DVD News: Two New Titles from Arrow: ‘Pieces’ and ‘Cat O’ Nine Tails’
by Marc Patterson
Arrow Video continues their relentless streak of cult cinema domination by putting two new classic horror titles on deck, Pieces and Cat O’ Nine Tails.
First up, we’re talking about the seminal, highly-influential, and goretastic release of Juan Piquer Simón’s Pieces. I’ll be an egotistical bastard and quote my own review:
Cheese, sleaze, and blood galore. This splatastic little flick has it all! The tagline states that “It’s exactly what you think it is”. No statement could be truer. Piss poor dialogue, bounteous bouncing boobs, and chainsaws, chainsaws, chainsaws! Don’t forget the downright nasty buckets of blood pouring freely like an open tap at happy hour. This film is so preposterous that it’s absolutely laughable, and at the same time shockingly appalling. It revels in grotesquery to a point that holds up against any film being made today. Nay, it’s better than the mediocre splatter flicks being made today.
C’mon… now does that make you want to see this or what? Trust me… you want to see Pieces.
Here are the official details:
PIECES (ARROW VIDEO) DVD
When you meet him, you’ll go to PIECES!
Jigsaw puzzles can be maddening. They drive to distraction. You might even go so crazy to take your own mother down with an axe…
On a Boston Campus, young girls are missing out. Missing out on hands, feet, arms and heads as a certain puzzled psychopath, forty years down the line, carves a bloody swathe through the female college population. Only one tough cop has the stones to bring him in but can he track down the slayer before all the girls are mincemeat?
If you want classic, leering, sleazy, slasher action, then PIECES will take a chainsaw to your skull.
THIS EDITION CONTAINS
- Reversible sleeve with original and newly commissioned artwork
- Double-sided fold-out artwork poster
- Collector’s booklet featuring brand new writing on the film by Stephen Thrower, author of ‘Nightmare USA’.
DVD CONTAINS:
- Introduction by star Jack Taylor
- Pieces of Jack: An Actors Experience of Spanish Splatter Actor Jack Taylor recollects his experiences of performing in Pieces
- Pieces of Deconstruction: Looking Back at a Grindhouse Gorefest Hostel producer Scott Spiegel, filmmaker Howard S. Berger, critic Michael Gingold and horror historian Santos Ellin Jr. reflect on the lasting legacy, and lacerations, of Pieces!
- Audio Commentary with Fangoria magazine’s Tony Timpone, sharing first hand recollections of the golden age of slasher cinema, moderated by Calum Waddell
-Artwork by Jeff Zornow Must be Destroyed
-In original 1.66:1 (16×9) anamorphic aspect ratio
-Optional English and Spanish original mono audio
-82 mins approx
-Region 0 PAL
-RRP 15.99
-Released 5th September 2011
Next up is the classic Argento giallo flick Cat O’ Nine Tails. Once again – American viewers will have seen this Blu-ray previously issued through Blue Underground, but for collectors and completists the Arrow Video release will see some added content not available on the US release. Additionally, Cat O’ Nine tails is being issued in both DVD and Blu-ray.
THE CAT O’ NINE TAILS (ARROW VIDEO) BLU-RAY
Caught between the truth and a murderer’s hand!
A break in at a genetics lab leads to a spiralling vortex of bloody murder in Cat O’ Nine Tails, Dario Argento’s 70s Giallo classic.
Strange circumstances surrounding the crime pique the interest of a journalist and a blind crossword compiler whose sharp ears have overheard talk of blackmail. However, all the would be investigators leads soon regret the help they gave as scientists die in front of speeding trains and photographers are viciously slain while others fall to their screaming deaths down elevator shafts in this surreal and nightmarish thriller from one of the acknowledged masters of Italian horror.
As the body count increases, will no one escape the sting of Cat O’ Nine Tails?
THIS AMAZING EDITION CONTAINS:
- 4 Sleeve art options with original and newly commissioned artwork
- Two-sided fold-out poster
- Exclusive collector’s booklet featuring brand new writing by Alan Jones, author of ‘Profondo Argento’
BLU-RAY DISC CONTAINS:
- Brand new High Definition transfer of the film (1080p)
- Optional English and Italian Mono Audio
SPECIAL FEATURES:
- Dario Argento Remembers Cat O’ Nine Tails (1080p)
- Cat O’ Nine Tails in Reflection, an interview with long-time Argento collaborator Luigi Cozzi (1080p)
- Sergio Martino: The Art and Arteries of the Giallo (1080p)
- Original Trailer
- Artwork by Rick Melton
- In original 2.35:1 (16×9) aspect ratio
- Optional English and Italian Language with English subtitles for Italian language
- 111 mins approx
- BD50 Region ABC
- RRP 24.99
- Released 26th September 2011
