David Farnor | On 29, Jan 2022

Arrow is a streaming service curated by members of the Arrow Video team, bringing together new horror, cult classics, cutting edge cinema, international favourites and more – from Lars von Trier to Park Chan-wook, plus TV shows such as The Bridge and Gomorrah.

Arrow continues its run of exclusive releases this February with the offbeat Laguna Avenue, but there are classics on offer too, from a swathe of Michael Haneke films to a new documentary about David Lynch’s Dune. And, if it’s eccentric auteurs you’re after, there’s Yorgos Lanthimos and – just in time for Valentine’s Day – Gaspar Noe’s Love.

Here’s what’s coming soon to Arrow Video in February 2022:

Laguna Ave – 1st February

Russell, a burned-out television editor and middle-aged slacker with a prosthetic hand futilely searches for work in Hollywood’s brutal, exploitative underbelly. His former boss owes him money, his partner Rita is always out of town and inaccessible, and his new downstairs neighbor, Gary keeps him awake at night with mysterious, disturbing noises. But everything changes one evening when Gary pays Russell a visit introducing him to a sinister world of an accelerationist conspiracy.

Angel – 1st February

Molly Stewart (Donna Wilkes, Jaws 2) is at the top of her class at the prestigious private high school she attends. But what her classmates and teachers don’t know is that Molly survives by working nights as a prostitute on Hollywood Blvd, in the company of her friends: a worldly transvestite, a retired cowboy movie star, and her cantankerous but kind-hearted landlady. However, her world begins to fall apart when a depraved, necrophiliac serial killer begins targeting LA’s streetwalkers. As more and more women fall victim to this vicious killer, Molly realizes that it’ll be up to her and her friends to take on the maniac before they too find themselves in his murderous sights. Mixing brutal, slasher styled killing scenes with the sweetness of an afterschool special, Robert Vincent O’Neil’s (Blood Mania, Wonder Women) ANGEL is one of the seminal exploitation films of the early 80s. Co-starring Dick Shawn (The Producers), Rory Calhoun (Motel Hell), Susan Tyrrell (Cry Baby), Cliff Gorman (All That Jazz), and featuring beautiful cinematography by Andrew Davis (The Fugitive) along with a memorable score by Craig Safan (Cheers).

Avenging Angel – 1st February

Years have gone by since Molly Stewart (Betsy Russell, Saw 3-7) worked as a teenage prostitute. Now a law student at UCLA, Molly is determined to leave her past behind. But after learning that Lieutenant Andrews, the detective who helped save her life, has been murdered as a result of witnessing a mob related hit, Molly decides its time to return to her old neighborhood to avenge his death. With the help of her surviving friends, Molly quickly finds herself pitted against underworld and mob figures who might be a lot harder to defeat than she’s bargained for… The second film in the Angel series, Robert Vincent O’Neil’s AVENGING ANGEL is a fast paced, Cannon-esque action-thriller. Featuring Susan Tyrrell and Rory Calhoun reprising their roles, alongside Ossie Davis (Do the Right Thing) and Robert F. Lyons (Death Wish 2), and photographed by Peter Lyons Collister (The Amityville Horror).

Blood Harvest – 1st February

Jill has just returned home from college to the rural farm community where she grew up, only to discover that her parents have mysteriously vanished. Learning that her father, a banker, has become the local pariah for overseeing land foreclosures on local farmers, Jill quickly becomes the victim of a series of strange and increasingly depraved assaults. With only her childhood friend and former lover, Gary, and his mentally unstable brother, Mervo (Tiny Tim), willing to believe her, Jill begins to fear for her life. All the while, a stocking-masked killer is abducting, torturing, and brutally killing those closest to Jill… An unrelentingly grim and perverse psycho-sexual thriller, BLOOD HARVEST mixes gruesome throat slashings, copious amounts of T&A, and an unhinged supporting performance from music sensation, Tiny Tim.

The House of the Dead – 1st February

Four tales of intrigue and horror await anyone brave enough to enter the HOUSE OF THE DEAD… When a philandering husband accidentally finds himself lost during a rainstorm, he’s taken in by an elderly mortician and is forced to learn the ghastly origins of four freshly arrived corpses: a scornful teacher whose students teach her a fatal lesson, an amateur filmmaker with a deadly muse, two dueling detectives attempting to solve a mysterious murder, and a bitter man whose arrogance costs him everything… Directed by Sharron Miller (AFTER SCHOOL SPECIALS) and featuring atmospheric photography by Ken Gibb (DRIVE-IN MASSACRE), this low budget, Oklahoma made horror anthology features a collection of ghoulish vignettes ranging from wryly comedic to genuinely grim and unsettling. Barely released theatrically and only available in murky video sourced editions, Vinegar Syndrome presents HOUSE OF THE DEAD (originally released as ALIEN ZONE) newly restored from its original 35mm negative.

Night Train to Terror – 1st February

Aboard a fast moving train bound for Hell, God and Satan decide the fates of three unfortunate mortals. In HARRY, a fiendish killer keeps the horribly mutilated body parts of his countless victims in a diabolical tourture chamber. In GRETTA, a young woman, obsessed with death, takes part in an unspeakable ritual of Russian roulette. Finally in CLAIRE, a young woman and a Holocaust survivor are terrorized by the son of Satan! NIGHT TRAIN TO TERROR comes to you on home video for the very first time in its original aspect ratio and restored in 2k from 35mm film elements.

Funnny Games (1997) – 1st February

What is our obsession with screen violence? It’s a question Michael Haneke explores with surgical scrutiny in this chilling drama. A husband, wife and their son drive to their lake house. Soon after they arrive, two teenage boys, dressed in tennis whites, come calling. They seem innocent enough at first, but when their entreaties to enter the family house are rebuffed, they resort to violence. Through the boys Haneke once again tears apart the fabric of middle-class life, employing shock and satire in equal measure.

Funny Game (2007) – 1st February

No mere gimmick, Michael Haneke’s US version of his 1997 Austrian thriller reinforces the troubling nature of a society plagued by violence. In the US, the relationship between screen and real-life violence is complex. So it seems natural that Michael Haneke would look to remake his most notorious film there. But what he produces is a shot-for-shot remake of his original, albeit with Naomi Watts and Tim Roth as the unsuspecting couple and a terrifying Michael Pitt and Brady Corbet as the tennis whites-wearing sociopaths. The action now unfolds in the affluent Hamptons, but what unfolds remains the same. And the power of the film is no less chilling second time around.

Amour – 1st February

Michael Haneke’s 2013 Oscar- and Palme d’Or-winning drama ‘Amour’ follows an elderly couple facing their greatest challenge yet. A police unit breaks into a Paris apartment and discover the body of an elderly woman (Emmanuelle Riva). Her husband (Jean-Louis Trintignant) is nowhere to be found. We then jump back in time to one of their last outings together before Anne becomes incapacitated as a result of an illness. What we witness is the cost of love – not the romance of cinema, but the day-to- day activity of caring for another person, no matter the physical or emotional cost. Michael Haneke’s most sensitive film refuses to pull any punches in his depiction of the ageing process, but avoids sensation in favour of empathy. This is deeply humane, profoundly moving cinema.

Hidden – 1st February

Michael Haneke was awarded the Best Director prize at Cannes for his stunning exploration of a past that haunts the present.This utterly compelling psychological thriller from Michael Haneke (‘Happy End’, ‘The White Ribbon’) – one of cinema’s most daring, original and controversial directors – stars Daniel Auteuil as Georges, a TV presenter who begins to receive mysterious and alarming packages containing covertly filmed videos of himself and his family. To the mounting consternation of Georges and his wife (Juliette Binoche), the footage on the tapes – which arrive wrapped in drawings of disturbingly violent images – becomes increasingly personal, and sinister anonymous phone calls are made. Convinced he knows the identity of the person responsible, Georges embarks on a rash and impulsive course of action that throws up some unpleasant facts about his past and leads to shockingly unexpected consequences.

The White Ribbon – 1st February

Themes of guilt and denial haunt this riveting Palme d’Or-winning masterpiece by Funny Games and Amour director Michael Haneke. In a village in Protestant northern Germany on the eve of World War I, a series of unsettling and distressing incidents take place. Taken together, they assume the character of a ritual in which punishment and torture dominate. But the identity of the perpetrators remains a mystery. A schoolteacher who has observed the unfolding incidents investigates and, little by little, discovers the disturbing truth. Are we being asked to consider whether these events heralded something that would explode years later with the rise of Nazi Germany? Did these events contain the germs of the tragedies that followed? Haneke has never been one to give us answers, often leaving us with more questions at the end of his film.

Michael H – Profession: Director – 1st February

Over the last 25 years, Michael Haneke has established himself as the most influential filmmaker of his generation and as one of the most important directors in cinema history. From his early work through to the multi award-winning Happy End, he has created a unique universe, revealing like no other the darkest corners of society, our existential fears and emotional outbursts. Through interviews with Haneke and his actors – Isabelle Huppert, Juliette Binoche, Emmanuelle Riva amongst many others – as well as previously unseen behind-the-scenes footage, this documentary uncovers the secrets of his working practice and depicts this rare artist, often seen as a cold, calculating creator, in a revealing, insightful and humane new light.

The Sleeper Must Awaken: Making Dune – 1st February

The brand new feature-length documentary ‘The Sleeper Must Awaken: Making Dune’ chronicles the creation of David Lynch’s 1984 adaptation of Frank Herbert’s beloved sci-fi epic which starred Kyle MacLachlan, Patrick Stewart, Sean Young, Virginia Madsen, Brad Dourif, Jürgen Prochnow, Max von Sydow and Sting. Containing dozens of new interviews, as well as archival interviews with Frank Herbert, David Lynch and members of the cast and crew, ‘The Sleeper Must Awaken’ exhaustively explores the making of Dune from the well-known, and not so well-known earlier attempts to bring the story to the screen, to Lynch’s troubled production – examining every single element from script development to the shoot to post-production and the film’s release.

Kabaoom – 7th February

Winner of the first ever Queer Palm at Cannes, inspired by a conversation he had with John Waters, Gregg Araki’s anarchic comedy is a return to the camp style of his early work. Smith arrives at college only to find it overrun with aliens, witches and stoner surfers. Charged with exposing a secret organisation’s plans to destroy the world, he finds his investigation thwarted by his girlfriend, his best friend’s demonic lover and his suntanned roommate. The apocalypse has never been so much fun!

Amateur – 7th February

Sharp and witty but shot through with resonant tragedy, celebrated indie auteur Hal Hartley’s Amateur is a twisted metaphysical thriller that has been hailed as one of his greatest works. An ex-nun (Isabelle Huppert), trying to turn her hand to writing pornography, meets Thomas (Martin Donovan), a recovering amnesiac in search of his estranged wife. The two set out in search of Thomas’ past but soon discover a trail of secrets leading to the dark, violent heart of his previous life and the pain that forced him to forget…

Don’t Go in the House – 7th February

A legendary title from the Video Nasties era, Joseph Ellison’s relentlessly bleak and disturbing Don’t Go In The House has lost none of its power to shock in the decades since it was first censored by the BBFC and seized by UK authorities. Donny Kohler (The Sopranos’ Dan Grimaldi in a gripping central performance), a disturbed loner unhealthily obsessed with fire, comes home from his factory job one day to find his abusive mother has died. Now all alone in the large Gothic mansion he calls home and consumed in an inferno of insanity, he is finally able to fulfil his violent revenge fantasies against her. Soon, any woman unlucky enough to enter is forced to come face to face with the worst fate imaginable in the secret steel-clad chamber of death he has built in the house’s depths…

Love – 11th February

Gaspar Noé’s (Climax, Enter the Void) semi-autobiographical, sexually-charged melodrama ‘Love’ ignited controversy and must-see appeal at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival. The film follows Murphy, a young filmmaker who wakes up on New Year’s Day to a frantic phone call. His ex-girlfriend, Electra, has been missing for months and her mother fears the worst. Over the course of a long, rainy day, Murphy finds himself alone, reminiscing about the greatest love affair of his life – the two years he spent with Electra. What follows is a burning, passionate story, full of promises, games, excesses and mistakes …

The Killing of a Sacred Deer – 14th February

Nicole Kidman and Colin Farrell play a couple whose family is threatened in The Lobster director Yorgos Lanthimos’ deadpan satire. Surgeon Stephen Murphy (Farrell) leads a contented if uneventful life with his wife (Kidman) and two children (Raffey Cassidy and Sunny Suljic). Enter Martin (a superb Barry Keoghan), a teenager who befriends Stephen before revealing his real intentions. Yorgos Lanthimos’ cool, detached gaze deconstructs the American Dream to brilliant effect, cementing his position as one of the most original contemporary filmmakers. And after his impressive performance in The Lobster, Farrell once again proves to be the perfect foil for his filmmaker, with Kidman, Cassidy and Suljic equally good. By turns unsettling, blisteringly funny and, ultimately, shocking, The Killing of a Sacred Deer is a Greek myth for the modern world.

Another Wolfcop – 16th February

Alcoholic werewolf cop Lou Garou springs into action when an eccentric businessman with evil intentions seduces Woodhaven’s residents with a new brewery and hockey team in this outrageous horror-comedy sequel.

Dan Curtis’ Dracula – 18th February

Dracula is searching for a woman who looks like his long dead wife.

 

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