Gorehounds and horror freaks, it’s time to get excited. Arrow Video just dropped their tantalizing lineup for August 2023, and it’s a bloody buffet of brutality, revenge, and tortured psyches that will satiate even the most depraved appetites. As Arrow’s resident scream queen, I’m drooling over what’s on offer this month. Sharpen your knives, darlings, because we have some revenge to take and pain to inflict.
Kicking off the month on August 4th is the aptly named Revengeamatics, a season focused on righteous retribution against wicked souls who deserve every ounce of comeuppance headed their way. You know I live for a badass woman scorned, and Female Prisoner Scorpion delivers that in spades as the iconic antiheroine Matsu seeks vengeance against the twisted cops and gangsters who destroyed her life. Pair that with the 70s martial arts classics King Boxer and Yakuza Law, where our heroes rage against those who murdered their loved ones, and you have three slices of savage and delicious payback.
But the hits don’t stop there. We have two new documentaries from Paul Joyce in Sellers’ Best and Pictures of Europe. Sellers’ Best gives insight into the brilliantly unhinged comedic mind of Peter Sellers, featuring interviews with those who knew him best. Pictures of Europe examines the alluring differences between Hollywood and European arthouse films through conversations with iconoclast directors like Pedro Almodovar and Agnes Varda. A must-watch for any cinephile.
Horror icon Reece Shearsmith of Inside No. 9 fame brings us his own deranged picks on August 7th with titles like the Cronenberg-esque body horror of Society. I’m eager to see what other twisted gems this man has chosen to traumatize us with.
August 11th rescues the psychedelic pop fantasy Red Sun from obscurity. Described by Wim Wenders as comic book-esque and provocative, it’s easy to see why this would become a lost cult classic of German cinema. That same day, we go behind the scenes of movie magic with Access All Areas, a deep dive into filmmaking from Paul Joyce.
Get your tickets ready for a triple feature of renegade cop sagas when Born to Fight, Double Target, and Bruno Mattei’s Cop Game hit North American shores on August 18th. These loose cannons play by their own rules but always get the job done when it comes to taking down the bad guys.
Speaking of renegades, the full season Renegade Cops assembles the best of these insubordinate officers of the law the following week. International titles like Doberman Cop and Dead or Alive will school you on how policing should really be done. Add a dose of martial arts in Heart of Dragon and you have one five-course meal of authority-defying action.
Oscar winner Roger Avary selects some of the most unsettling and iconic thrillers of the 70s for his curation on August 21st, from the nauseatingly gory Living Dead Girl to Hitchcockian nail-biter Road Games. Get ready for an education in terror from a true modern master.
Rounding it all out on August 25th is This Is Torture!, a sadistic season designed to make you squirm and recoil in discomfort as only the most depraved exploitation can. The three entries in the American Guinea Pig series promise unflinching brutality that’s not for the faint of heart. Consider this our way of bidding farewell to the summer by ushering in the macabre.
Last but not least, August 29th gives the 4K treatment to New Fist of Fury, the sequel to Bruce Lee’s seminal Fist of Fury starring a young Jackie Chan in one of his earliest roles. It’s a nice cherry on top to close out a month filled with vengeance, madness, and provocative filmmaking.
As Arrow’s twisted tour guide, I’ll gleefully lead you through these landscapes of revenge, rebellion, and anguish. The dark things that live in the periphery of human nature come alive here. So strap in for a thrilling ride down the darkest alleys of cinema’s underground. This month proves once again why Arrow Video is the bleeding edge of cult and horror. We’ll walk through hell together, my friends.
That concludes our blood-drenched preview of Arrow Video’s killer August lineup. I hope traversing these twisted cinematic landscapes whet your appetite for the provocative and nightmarish. Horror Facts strives to highlight the most boundary-pushing and psychologically rich films that fearlessly explore the dark recesses of the human condition. This month’s selections from Arrow Video perfectly encapsulate that mission.
Through themes of revenge, rebellion, and anguish, the titles covered in this article promise to shock, enthrall, and remind us of those things that go bump in the night. My goal was to capture the visceral excitement these cult classics arouse in horror freaks like us. Arrow Video consistently delivers obscure gems as well as modern masterpieces of terror.
At Horror Facts, we want to take you on a journey through these landscapes that reflect the darker aspects of humanity. We peel back the flesh and expose the raw nerves and bleeding wounds that scary stories force us to confront. Make sure to visit us daily for more perverse picks and deranged discoveries from the twisted minds of horror. Follow us into the abyss, and I promise you’ll encounter films that linger in your darkest dreams and hidden fears.
