Arrow Books, Vinyl, and Other Merch

News on Arrow Video releases.

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Ribs
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Arrow Books, Vinyl, and Other Merch

#1 Post by Ribs » Wed Apr 12, 2017 11:12 am

From an Arrow blog post:
Later this month will see the launch of a new range of books at Arrow! Our first books focus on a couple of hugely influential cult films and the works of one incredibly endearing cult icon, as Tom Mes essays the career of Meiko Kaji, Russ Gom looks back on The Blair Witch Project whilst Andrew Osmond digs into the original Ghost in the Shell.

Just like our DVDs and Blu-rays they will feature brand new cover artwork and will be the same size as Blu-ray cases so they can stack right alongside your Arrow collection.

Vinyl however we can’t really change the size of…

Yes vinyl! Remastered, and featuring new artwork and liner notes, our vinyl releases will encompass all the values we bring to our DVD and Blu-ray releases. Following the recent Pieces translucent red vinyl with the Deluxe boxset, we will be releasing more soundtracks from films in our catalogue, including Roberto Nicolosi’s score for Black Sunday and Stelvio Cipriani’s Death Walks on High Heels, plus some films that are yet to be announced for Arrow Video that we won’t spoil for the moment…

With Brain Damage also recently announced as featuring a label-exclusive pin badge, we are looking at more ways in which we can bring you even more quality items, including more pins, posters, t-shirts and more, but we’re only human so please bear with us.

However, we are always open to new thoughts, so if you have any ideas you’d like to share, you can use our suggestion@arrowfilms.co.uk email address to let us know what you’d like to see next, whether that be a poster, book subject, soundtrack idea or anything else...

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Banasa
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Re: Arrow Books, Vinyl, and Other Merch

#2 Post by Banasa » Wed Apr 12, 2017 11:20 am

I wonder if writings about Ghost in the Shell and the Blair Witch Project are related to any future releases. I mean, why write promotional material about content that others are more likely to release?

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Ribs
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Re: Arrow Books, Vinyl, and Other Merch

#3 Post by Ribs » Wed Apr 12, 2017 11:22 am

Er, because they want to do the writing and it'll sell well but they can't get the rights? I imagine these are almost exclusively going to be writing about what they can't get the rights to, because otherwise it'd just be incorporated into a forthcoming release.

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domino harvey
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Re: Arrow Books, Vinyl, and Other Merch

#4 Post by domino harvey » Wed Apr 12, 2017 12:35 pm

I assume it's like the BFI books. I am not wild about Arrow going deeper into novelty items, but the books sound like a solid direction, though one hopes for more substance and less padding than some of their larger boxed set books

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colinr0380
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Re: Arrow Books, Vinyl, and Other Merch

#5 Post by colinr0380 » Wed Apr 12, 2017 1:43 pm

They're not going to be able to get Ghost In The Shell at all, as I'm pretty sure Manga Video have the rights for that one (and Akira for that matter) pretty firmly under their control and regularly keep those films in rotation. There should be quite a bit to talk about with Ghost In The Shell even without going into the spin-off series or the original manga, if only because the 1995 film got a "2.0" digital remake a while back that controversially spruced up its CGI elements. Then there's the whole subbed vs dubbed debate (Ghost In The Shell together with Akira was one of the earliest anime films, or at least the most high profile example, released in a separate edition with a subtitle track on VHS in the UK).

Similarly the original Blair Witch Project is distributed by Pathé in the UK, and Blair Witch 2: Book of Shadows (and the spin off documentaries) by Metrodome. Something that would be interesting to throw into a book on that whole phenomenon would be the trilogy of video games released to fill in some of the back story after the success of the first film.
Last edited by colinr0380 on Thu Apr 13, 2017 3:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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midnitedave
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Re: Arrow Books, Vinyl, and Other Merch

#6 Post by midnitedave » Wed Apr 12, 2017 2:16 pm

I've been expecting an announcement like this ever since Arrow teased Mes' book about Meiko Kaji and released a 45 w/ the Shock & Gore box. Logical step forward for sure. I'm curious how well they can compete in the vinyl market when Death Waltz & Mondo have a large share, but perhaps that's just in the US.

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The Elegant Dandy Fop
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Re: Arrow Books, Vinyl, and Other Merch

#7 Post by The Elegant Dandy Fop » Wed Apr 12, 2017 4:57 pm

As a shameless record collector, I hate, hate, hate all the soundtrack goons who demand their reissues with tacky cover art, splattered vinyl, dumb trinkets and then charge almost $40. I'll never forget a Record Store Day when the Ghostbusters theme was released as a glow-in-the-dark 10" for $20. $20 for one damn song on vinyl that won't even sound good. That said, it makes a lot of sense from a business standpoint. I worked at a record store when the Death Waltz records started to hit the shelves and you wouldn't believe the cult developed around these. Soundtracks for Ms. 45 and Zombie would often sell-out within a day or two. The market is booming on this and can understand where they're coming from. I'll keep buying their excellent Blu-Rays, but have zero interest in these LPs.

That said, I like Tom Mes and Midnight Eye and hope their books prove to be a source of valuable insight as opposed to over-priced vinyl.

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Ribs
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Re: Arrow Books, Vinyl, and Other Merch

#8 Post by Ribs » Fri Apr 21, 2017 11:22 am

Details and pre-orders for the first batch of releases:

A science fiction classic that was largely overlooked on release, Ghost in the Shell has grown in stature with the support of such Hollywood fans as James Cameron and the Wachowskis, and in 2017 was controversially remade as a live-action spectacular, starring Scarlett Johansson.

Anime expert Andrew Osmond focuses on the original 1995 film, tracing the paths of the Japanese talents who came together to make it, including the visionary and maverick director, Mamoru Oshii, as well as the original manga creator, Masamune Shirow, and how their different sensibilities came together. Other chapters look at the film’s unusual international co-production with the UK’s Manga Entertainment; discuss the figure of Kusanagi, the film’s iconic cyborg heroine who's both a James Bond-style killer and a contemplative philosopher; examine Ghost in the Shell’s debts to Blade Runner and Japan’s tradition of robot fantasies; and ask if it’s really a “cyberpunk” film, as it’s so often labelled.

Andrew Osmond is the author of 'BFI Modern Classics: Spirited Away', 'Satoshi Kon: The Illusionist' and '100 Animated Feature Films.'

Image

July 31

As the Millennium approached, horror was becoming an unusual commodity. Low budget horror films flooded the home video market while their big budget counterparts took hold at the box office. It seemed that a balance could not be found that would please everyone.

In the final months of 1999, horror was saved by a film that became a turning point in many aspects – including film production, film marketing and film distribution. One film was a revelation of cinema which shook the world at the time and created such panic and fear that the effects of the film can still be felt today.

Film-maker Russ Gomm takes a look at the phenomena of The Blair Witch Project through the eyes of a fan who was captivated by the unusual promotional strategy that led up to the release. This book takes a trip back in time to the 1990s to uncover the history of the production of the film including a unique making of and its path to success.

Through conversations with fellow fans, filmmakers and other industry professionals, the book also examines the lasting effect that this seminal film had on not only the audiences, but the film industry itself and indeed the future of the horror genre.

Cover illustration: Peter Strain

Image

July 31

Meiko Kaji - Queen of the Japanese Action Film!

With such iconic roles as Lady Snowblood and Female Prisoner Scorpion she defined a decade of cult cinema, creating an archetype of female strength that was equal parts ferocious and mysterious.

Devoting plenty of space to her star-making turns as Scorpion and Lady Snowblood, Unchained Melody: The Films of Meiko Kaji goes beyond the movies that made her name. This book traces her career from its earliest beginnings as a teen model and tomboyish basketball fanatic to Kaji's critically-lauded and versatile performances for master directors including Kinji Fukasaku and Kon Ichikawa.

Author Tom Mes also investigates Kaji's acting work in television and the singing career that would eventually introduce her to a whole new, international audience as the musical cornerstone to Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill.

Tom Mes is the author of books on cult Japanese filmmakers Takashi Miike and Shinya Tsukamoto and was one of the founders of Midnighteye.com, the world's go-to website for information on Japanese cinema.

Cover illustration: Nathanael Marsh

Image

July 31
Last edited by Ribs on Fri Apr 21, 2017 11:47 am, edited 1 time in total.

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swo17
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Re: Arrow Books, Vinyl, and Other Merch

#9 Post by swo17 » Fri Apr 21, 2017 11:25 am

Will these be region free?

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tenia
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Re: Arrow Books, Vinyl, and Other Merch

#10 Post by tenia » Fri Apr 21, 2017 11:52 am

The readable side of the pages will be the same on both sides of the Atlantic with only cosmetic differences on the sleeve to do with differing copyright info and barcodes.

Also, the US release won't have BBFC logos.

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Re: Arrow Books, Vinyl, and Other Merch

#11 Post by beamish13 » Fri Apr 21, 2017 12:30 pm

Mes is a fantastic author. I still visit the defunct Midnight Eye website for films to discover, and the book they released is essential, too.

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colinr0380
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Re: Arrow Books, Vinyl, and Other Merch

#12 Post by colinr0380 » Fri Apr 21, 2017 1:29 pm

swo17 wrote:Will these be region free?
If they are not at least you'll have Jonathan Leathem's book on They Live to tide you over (I imported that and the pages still worked so I think we're OK regarding books!)

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Dr Amicus
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Re: Arrow Books, Vinyl, and Other Merch

#13 Post by Dr Amicus » Fri Apr 21, 2017 1:34 pm

But are there special US editions with "color" et al?

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domino harvey
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Re: Arrow Books, Vinyl, and Other Merch

#14 Post by domino harvey » Fri Apr 21, 2017 1:37 pm

In the final months of 1999, horror was saved by a film that became a turning point in many aspects – including film production, film marketing and film distribution. One film was a revelation of cinema which shook the world at the time and created such panic and fear that the effects of the film can still be felt today.
I know it's the nature of press releases and backing blurbs to be hyperbolic, but post-Scream, horror films were doing just fine in the late 90s before Blair Witch came on the scene. I won't deny it had a strong impact on the landscape, but it didn't rescue anything

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tenia
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Re: Arrow Books, Vinyl, and Other Merch

#15 Post by tenia » Mon Sep 11, 2017 7:58 am

I received the Meiko Kaji and the GitS books this weekend and had a quick glance at the GitS one and partially read the Kaji one.

The Kaji book is 160 pages, the GitS 120 pages (with a bigger font). They are indeed approximately as deep and tall than a BD case, so they indeed fit quite well in a BD collection (if you want). They don't have that many photos and pictures in them, so they seem to pack quite a good amount of text material (in opposition to quite many Arrow booklets lately) : the Kaji book have about 110 pages of text (without counting the table of contents and the quite long filmography / discography / "Movies on DVD or BD" list / list of references), the GitS 105 pages.

In the Kaji book, I read the Female Scorpion section and having seen the movies through the Arrow set (and its booklet), it felt like a good complement, with what seemed to me like a good addition in terms of context around the Japanese movie industry of that time.

Otherwise, not much too say except that they seem unlikely to displease too many people (unlike the Cult Companion one, either because of the layout or the content), but I'm also not sure if people already educated about these subjects might learn a lot of new content.


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Adam X
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Re: Arrow Books, Vinyl, and Other Merch

#17 Post by Adam X » Sat Oct 28, 2017 1:51 am

Having just watched it the other night, I can't believe there's a market for the soundtrack on any format; even if Hans Zimmer was involved.

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Forrest Taft
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Re: Arrow Books, Vinyl, and Other Merch

#18 Post by Forrest Taft » Sat Oct 28, 2017 7:36 am

The announcement of the soundtrack made me finally order a copy of the movie. It sounds like something up my alley, and frankly so does the score, if going by Arrow's description. But I'll give the movie a spin before deciding whether or not pick up the soundtrack, especially after Grikepelis' post.

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Adam X
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Re: Arrow Books, Vinyl, and Other Merch

#19 Post by Adam X » Sat Oct 28, 2017 10:44 am

It wasn't an absolutely terrible film, but it would've been more enjoyable if the score wasn't so generic and uninvolving. It suited the film fine I guess, but that's as far as I'd go.

Grikepelis huh, never been called that in writing before :wink: .

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Forrest Taft
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Re: Arrow Books, Vinyl, and Other Merch

#20 Post by Forrest Taft » Sat Oct 28, 2017 11:01 am

Being on a first name basis with people is frowned upon here. For good reason. :D

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tenia
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Re: Arrow Books, Vinyl, and Other Merch

#21 Post by tenia » Sat Oct 28, 2017 1:09 pm

I found The Zero Boys to be such a cheap cheap movie. It's decent but it seems undecided about where to go and what to be most of its length, but always with a cheap aspect.
It seemed like a $5 000 homemade movie trying to be a multi millions professional venture, but always failing to do so.
Hired to Kill felt vaguely slightly better, I think because it simply was feeling it was less trying so hard.

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tenia
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Re: Arrow Books, Vinyl, and Other Merch

#22 Post by tenia » Wed Dec 20, 2017 11:42 am

Upcoming :
Erik The Conqueror yellow translucent vinyl
Sergio Martino book by Kat Ellinger
(both in January)

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tenia
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Re: Arrow Books, Vinyl, and Other Merch

#23 Post by tenia » Sat Dec 23, 2017 1:09 pm

The Martino book is now setup for a March 30th release.

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Jean-Luc Garbo
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Re: Arrow Books, Vinyl, and Other Merch

#24 Post by Jean-Luc Garbo » Wed Jan 10, 2018 1:16 pm

Are the books tightly bound like the BFI Film Classics or looser like regular paperbacks?

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Re: Arrow Books, Vinyl, and Other Merch

#25 Post by midnitedave » Wed Jan 10, 2018 1:21 pm

Jean-Luc Garbo wrote:Are the books tightly bound like the BFI Film Classics or looser like regular paperbacks?
Tightly bound, much like the BFI books.

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