearean troupe… with unfortunate consequences. All's well that ends well, but not for everyone.

REJECTED (SHORT)

A short horror parody with three twisted tales of the macabre, all linked by an antiquated digital camera from 1997. The tales intertwine, creating a narrative that is both terrifying and hilariously absurd.

FROM.BEYOND (SHORT)

A kaleidoscopic vision portraying mankind’s first meeting with alien life, told through faux archival footage combined with practical FX, miniatures and old school in-camera trickery. Winner of the prestigious Méliès D'or in 2023.

THEY CALLED ME DAVID (SHORT)

David was created in a lab, a strange being of immense power. But they are also just a lonely child, searching for their father.

FROM APRIL 7: BOOGER

Anna, a young New Yorker, is consumed with overwhelming grief after the sudden death of her best friend and roommate, Izzy. Struggling to cope, Anna becomes fixated on finding Booger, the stray cat she and Izzy took in together. When she finally tracks the cat down, an unexpected bite to the hand triggers a bizarre and unsettling transformation, causing Anna to gradually take on more feline characteristics.

BURNING DOG

Inspired by true events, Burning Dog is an action-packed heist film where a group of thieves plot to rob twenty million dollars from a US military base in Okinawa, but rising tensions in the group threaten to put the plan in jeopardy.

CARLOS

Veteran manga artist Kazuhiro Kiuchi (Be-Bop High School) takes the helm for Carlos, in which a Brazilian-Japanese petty criminal sees an opportunity to play rival yakuza gangs against each other, but bites off much more than he can chew.

FROM APRIL 11: CAPSULES

After experimenting with mysterious substances, four chem students find themselves addicted in the worst way possible: they'll die unless they take more.

THE VISITANTS

Aliens chase a teenager who stole one of their ray guns.

FROM APRIL 14: CRIME HUNTER: BULLETS OF RAGE

Fast-paced and action-packed, Crime Hunter sees detective “Joker” Kawamura out for revenge against the men who gunned down his partner. Along the way he teams up with Lily, a gun-toting nun looking to get back 5 million dollars that was stolen from her church.

DANGER POINT: THE ROAD TO HELL

Show Aikawa and Jo Shishido reunite in Danger Point: The Road to Hell, as a duo of contract killers whose fragile partnership is tested when their most recent hit starts to have unforeseen consequences.

FROM APRIL 18: XTRO 3

Marines travel to a deserted island to diffuse bombs, only to be terrorized by a deadly alien creature.

HIDE AND GO SHRIEK

A group of teens decide to spend the night at a furniture store the father of one of them owns. A homeless ex-con security guard is staying the night too. During the night, someone with a taste for cross-dressing breaks in and begins to pick off the teens one by one during a game of hide and seek. The killer changes clothes with each victim, male or female, when stalking the next one.

FROM APRIL 21: NEO CHINPIRA: ZOOM GOES THE BULLET

Neo Chinpira: Zoom Goes the Bullet pairs rising star Show Aikawa with veteran actor Jo Shishido (Branded to Kill). Junko (Aikawa) is a wannabe yakuza who gets more than he bargained for when tasked with avenging the murder of a fellow gang member, or face the consequences for betrayal.

FEMALE PRISONER SCORPION: DEATH THREAT

The sequel to one of the most iconic Japanese franchises of all time, Female Prisoner Scorpion: Death Threat sees a female assassin hired to infiltrate a women’s prison and search for The Scorpion, a legendary rebellious prisoner hiding in the bowels of the prison.

FROM APRIL 25: HE DREAMS OF GIANTS

From the makers of the cult classic Lost in La Mancha, He Dreams of Giants follows visionary icon Terry Gilliam’s final journey to make his elusive passion-project, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote. Combining immersive footage of Gilliam’s production with intimate interviews and archival footage from the director’s entire career, He Dreams Of Giants is a revealing character study of an artist, and a meditation on the value of creativity in the face of mortality.

LOST IN LA MANCHA

Documentary charting film maker Terry Gilliam’s attempts to bring the story of Don Quixote to the big screen. Initially having to move from a Hollywood studio to European financing, the budget for the film is reduced before filming has even begun. Gradually more issues come to light so that the already troubled production is in real danger of not getting off the ground.

PURGATORY

Carly is happily spreading goodness and light as a Peace Corps volunteer in Africa when she and her pal Melanie run afoul of the local, highly corrupt, justice system. Despite numerous bribes by her mother Ruth, the two girls receive an eleven-year sentence on phony charges of drug-peddling. They are sentenced to serve their time at a prison run by a dissolute warden Bledsoe who typically employs his better looking female prisoners as prostitutes. Melanie kills herself after being gang-raped by guards, and Carly, realizing she'll get no help from the U.S. Embassy, has no choice but to escape.

MUTE WITNESS 4K

Billy Hughes (Marina Sudina) is a mute special effects artist working on a low budget American slasher movie being shot in Russia. Accidentally locked in the studio late one night, she stumbles upon two men shooting what appears to be a snuff film. Having borne witness to their victim’s final moments, Billy desperately flees – but this is only the start of a protracted night of terror, drawing her and her friends into a tangled web of intrigue, involving the KGB, the Moscow police… and a mysterious crime kingpin known as “The Reaper”.

FROM APRIL 28: STRANGER

In Shunichi Nagasaki’s unbearably tense thriller Stranger, a late-night taxi driver is stalked by the unseen driver of an SUV, who just might have a connection to the taxi driver's criminal past.

THE HITMAN: BLOOD SMELLS LIKE ROSES

Immortal exploitation director Teruo Ishii (Horrors of Malformed Men) turns his camera to hard-boiled crime with The Hitman: Blood Smells Like Roses, in which a man on the edge remorselessly hunts down those responsible for his wife’s death, killed in the crossfire of a yakuza turf war.

XX: BEAUTIFUL HUNTER

Assassin and femme fatale Shion rebels against the fanatical religious order who prepared her from birth to be the perfect killer in XX: Beautiful Hunter, a whirlwind of romance and violence from legendary Roman Porno director Masaru Konuma.

Where to get it
The Art of Cult. Head to ARROW and start your 30-day free trial. Available on the following Apps/devices: Xbox, Roku (all Roku sticks, boxes, devices, etc), Apple TV; iOS devices, Android TV and mobile devices, Fire TV (all Amazon Fire TV Sticks, boxes, etc), and on all web browsers at www.ARROW-Player.com.

Subscriptions are available for £4.99 monthly or £49.99 annually

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About ARROW

From Arrow Films, a recognised world-leader in curation and creation, ARROW is a premium platform giving you an unparalleled viewing experience across multiple devices, so you can explore the films and TV shows that the Arrow brand is famous for.

Specially curated by members of the ARROW team, ARROW will be home to premium film and TV entertainment, exclusive new premieres, cutting edge cinema, international classics and cult favourites - such as the works of Lars Von Trier, Brian De Palma, Dario Argento, David Cronenberg and Park Chan-wook - plus the very best in acclaimed TV series, including The Bridge and Italian crime series Gomorrah, and brand-new short films from both new and established filmmakers. In the coming months, ARROW will be adding Oscar-winning hits, European classics, Asian cinema masterworks, rediscovered Westerns, offbeat gems and much more, along with such festival favourites The Sacred Spirit and Dinner in America as part of ARROW’s international strategy to support and celebrate the medium of film.

ARROW will also be home to ARROW Stories - an ever-growing collection of interviews, trailers, documentaries and additional extras, newly created just for the service and from its extensive archives. The service will be updated regularly with fresh content, new curation focuses and never-before-seen content, all selected by the ARROW team as well as the filmmakers themselves. With a slickly designed and user-friendly interface ARROW is the new alternative place to go for the very best in On-Demand entertainment.