James R | On 01, Jul 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.

Apple is serving up a buffer of martial arts cinema this summer, balanced out with trashy exploitation cult classics.

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

Raining in the Mountain – 1st July

During the Ming Dynasty, a Buddhist abbot charged with protecting the sacred scroll of Tripitaka prepares to name his successor. An aristocrat and a general arrive at his secluded mountaintop monastery promising to help in his search, but are in fact scheming to secure the scroll for themselves. As they set about recommending corrupt successors, rival bands of martial artists lie in wait to steal the precious artifact. Soon, the monastery is transformed into an epic battleground for the scroll, with each player caught in a web of betrayal. Called a “remarkably photographed caper heist [featuring] intriguing battles of wits and minds” (Far East Film Festival), RAINING IN THE MOUNTAIN is also the peak of legendary director King Hu’s (A TOUCH OF ZEN) infusion of Buddhist spiritual principles into the legacy of martial arts cinema.

The Fate of Lee Kahn – 1st July

In his follow-up to the critically-acclaimed A Touch of Zen, trailblazing Chinese filmmaker King Hu brings together an all-star female cast, including Hong Kong cinema stalwart Li Li-hua and Angela “Lady Whirlwind” Mao, in this lively martial arts adventure. When Lee Khan, an official working for Mongolian Emperor Yuan of the Yuan Dynasty procures the battle map of the Chinese rebel army, Chinese resistance fighters, aided by an undercover girl-gang within Khan’s ranks, strive to corner him in an inn. Featuring stunning action sequences choreographed by Jackie Chan’s “kung fu elder brother” Sammo Hung and a generous mix of intrigue and humor – THE FATE OF LEE KHAN is a legendary wuxia masterpiece. New 2K restoration.

Legend of the Mountain – 1st July

A travelling scholar, intent on translating a Buddhist sutra, loses his way in the mountains. Time and space collapse around him as he continues his journey, encountering ghostly visitations amid a haunting fantasia of colour, light and landscape. King Hu rose to prominence in the 1960s and 70s as a superb director of wuxia, a prevalent genre in Chinese-language film and literature built on ancient lore of swords, sorcery and chivalrous heroes. Legend of the Mountain comes from the director’s later period, when his artistry, specifically his landscape compositions, was at the height of its powers. The film’s astonishing nature scenes, shot on location in the Korean countryside, are reminiscent of Terrence Malick, while the reflective blend of myth and history is all Hu’s own.

A Touch of Zen – 1st July

Widely regarded as the greatest martial arts epic of all time, A TOUCH OF ZEN won awards worldwide (including at Cannes), smashed box-office records and had an incalculable influence on the genre as a whole.

An unambitious painter named Gu (Shih Jun) lives with his mother in the vicinity of an abandoned mansion rumoured to be haunted. In actuality, the mansion has become a hiding place for the warrior Yang (Hsu Feng) and her own mother, both taking refuge following the assassination of their loyal minister father by the wicked eunuch Wei of East Chamber. After the eunuch sends an army to pursue the escapees, the group fortify the mansion with traps and false intimations of the terrifying ghosts within. But even after, things take yet more unsettling turns…

Famed for its iconic set pieces, including the central bamboo forest battle, A Touch of Zen is one of cinema’s truly peerless action sagas and the precursor par excellence of such modern wuxia films as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and House of Flying Daggers.

Dragon Inn – 1st July

A quintessential entryway into the highly stylized, tightly choreographed wuxia genre of martial arts cinema, Dragon Inn was a global breakthrough for the form’s greatest practitioner, King Hu. Its influence remains incalculable, from its annihilation of traditional expectations of what kind of role an actress should inhabit (also chipped away at by Hu’s previous masterpiece Come Drink with Me), to the formation of many of the genre’s archetypes – such as the Eunuch, the Swordswoman, and the Family of Murdered Loyal Officials – that are still recognizable in the martial arts films of today.

It’s the middle of the Ming Dynasty. The powerful eunuch Cao (Pai Ying) has killed the Loyal Minister Yu, and Yu’s children are exiled to the border, whereupon Cao undertakes efforts to massacre the remnants of the family. As Yu’s children take refuge in the Dragon Gate Inn, Xiao the righteous swordsman (Shih Jun) and the surviving loyalists of Minister Yu engage in a series of battles to the death against the forces of the blood thirsty eunuch.

After having returned to the spotlight in 2003 as the backdrop for Tsai Ming-liang’s modern classic Good Bye Dragon Inn, Hu’s film is again resurrected by way of the dazzling new restoration presented here.

Lurking Fear – 8th July

The town of Leffert’s Corners has been plagued by unearthly beings for decades, and now there are only a few people left, including the local priest and a woman traumatized by the death of her sister. But when small time thief John Martense turns up to claim his illicit family fortune hidden in the town cemetery and with bad guys in pursuit, getting his inheritance might be a lot more complicated.

Castle Freak – 8th July

John (Jeffrey Combs), Susan (Barbara Crampton) and their daughter come face to face with terror when they travel to Italy to move into a castle they’ve inherited. They soon discover it is haunted by a relentless blood-thirsty creature. When mutilated bodies turn up, John must uncover the family’s dark secret to save his family from the sadistic being.

The Beyond – 8th July

When jaded New Yorker (Catriona MacColl) inherits a New Orleans hotel, she calls on composed local doctor (David Warbeck) to contain the inexplicable and increasingly gory accidents that are plaguing the building and its grounds. But soon the Gates of Hell themselves open under the hotel, rendering their fight futile as the dead emerge to walk the earth in Fulci’s masterpiece of metaphysical horror: The Beyond.

Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-o-rama – 15th July

They are no freshmen in the college of love, and they’re about to graduate to madcap mayhem when a sorority prank goes crazy. Out to steal a trophy from a local bowling alley, the kids accidentally unleash The Imp – a sadistic little spirit with a diabolical sense of humor. He creates demons and loves sexy women. He’s inviting you to come along and die laughing – just like everybody else.

Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death – 15th July

The U.S. government, eager to protect the nation’s avocado supplies, recruits feminist professor Margo Hunt to make contact with the Piranha Women, an all-female tribe who believe men are only good as a source of food.

Satan’s Brew – 22nd July

A famous poet who hasn’t written a word in two years unconsciously plagiarizes the work of Stefan George, while dealing with several mistresses, his dim-witted brother, and a murder investigation.

Mother Kuster’s Trip to Heaven – 22nd July

Frau Kusters is preparing dinner late one seemingly ordinary afternoon in her seemingly ordinary kitchen in Frankfurt, Germany. Mrs. Kusters wants to add canned sausages to the stew, her annoying daughter-in-law thinks otherwise. The point, we soon find out, is moot: Mr. Kusters has murdered the personnel director at the soap factory where he works before committing suicide.

The Niklashausen Journey – 22nd July

Can a small group of people start a proletarian revolution, asks the “Black Monk” in a leather jacket. The medieval shepherd, Hans Boehm, claims to have been called by the Virgin Mary to create a revolt against the church and the landowners. The “Black Monk” suggests that he would have more success if he dressed up Johanna and had her appear as the Virgin Mary

Gods of the Plague – 22nd July

A man is released from prison and finds the society on the outside less than appealing. With several women as well as the police on his tail, he sets out to find an old friend.

The American Soldier – 22nd July

Ricky returns to Munich from Vietnam and is promptly hired as a contract killer in Fassbinder‚ subversive and experimental gangster movie.

Rio Das Mortes – 22nd July

Michel and Guenther, working in dead-end jobs, are obsessed with going to Peru to find buried treasure, using a map of the Rio das Mortes. Michel’s girlfriend, Hanna, humors their plan, but really just wants to get married.

Fear of Fear – 22nd July

Based on a story by Asta Scheib, FEAR OF FEAR features Fassbinder favourite Margit Carstensen (The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant) as the young mother plagued with feelings of anxiety and depression as she is left to spend her hours alone surrounded by her judgemental in-laws while her husband spends his days at work.

Doctor Mordrid – 29th July

They are two beings from another dimension; two sorcerers with immeasurable powers. One has sworn to destroy the Earth; the other has vowed to protect it. Bound by hate and a mystical amulet that holds the powers of life and death, the immortal wizards will meet for the last time. Now, their battle takes on majestic proportions as Mordrid and Kabal begin their final conflict… to the death!

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