Pulp is a fun 1970s mystery-comedy that works mainly for Michael Caine and Mickey Rooney, with help by the beautiful Nadia Cassini. Don’t know how high this ranks on Caine’s resume but I did chuckle at some of the dry humor.
Children of the Corn is by no means a good movie or anything, but the cheesiness – or should I say corny (?) – does make it entertaining even if there isn’t anything particularly scary.
A Fish Called Wanda finally gets the proper Blu-ray treatment with a remastered video which puts the 2011 release to shame and this is a movie that deserved it as it is an often hilarious comedy featuring wonderful performances, especially Kevin Kline who earned the Academy Award.
The Suspicious Death of a Minor is an uneven but still entertaining enough Italian crime-drama that excels more on the performance of its lead, Claudio Cassinelli.
I’m no expert on Lucio Fulci expert and only have seen a few, I believe all through Arrow Video, but Don’t Torture a Duckling is a great movie with genuine tension and some solid performances.
The Big Knife is an over-the-top soap opera-like drama but incredibly fun if only for the weight of Jack Palance’s presence as well as Rod Steiger who has a few great scenes.
The Slayer isn’t exactly top-notch 1980s horror as it is slow plodding and thinly written characters, but the atmosphere of taking place on a deserted island hold up in a house with a storm outside (and inside) approaches, it’s at least an entertaining experience.
Re-Animator is a fun horror-comedy from the mid-80s, with enough blood to satisfy gore-hounds, and receives a nice upgrade over its 2012 Blu-ray stocked full of wonderful extras, a few new to this release from Arrow Video, and offering up excellent video and audio transfers.
Stormy Monday is a decent little, and probably little-known, 1980s British crime-drama marking writer/director Mike Figgis’ debut. It features a quad of fine performances headlined by Sting, Sean Bean and Melanie Griffith and a well paced plot.
Doberman Cop wasn’t exactly my kind of movie but it does contain the charms of the 1970s Japanese cinema with some fun cheesiness thrown in for extra measure. This Blu-ray released by Arrow includes some okay bonus features, good video and so-so audio transfers.
Pulse (aka Kairo) is one of the best J-Horror films I’ve seen perhaps only behind Ringu, with its unsettling atmosphere and absolutely creepy-as-all-hell, not to mention disturbing, scenes. It’s also a thought-provoking film which, albeit dated with its technology, still applies today.
The Jacques Rivette Collection might not be the most loaded of Arrow Film’s releases as there are only a few featurettes, but the films included here are quality work and well worthwhile especially for fans of French cinema, or at least unique pieces of films.
The Bird with the Crystal Plumage to me isn’t a great giallo movie but is notable being Dario Argento’s feature debut and has great style to it even when character actions aren’t entirely believable. Still, any Argento or giallo fans will get a kick out of this film.
This two-disc release from Arrow Films’ “Arrow Academy” line, Spotlight on a Murderer offers great video and audio transfers but falters a bit in the features department with only an older featurette, though the accompanied booklet is worth a read.
Evil Ed is one quirky but entertainingly bad film and although I really was even aware of it before this Arrow Video release, it apparently does have enough of a following that this set includes a “Special ED-ition Cut” with ~6 more minutes of footage.