Arrow Films

Last updated

Arrow Films
Industry Film distribution
Founded1991;33 years ago (1991) in Hertfordshire, England
Products DVD, Blu-ray, Ultra HD Blu-ray
ServicesArrow Player (subscription service)
Owner THG plc
Website arrowfilms.com

Arrow Films is a British independent film distributor and restorer specialising in world cinema, arthouse, horror and classic films. As Arrow Video, it sells Ultra HD Blu-rays, Blu-rays and DVDs online; it also operates its own subscription video on-demand service, Arrow Player. [1] Since 2017, Arrow have had a dedicated podcast [2] hosted by film-makers Sam Ashurst and Dan Martin. Arrow Video is considered a boutique Blu-ray label. [3] [4]

Contents

History

Arrow Films was established in 1991 as a family firm in Shenley, Hertfordshire. [5] Whilst Arrow Films was the company's primary brand for theatrical releases, the Arrow Video label was created in 2009 specialising in cult and horror home video. [6] In September 2011, the ArrowDrome brand was created for budget DVDs. [7] The Arrow Academy and Arrow TV labels specialised in the world cinema and Nordic noir genres respectively, but since 2021, each has been merged into Arrow Video. [6] [8] In the same year, the company launched Arrow Player, a subscription video on-demand service in the UK, US and Canada. [1]

Arrow began releasing films in the North American market in 2015. [9] As of 2022, it operated in the UK, Ireland, US and Canada. [10]

In 2021, Arrow Films was sold to THG plc for £18.5 million. [11]

Reception

Arrow has been listed by The Guardian twice as their home video distributor of the year. [12] [13] In 2011, they listed Arrow as the Label of the Year noting their release of Bicycle Thieves , Rififi and Les Diaboliques and specifically praising their releases of horror films, where they "truly excel". [12] The second time was in 2013 when they awarded Arrow Films "Label of the Year", noting their releases of Lifeforce and releases of television shows such as Borgen and The Killing as highlights. [13]

Camera Obscura: The Walerian Borowczyk Collection was voted the best home video release of 2014 by several publications, including Sight and Sound [14] and Little White Lies, [15] and won the Focal International Award for Best Archival Restoration Project [16] and the Cinema Ritrovato Award for Best DVD Series/Best Box. [17]

Related Research Articles

<i>Audition</i> (1999 film) 1999 film by Takashi Miike

Audition is a 1999 horror film directed by Takashi Miike and adapted by Daisuke Tengan, based on the 1997 novel by Ryu Murakami. Starring Ryo Ishibashi and Eihi Shiina, the film is about a widower, Shigeharu Aoyama (Ishibashi), who stages a phony audition to meet a potential new romantic partner. After interviewing several women, Aoyama becomes interested in Asami (Shiina), whose dark past affects their relationship.

<i>Zombi 2</i> 1979 film directed by Lucio Fulci

Zombi 2 is a 1979 Italian zombie film directed by Lucio Fulci. It was adapted from an original screenplay by Dardano Sacchetti to serve as a sequel to George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead (1978), which was released in Italy under the title Zombi. It stars Tisa Farrow, Ian McCulloch, and Richard Johnson, and features a score by frequent Fulci collaborator Fabio Frizzi. Frizzi's score has been released independently of the film, and he has performed it live on tour.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Criterion Collection</span> American home video distribution company

The Criterion Collection, Inc. is an American home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films". A de facto subsidiary of arthouse film distributor Janus Films, Criterion serves film and media scholars, cinephiles and public and academic libraries. Criterion has helped to standardize certain aspects of home-video releases such as film restoration, the letterboxing format for widescreen films and the inclusion of bonus features such as scholarly essays and documentary content about the films and filmmakers. Criterion most notably pioneered the use of commentary tracks. Criterion has produced and distributed more than 1,000 special editions of its films in VHS, Betamax, LaserDisc, DVD, Blu-ray and Ultra HD Blu-ray formats and box sets. These films and their special features are also available via The Criterion Channel, an online streaming service that the company operates.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shout! Studios</span> American home video and music company

Shout! Factory, LLC, trading as Shout! Studios is an American home video and music distributor founded in 2002 as Retropolis Entertainment. Its video releases, issued in DVD or Blu-ray format, include previously released feature films, classic and contemporary television series, animation, live music, and comedy specials. Considered a boutique Blu-ray label, Shout! Studios, in addition to its mainline home video releases, also releases films under the sublabels Scream Factory, Shout! Select, and Shout! Kids.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Synapse Films</span>

Synapse Films is an American DVD and Blu-ray label, founded in 1997 and specializing in cult horror, science fiction and exploitation films. It is considered a boutique DVD label.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Universal Pictures Home Entertainment</span> Home video distribution division of Universal Pictures

Universal Pictures Home Entertainment LLC is the home video distribution division of Universal Pictures, an American film studio, owned by NBCUniversal, which is owned by Comcast.

Masters of Cinema is a line of DVD and Blu-ray releases published through Eureka Entertainment. Because of the uniformly branded and spine-numbered packaging and the standard inclusion of booklets and analysis by recurring film historians, the line is often perceived as the UK equivalent of The Criterion Collection.

Bob Murawski is an American film editor. He was awarded the 2010 Academy Award for Best Film Editing for his work on The Hurt Locker, which he shared with his wife, fellow editor Chris Innis. He often works with film director Sam Raimi, having edited the Spider-Man trilogy, Oz the Great and Powerful, and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Murawski is an elected member of the American Cinema Editors, and is the co-founder of Grindhouse Releasing, an acclaimed film distribution company specializing in re-releases of cult films.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grindhouse Releasing</span> American film distributor

Grindhouse Releasing is a Hollywood-based independent cult film distribution company led by film editor Bob Murawski and co-founded by Sage Stallone. Grindhouse digitally remasters, restores, and produces bonus materials and video documentaries for cult film DVDs and Blu-rays which it distributes on the CAV label.

<i>Beyond the Door</i> (1974 film) 1974 Italian horror film by Ovidio G. Assonitis

Beyond the Door is a 1974 supernatural horror film directed by Ovidio G. Assonitis and Roberto Piazzoli, and starring Juliet Mills, Gabriele Lavia, and Richard Johnson. The plot follows a San Francisco housewife who becomes demonically possessed in the midst of a pregnancy. The film was a co-production between the United States and Italy. It was released in the United Kingdom in an extended cut under the title Devil Within Her.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anchor Bay Entertainment</span> American home entertainment and production company

The revived Anchor Bay Entertainment is an American independent film production and distribution company owned by Umbrelic Entertainment co-founders Thomas Zambeck and Brian Katz. Anchor Bay Entertainment markets and releases "new release genre films, undiscovered treasures, cult classics, and remastered catalog releases".

Curzon Film, formerly known as Artificial Eye or Curzon Artificial Eye, is a British film distributor, specialising in independent, foreign-language and art house films for cinema and home entertainment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Home video</span> Prerecorded video media that are either sold, rented, or streamed for home entertainment

Home video is recorded media sold or rented for home viewing. The term originates from the VHS and Betamax era, when the predominant medium was videotapes, but has carried over to optical disc formats such as DVD and Blu-ray. In a different usage, "home video" refers to amateur video recordings, also known as home movies.

George Pavlou is a London-based British horror, science fiction and thriller film director. Pavlou directed three feature films of which two were based on material from British horror writer Clive Barker.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Severin Films</span> American film production and distribution company

Severin Films is an American independent film production and distribution company known for restoring and releasing cult films on DVD and Blu-ray. It is considered a boutique Blu-ray and DVD label.

<i>Docteur Jekyll et les femmes</i> 1981 film

Docteur Jekyll et les femmes is a 1981 horror film directed by Walerian Borowczyk. The film is a variation on Robert Louis Stevenson's 1886 novella Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and stars Udo Kier, Marina Pierro, Patrick Magee, Howard Vernon, and Gérard Zalcberg.

MVD Entertainment Group, is an American independent production company and film distributor based in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, consisting of three main departments MVD Visual, MVD Audio, and MVD Distribution.

Nucleus Films is a UK-based independent DVD and Blu-Ray distribution label and private limited company, founded in 2003 by researcher and writer Marc Morris and film director Jake West. The label distributes rare cult films in the horror and erotica genres. They have also produced a range of documentaries and featurettes about the making of films, noted film directors and the fight against censorship.

Vinegar Syndrome is an American home video distribution company which specializes in "protecting and preserving genre films". The company was founded in 2012 in Bridgeport, Connecticut by Joe Rubin and Ryan Emerson, who created it to restore and distribute old X-rated films that were lost or otherwise unavailable. Their catalog has since expanded to include other types of cult and exploitation films, including horror films and action films.

Beyond the Door is a horror film series that consists of three originally unconnected films that were retitled to be part of a supernatural franchise for the American and English speaking markets, and one direct sequel to the 1974 original. Several loose connections between the first three films are that all three were Italian productions, Ovidio G. Assonitis produced parts I and III, child actor David Colin Jr. starred in Parts I and II.

References

  1. 1 2 Travis, Ben (2 April 2021). "Arrow Video Launches Cult Movie Streaming Service". Empire. Retrieved 27 November 2022.
  2. 001 - The Bird With The Crystal Plumage , retrieved 21 April 2023
  3. Kozak, Oktay Ege (5 December 2017). "The Best Boutique Blu-ray Distributors (Who Aren't Criterion)". Paste . Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  4. Jarvis, Henry (12 August 2022). "10 Best Boutique Blu-Ray Brands". CBR.com . Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  5. Wiseman, Andreas (19 June 2018). "UK Distributor Arrow Films Streamlines Operations With The Departure Of Two Key Executives". Deadline. Retrieved 13 November 2022.
  6. 1 2 "Brands - Arrow Films". Arrow Films. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
  7. "Arrow Video Beckons You To The Arrowdrome". Twitch. Retrieved 16 September 2011.
  8. "James White of Arrow Films on the restoration and rescue of classic and cult cinema". Exit 6 Film Festival. 17 May 2018. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
  9. Clark, Ashley (11 March 2016). "Can the celebrated Criterion Collection make a splash in the UK?". The Guardian . Retrieved 15 November 2016.
  10. "About Us - Arrow Films". Arrow Films. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
  11. "THG Annual Report 2021" (PDF). THG plc. 9 May 2022. Retrieved 25 September 2022.
  12. 1 2 O'Neill, Phelim (17 December 2011). "The Best DVD & Blu-ray releases of 2011". The Guardian . Retrieved 15 November 2016.
  13. 1 2 O'Neill, Phelim (21 December 2013). "2013 DVD & Blu-ray round-up". The Guardian . Retrieved 2 October 2014.
  14. "The best DVDs and Blu-rays of 2014". Sight and Sound . 25 February 2015. Retrieved 15 October 2015.
  15. Jenkins, David (17 December 2014). "The 25 Best DVD & Blu-ray Releases Of 2014". Little White Lies . Archived from the original on 22 October 2015. Retrieved 15 October 2015.
  16. "Focal International Awards 2015". Archived from the original on 15 September 2015. Retrieved 15 October 2015.
  17. "DVD Awards 2015 - XII Edition: The Winners". Il Cinema Ritrovato . Retrieved 15 October 2015.