On May 1st, dive deep into the master with Molto Argento (UK/US/CA/IRE).
A killer collection of one of the all-time master of horrors' murderous masterpieces, Molto Argento is a season of slick and stylish films from maestro Dario Argento.
Featuring all of his very best films, including the absolutely untouchable first two films in his Three Mothers trilogy, and all of his standalone classics like Tenebrae, Deep Red and Phenomena, as well as team-ups with Lamberto Bava and George A. Romero; Molto Argento is a collection full of terrifying, nerves-splitting set pieces, brain-boggling whodunits, unforgettable lighting, astonishing camera moves and soundtracks that will take your roof off.
If you love giallo god Dario Argento, you will no doubt devour this season multiple times, but if you are discovering his instantly recognisable brand of shock and suspense for the first time then there is absolutely no better place you could have come to.
Titles Include: Deep Red, Tenebrae, The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, Deep into the Red.
May the 5th kicks off with PSYCHOTRONIC (UK/US/CA/IRE): a collection of far-out films all listed in Michael Weldon's cult guide to the wildest movies ever made, and the film guide that Quentin Tarantino swears by, The Psychotronic Encyclopedia of Film. Described by Weldon as "[films] traditionally ignored or ridiculed by mainstream critics at the time of their release: horror, exploitation, action, science fiction, and movies that used to play in drive-ins or inner city grindhouses", this is where you will find all our wildest, coolest stuff.
From the slightly offbeat to the outlandishly bizarre, PSYCHOTRONIC is a collection of outrageous films ranging from sincere social commentary to degrading trash, but all united by the fact that they are all full of mucho weirdness and massive fun! So, sit back and prepare yourself for a journey into a dimension of Cult film that can only be described as PSYCHOTRONIC.
Titles Include: Something Weird, The Crazies, The Baby.
May 5th continues with ARROW'scuration of Paul Joyce documentaries, this time diving into Sam Peckinpah's Straw Dogs and the work of German filmmaker Wim Wenders. A controversial Cult siege thriller that cuts so close to the bone that we are still talking about it today, Mantrap: Straw Dogs: The Final Cut (UK/US/CA/IRE) is an absolutely unmissable documentary that unflinchingly examines a challenging film that pushed the limits of mainstream cinema. Presented by the iconic Mark Kermode (The Fear Of God: 25 Years Of The Exorcist) and, thanks to the access of producer-director Paul Joyce, featuring interviews with director Peckinpah (The Wild Bunch) and writer David Zelag Goodman (Logan’s Run), as well as key cast members including stars Dustin Hoffman (Midnight Cowboy) and Susan George (Dirty Mary Crazy Larry).
Put on your shades and get ready to hang out in a Berlin apartment with the super-cool German filmmaker behind Paris, Texasand Wings of Desire, Wim Wenders. The feature-length documentary Motion and Emotion: The Films of Wim Wenders (UK/US/CA/IRE) examines every facet of the work of Wenders, whose love of rock ‘n’ roll and outsider POV have conjured up unique views of America and Americana. Featuring unparalleled access to Wenders, as well as interviews with the stars he has worked with, including Harry Dean Stanton, Peter Falk and Dennis Hopper, Motion and Emotion: The Films of Wim Wenders is an intriguing insight into the cult filmmaker who prefers sax and violins to sex and violence.
The May 5th lineup ends with a look back to the 60s with Big Time Gambling Boss (UK/IRE/US/CA) and A Woman Kills(UK/IRE/US/CA).
An atmospheric tale of gangland intrigue written by Kazuo Kasahara (Battles Without Honour and Humanity) and starring Tomisaburo Wakayama, (Lone Wolf and Cub, The Bounty Hunter Trilogy) and genre legend Koji Tsuruta, Big Time Gambling Boss is one of the all-time classics of the yakuza genre. Paul Schrader called it the richest and most complex film of its type, while novelist Yukio Mishima hailed it as a masterpiece.
Filmed in the tumultuous events of May 1968, Jean-Denis Bonan's A Woman Kills never found distribution due to controversy around the director's first film and producer Anatole Dauman (The Beast, Hiroshima mon amour) was unable to find distribution for the film for 45 years until Luna Park Films brought it back to life in a new restoration. Now for the first time, audiences outside of France can finally experience this utterly singular film, a new wave-influenced serial killer film that presents its narrative in an almost true crime approach yet focuses more on the psychological aspect with echoes of German Expressionism and Franju, set to a discordant, jazzy score.
On May 8th, enjoy one of Jackie Chan's earliest speaking roles after proving his mettle as a stuntman. Hand of Death(US/CA) is an old school hard-hitting kung fu gem (with a dash of wuxia) that any fan of classic Hong Kong cinema needs in their collection!
When Golden Harvest first released Hand of Death in 1976, no-one paid much attention to the names of writer/director Wu Yu-sheng, third-billed actor Chen Yuen-lung or fight choreographer Hung Chin-pao in the opening credits. Within a decade, however, each of those men had changed the course of Hong Kong action filmmaking forever, under the names they are best known under to this day: John Woo, Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung.
