David Farnor | On 01, Nov 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.

This November, Arrow showcases film noir, Jean Rollin and the latest from Quentin Dupieux.

Fascination – 1st November

A runaway criminal breaks into an eerie chateau, taking its two frightened chambermaids hostage. As night falls, a group of mysterious aristocratic women arrive and the criminal begins to realize the women are hiding a sinister secret.

Lips of Blood – 1st November

Frederick sees a photograph of a ruined seaside castle, which triggers a strange childhood memory. He then goes on a strange quest to find the castle and the beautiful woman who lives there.

The Grapes of Death – 1st November

A young woman discovers that the pesticide being sprayed on vineyards is turning people into killer zombies.

The Night of the Hunted – 1st November

A woman is taken to a mysterious clinic whose patients have a mental disorder in which their memories and identities are disintegrating as a result of a strange environmental accident.

The Escapees – 1st November

On the run from an asylum for the insane, a feisty young girl and her forlorn female companion embark on a surreal journey with a group of traveling erotic dancers. Wandering from the fantastic to the farcical and back again, The Escapees contains all the magic and fairy-tale qualities of cult films like Fascination (1979) and Requiem for a Vampire (1971) and has everything one expects from a Rollin film, including two beautiful young women, startling scenes of death, burlesque shows in a junkyard and erotic lesbian encounters with Brigitte Lahaie!

Zombie Lake – 1st November

In a small village, somewhere in France, German soldiers, killed and thrown into the lake by the Resistance during WWII, come back.

Incredible But True – 7th November

Quirky, deadpan humour, an absurdist eye for French social etiquette and a keen sense of the folly of existence are among the hallmarks of the oddball comedies of director Quentin Dupieux (Rubber, Deerskin), and Incredible But True is no different.

The film has been described as “a fun little trinket that unmistakably comes from Dupieux’s far-out perspective” (Jessica Kiang, Variety) and “a film with something of Charlie Kaufman or Spike Jonze” (Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian). Alain (Alain Chabat, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets) and Marie (Léa Drucker, War of the Worlds) are a middle-aged bourgeois couple who move to their new house in a quiet suburb. A key feature of their new abode that the estate agent points out to them is a mysterious tunnel in the basement. Little do they realise that it will turn their lives upside down…

Incredible But True is an inventive and nimble tale that perfectly showcases the singular and eccentric vision that has made Dupieux the most exciting director working in France today.

The Long Haul of AI Bezzerides – 11th November

Filled with humour and defining experiences in both his own life and in the lives of some of his closest friends, William Faulkner and Robert Aldrich, as well as on his late wife, screenwriter Silvia Richards, Mr. Bezzerides offers colourful reflections as to why he and his typewriter unabashedly need to keep creating honest characters, worlds, and stories. Through recently discovered boxes of photographs, film clips, the haunting music by Fugazi, interviews (including Jules Dassin, Mickey Spillane and Barry Gifford) and testaments to his progressive creativity from other writers, Fay Lellios’ straight-ahead documentary gives us a start in discovering this 97-year-old proletariat storyteller, and the meaning of his favourite phrase by Carl Jung, “There can be no birth of consciousness without pain.”

Dark and Deadly: 50 Years of Film Noir – 11th November

A documentary looking at the renaissance of the film noir genre,and talking to directors who are using it to reflect contemporary fears and fascinations.

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer – 11th November

Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, born in the stench of 18th century Paris, develops a superior olfactory sense, which he uses to create the world’s finest perfumes. However, his work takes a dark turn as he tries to preserve scents in the search for the ultimate perfume.

The 35th Chamber of Shaolin – 18th November

The anti-Ching patriots, under the guidance of Ho Kuang-han, have secretly set up their base in Canton, disguised as school masters. During a brutal Manchu attack, Lui manages to escape, and devotes himself to learning the martial arts in order to seek revenge.

Return to the 36th Chamber – 18th November

The workers of a dye factory have their pay cut by 20 per cent when the factory owner brings in some Manchu thugs to try and increase production. Desperate to reclaim their full wages, the workers hire an actor to impersonate a priest and kung-fu expert from the temple of Shaolin. The factory owner proves the actor a fraud, and punishes all those involved. The young actor feels he has let the workers down, and promises to atone. He sets out for Shaolin, determined to be accepted as a kung-fu pupil at the elite temple.

Disciples of the 36th Chamber – 18th November

Monk San Te tries to support and protect Shaolin and her Fang Shih-yu who purposely attacks corrupt Ching officials.

Mad Monkey Kung Fu – 18th November

A disgraced former Kung Fu expert makes a living as a merchant with the help of a hot headed friend. When the men are harassed by gangsters, the merchant decided to teach his friend monkey boxing so they can defend their business.

Five Sueprfighters – 18th November

Three young martial arts students and their teacher are beaten up badly by a wandering man who proclaims himself “a corrector of bad kung-fu.” Determined to avenge their teacher and regain their honour, the three students all go their separate ways to find kung-fu masters who will take them as students.

Kid with the Golden Arm – 18th November

Jin bei tong opens with a group of escort guards preparing to move a shipment of gold from the local government to an area stricken by famine… one of the very few Venom films where all six Venom actors are present within a single film.

Invincible Shalon – 18th November

Three North Shaolin teachers are called on by the Manchus to teach their soldiers and are urged to challenge the current South Shaolin teachers. They defeat the South Shaolin teachers and, that night, the head general kills the South Shaolin teachers and blames their death on the North Shaolin teachers. The South Shaolin master sends more of his pupils, who are killed accidentally by the North Shaolin teachers. He finally sends two more of his students to train with old masters and trains one student himself with the goal of finally defeating the North Shaolin experts.

Magnificent Ruffians – 18th November

Venom regulars Philip Kwok, Chiang Sheng, and Sun Chien star as a gang of unemployed martial artists who spend their days stuffing their faces at local restaurants and letting the staff beat them up instead of paying the bill. Their fortunes appear to improve when the head of a local security agency hires them to take out the competition, who their new employer insists is up to no good. But the boys are being played for fools, and after an unfortunate misunderstanding, they unite with their former adversary to take out the true villain.

The Tigers of Kwangtung – 18th November

Ming partisan Chu who is on the run from Manchu forces. Local merchant and kung fu enthusiast Li Chen-chau gives the fugitive shelter in his pawnshop and quietly recruits some of his fellow martial master associates to help protect the lad. When Li’s professional rival rats him out, Manchu official Liang not only orchestrates his army but fools a couple other kung fu masters including Beggar Su into helping his cause. After a heated battle, Li manages to convince Su into joining his cause, thus forming the Ten Tigers.

My Young Auntie – 18th November

Cheng, a beautiful martial arts ace, battles to keep her inheritance from the ruthless Yun Wei, but her efforts are sabotaged by Yu Tao, her wayward and irrepressible great-nephew. Following a frenzy of spectacular comic mishaps, the hapless duo are set up and imprisoned and the deeds to Cheng’s estate are stolen. She is held hostage after a doomed attempt to reclaim the papers back from Yu Wei’s place, and the stage is set for a savage fight to the death.

Mercenaries from Hong Kong – 18th November

Ti Lung plays a Vietnam vet who’s now an ‘honourable’ mercenary-for-hire taking on an assignment tracking down an assassin who’s fled to Cambodia after murdering an industrialist from Hong Kong. He recruits a team for the task which consists of who’s who of the Shaw Brother’s action stars (Lo Lieh, Johnny Wang Lung Wei, Wong Yue, Chan Wei Man and comedy relief Nat Chan). However once they arrived for the mission nothing is what it seems with the standard plot-twists and turns as we find out who’s the traitor among the group.

The Boxer’s Omen – 18th November

After suffering an injury in the ring, embattled boxer Zhen Wei enlists the aid of his brother, Zhen Xiong, to avenge him and find the key to an omen which may release their family from an ancient curse. Black wizards, Taoist monks, rampaging monsters, spooky apparitions, beastly crocodile skeletons, flying human heads, a sexy female zombie with long talons, and demonic bats lie in store for our hero.

Martial Arts of Shaolin – 18th November

In ancient China, Zhi Ming trains at the legendary Northern Shaolin temple to avenge the death of his father at the hands of a nefarious magistrate.

The Bare-Footed Kid – 18th November

A poor barefoot young man from the country arrives in the city to start work with the friend of his dead father.

Enduring Love – 25th November

A picture-postcard afternoon in the countryside ends in tragedy as Joe and Claire witness a ballooning incident. Bound together by their experience, fellow witness Jed becomes obsessed with Joe, stalking him and becoming ever more threatening.

A British crime novelist travels to her publisher’s upmarket summer house in Southern France to seek solitude in order to work on her next book. However, the unexpected arrival of the publisher’s daughter induces complications and a subsequent crime.

 

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