Arrow Video USA, which is making a bid to be North America’s go-to source for newly-restored cult classics, has announced a few more of the obscure titles it has on tap this summer. The distributor has done well in delivering good news to us Yanks ever since it invaded our shores earlier this year, and now it’s stepping up its game with two new titillating thrillers: Jack Hill’s road rager PIT STOP and John Grissmer’s holiday horror BLOOD RAGE!
Here’s what you need to know about PIT STOP:
The most dangerous game ever devised, to pit man against man, flesh against steel – the figure-8 race! Jack Hill (Coffy, Foxy Brown) follows up Spider Baby, once again teaming up with Sid Haig (House of 1000 Corpses) in one of his greatest roles for this action-spectacular crash-o-rama!
Richard Davalos (East of Eden) stars as Rick Bowman, a street punk who winds up in jail after a street race goes wrong. Bailed out by race promoter Grant Willard, Davalos is put in the deadly track where he comes up against Haig’s maniacal winner Hawk Sidney. Featuring an outstanding supporting cast including Brian Donlevy (The Quatermass Xperiment) in his last film appearance, Ellen Burstyn, billed as Ellen McRae (The Exorcist), and Beverly Washburn (Spider Baby), Pit Stop is one of Hill’s lesser known films but arguably his greatest.
The disc comes packed with special features:
* New High Definition digital transfer supervised and approved by director Jack Hill
* High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentation
* Original Mono 1.0 audio (uncompressed PCM on the Blu-ray)
* New UK exclusive audio commentary with director Jack Hill moderated by his biographer Calum Waddell
* Crash and Burn! – Jack Hill on the making of Pit Stop
* Drive Hard – Actor Sid Haig speaks about his experience of acting in Pit Stop
* Life in the Fast Lane – producer Roger Corman on the genesis of Pit Stop
* Restoring Pit Stop – Restoration demonstration with Technical Supervisor James White
* Original Trailer
* Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Jay Shaw
* Collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by critic Glenn Kenny and musicologist and writer Gray Newell on the film’s soundtrack, illustrated with original stills and artwork
And here are the deets on BLOOD RAGE, which I’ve somehow never heard of but damn it all if it isn’t a must-see right at this moment!
Todd and Terry seem like sweet kids – that is, until one of them takes an axe to face of a fellow patron at the local drive-in. Todd is blamed for the bloody crime and institutionalised, whilst twin brother Terry goes free. Ten years later and, as the family gathers around the table for a Thanksgiving meal, the news comes in that Todd has escaped – and he’s heading their way. But has the killer twin in fact been in their midst all along? One thing’s for sure, there WILL be blood…
Filmed in 1983 at the tail-end of the slasher golden era but not released until 1987, Blood Rage (also re-cut and released to theatres as Nightmare at Shadow Woods) has been lovingly restored from the original vault materials for its first ever appearance on Blu-ray and DVD. Happy Thankskilling!
This bad boy is similarly loaded up with extra content, including three versions of the movie:
* Brand new 2K restoration from original vault materials of three versions of the film: Blood Rage, the original “hard” version, completely uncut and uncensored in a Blu-ray/DVD world premiere; the R-rated Nightmare at Shadow Woods 1987 re-cut, and a third “composite” cut combining all the footage from both Blood Rage and Nightmare at Shadow Woods
* High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentations
* Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
* Brand new extensive making-of documentary featuring interviews with various cast and crew
* Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly-commissioned artwork from Marc Schoenbach, to be revealed
* Fully-illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film
PIT STOP pulls in on June 30th; pre-order it right HERE. Meanwhile, BLOOD RAGE lets the red stuff fly on August 25th; pre-order HERE.