Tequila Sunrise 4K (1988)

Writer-director Robert Towne’s late 80s neo-noir is getting a limited edition 4K release (on both UHD and Blu-ray) from Arrow Films in a set that will also include a booklet featuring new writing on the film from Sean Hogan and Josh Nelson.

Dale ‘Mac’ McKussic (Mel Gibson) and Nick Frescia (Kurt Russell) were childhood buddies. While Mac went on to become a drug dealer, Nick became a cop. Now Nick’s a detective while Mac is apparently retired from the drugs business. However, news that the mysterious drug lord Carlo is coming to town has the police keen to keep tabs on Mac as they know each other well.

Meanwhile, both Mac and Nick get involved with restaurateur Jo Ann Vallenari (Michelle Pfeiffer), further complicating things. When the Mexican drug squad headed by Commandante Xavier Escalante (Raul Julia) get involved as well, events reach a head.

A Tequila Sunrise is a cocktail made from tequila, orange juice and grenadine, and apart from Mel chugging a couple, the title here (probably) refers to the love triangle between the three leads. For a movie from one of Hollywood’s most respected screenwriters, TEQUILA SUNRISE is surprisingly slow and uneventful. Certainly some of the dialogue crackles and there are some memorable speeches and one-liners, but the whole thing adds up to not very much indeed plotwise. However, if you’re a fan of the leads, or of DP Conrad Hall’s cinematography (which is excellent) those might be reasons enough to make you want to take a look at this one. Just don’t expect anything on the level of Towne's screenplay for CHINATOWN. 

Arrow’s disc comes with a commentary track by producer Thom Mount (who comes in at around the 43 second mark so wait for it), who also provides a new 21 minute interview. There are also interviews with second assistant director Robert Roda (17 minutes) and Lala Sloatman (16 minutes) who played ‘Sin Sister 2’. Lucy Bolton provides a very useful appreciation and overview of Towne’s career (25 minutes), plus you get the usual trailers and image gallery. 

Robert Towne’s TEQUILA SUNRISE is out on 4K from Arrow in both UHD and Blu-ray editions on Monday 14th September 2026

Underworld 4K (1985)

 

        George Pavlou’s film of Clive Barker’s original story (Barker would claim in interviews at the time that it was rewritten by a ‘tits and car chase man’ even though the final film features neither) is getting a two disc limited edition release fromArrow Films.

Nicole (Nicola Cowper) is kidnapped from a high-end brothel run by Pepperdine (Ingrid Pitt) by a group of masked strangers. Bain (Larry Lamb) is recruited by Motherskille (Steven Berkoff) to get her back and finds himself in a strange underground world of mutants created by mad scientist Savary (Denhom Elliott) who has been experimenting with a new type of painkiller. Nicole is valued by the mutants as she is also on the drug but seems to have no side effects. Is she the saviour the underworld is looking for?

UNDERWORLD marked a change from the more traditional type of home-grown British horror movie that, after the demise of Hammer, had been kept going by directors like Norman J Warren. In fact the film has a look more akin to an MTV music video (or rather a whole series of them welded together) and at times it’s difficult to shake off the feeling that someone is going to start singing. As well as the above there are a bunch of other familiar faces including Art Malik (TRUE LIES), Brian Croucher (the ‘other’ Travis from Blake’s Seven), Miranda Richardson (the same year as DANCE WITH A STRANGER) and Trevor Thomas (INSEMINOID and SHEENA QUEEN OF THE JUNGLE). 

Arrow’s set comes with two discs, with the first disc a UHD that has the film in 4K with accompanying commentary by George Pavlou and Stephen Thrower. There are interviews with DP Sydney Macartney (26 minutes), Brian Croucher (12 minutes), and Nicholas Vince (17 minutes), who talks about his lengthy association with Barker. There are also makeup tests, storyboards, stills galleries and a trailer. Disc Two is a Blu-ray and has the US cut entitled TRANSMUTATIONS, which is a composite edit between the 4K and laserdisc inserts. It’s about 12 minutes longer but the extra material doesn’t add anything special (and certainly doesn’t contain any more horror) but it’s there if you want it.

UNDERWORLD is out in 4K on a limited edition two disc (UHD and Blu-ray) set from Arrow Films on Monday 7th September 2026

The Name of the Rose 4K (1987)

“Beautiful Transfer of a Timeless Classic”

Brother Cadfael goes EuroGothic as Second Sight bring us their whistles and bells 4K restoration of Jean-Jacques Annad’s excellent adaptation of Umberto Eco’s bestselling novel in a limited edition UHD and Blu-ray combo package, as well as standard separate UHD and Blu-ray editions.

The year is 1327. William of Baskerville (Sean Connery) travels with his young novice Adso (Christian Slater) to form part of a contingent of Franciscan monks due to debate a religious issue with representatives of the Catholic church at a remote abbey in Northern Italy. However, when they arrive, they find themselves embroiled in a series of murders. William is called upon by the Abbott (Michel Lonsdale) to use his well-known deductive powers to solve the mystery, but with the arrival of Grand Inquisitor Bernardo Gui (F Murray Abraham) things turn from bad to worse.

An atmospheric, well-acted, beautifully designed (by Dante Ferreti) and shot (by Tonino Delli Colli) French-Italian-German-20th Century Fox coproduction, perhaps the greatest asset of THE NAME OF THE ROSE is its screenplay, the writing of which is detailed in one of the excellent extras on this disc. Umberto Eco’s complex literary work had to be stripped down and what was left reassembled with an eye on it being approachable by the average cinema audience member. By centring on the murder mystery (at least to start with) Andrew Birkin was also able to include some of the symbolism, philosophy and religious discussion that the book is filled with.

But everyone is playing their ‘A’ game here. Composer James Horner offers a score that’s mainly synthesisers but which feels perfectly suited to the medieval period, while the casting director must have had a ball looking for the most interesting faces in Italy and German to populate the monastery. Among the cast are also a swathe of familiar faces including Feodor Chaliapin, Jr (Argento’s INFERNO and Soavi’s THE CHURCH), William Hickey (THE BOSTON STRANGLER and TALES FROM THE DARKSIDE), Ron Perlman (HELLBOY et al), Leopoldo Trieste (Bava’s BAY OF BLOOD), Donald O’Brien (ZOMBIE HOLOCAUST) and Valentina Vargas (HELLRAISER IV).

Second Sight’s 4K transfer is second to none, with the film never having looked this good. Those of you familiar with older BBC TV screenings should note that the Latin uttered here does not get translated with subtitles, which is the same as it was with the UK cinema print. Extras include a new commentary from James Marsh but if you’ve not listened to it before you should start with the excellent archival commentary from director Annaud that will tell you more than a few things to raise your eyebrows.

Other new extras include a set of excellent interviews, including the one with screenwriter Andrew Birkin mentioned above (22 minutes), as well as Ron Perlman (23 minutes), Christian Slater (24 minutes) and director Jean-Jacques Annaud (39 minutes). There’s also an archival German making of (45 minutes). Finally, the limited edition comes with a 120 page book with new writing on the film (not provided for review), six collectors’ art cards and a slipcase to keep it all in. 

Jean-Jacques Annaud’s Palimpsest of Umberto Eco’s THE NAME OF THE ROSE is out from Second Sight in a limited edition combo UHD and Blu-ray set and separate UHD and 

Blu-ray editions on Monday 10th August 2026

DeepStar Six 4K (1989)

        Studio Canal are releasing director Sean S Cunningham’s underwater monster movie in 4K on UHD, Blu-ray and Digital. It’s a film made in ‘the year of the Sub-genre’ as one of the commentaries cracks on here, when six films with similar subject matter made it into release, including James Cameron’s THE ABYSS and George Pan Cosmatos’ LEVIATHAN. 

Compared with those, DEEPSTAR SIX is at the lower budget end of the spectrum, with a cast of TV standbys (BJ and The Bear’s Greg Evigan, Nancy Everhard from lots of stuff), Ronn Carroll from Cunningham’s original FRIDAY THE 13TH (“Miss - we didn’t find any boy”), Matt McCoy from POLICE ACADEMY 5 & 6 and Miguel Ferrer (ROBOCOP and Twin Peaks and the biggest name of the lot here).

The titular undersea base belongs to the navy, which is looking at the best place to set up some nuclear missiles. The ideal spot turns out to be on top of a cavern so they blow it open and release an enormous prehistoric monster that we get to see in all its glory towards the end of the film.

“The water is as much the monster” says Cunningham in one of the archival extras, probably because it was also quite a bit cheaper, and it does mean that for much of the running time the crew are fighting against flooding and collapsing submersibles rather than fighting the enormous beastie. That said the model work is Gerry Anderson-level quality and therefore very endearing and the monster, when we finally get to see it, is so impressive that it shows up the rather small set it’s supposed to be skulking in.

Studio Canal’s disc comes with an impressive four commentary tracks, the most recent being from podcasters James G Chandler and Ash Hamilton, and the most entertaining being from screenwriters Lewis Abernathy and Geof Miller who both sound “fairly merry”. There’s also a 2001 commentary from Cunningham and visual FX supervisor James Isaac, and a fourth commentary track is a mixture of a 35 minute interview with composer Harry Manfredini and tracks from his music score.

Other extras include a set of interviews with FX men Mark Shostrum, Robert Kurtzman and Greg Nicotero (22 minutes), stars Greg Evigan and Nancy Everhard (17 minutes) and stunt coordinator Kane Hodder (13 minutes) all from 2020. There are also archival extras from 1989 including behind the scenes footage (4 minutes), cast and crew interviews (4 minutes), the 1989 press kit, stills, trailer and TV spots. The disc also comes with four art cards.

Sean S Cunningham’s DEEPSTAR SIX is out on 4K UHD, Blu-ray and Digital on Monday 8th June 2026

Innerspace 4K (1987)

Director Joe Dante’s comedic take on FANTASTIC VOYAGE, and the film he made in between EXPLORERS (1985) and THE ‘BURBS (1989), is getting a 4K UHD and Blu-ray release from Arrow.

Washed up pilot Tuck Pendleton (Dennis Quaid) agrees to take part in a miniaturisation experiment in which he, inside a special submersible, is going to be injected into a rabbit called Bugs (well, this is a Warner Bros. picture after all). However, bad guy Victor Scrimshaw (Kevin McCarthy) and bad girl Margaret Canker (Fiona Lewis) plan to steal the miniaturisation technique so shifty character The Cowboy (Robert Picardo on top silly voiced form) can sell it to the highest bidder. When the robbery goes wrong Tuck ends up injected into supermarket assistant manager and hypochondriac Jack Putter (Martin Short). Will Jack listen to the voice that is now actually in his head and help Tuck get back to normal size?

According to a number of the (very good) extras on this disc, INNERSPACE started life as a straight idea but thanks to a complete rewrite by Jeffrey Boam (THE DEAD ZONE) and the efforts of all concerned, it became on Oscar-winning (for its special effects) comedy. While the script is funny and Joe Dante is no stranger to making things entertaining the real key to the success of INNERSPACE is its cast, especially Quaid and Short who only have one scene together but nevertheless have a dialogue chemistry that sparkles. The part of ‘the girl’ is played by Meg Ryan just before she got famous and her star quality is obvious as well. Combine that with familiar faces from the Dante repertory company and cult film fans will have a ball.

Arrow’s disc comes with two commentary tracks. The first is from 2002 and features Dante, producer Michael Finnell, VFX master Dennis Muren, and actors Picardo and McCarthy. Think you’re good at spotting Dante’s in-jokes? Well there are some here that completely passed me by but they’re all pointed out in this engagingly chatty track. Author and critic Drew McWeeny provides a brand new commentary that is as respecting of Dante’s work as it is enthusiastic and provides a nice ‘fan’ track to go alongside the film-makers’ one.

Other extras include a brand new hour-long making of featuring Dante, Finnell, Muren, Picardo and others where some of the material from the commentary is understandably repeated, while the VFX are gone into in greater illustrative detail. There’s 24 minutes of Joe Dante’s personal behind the scenes footage from the film and 20 minutes of footage from ILM. You also get storyboard galleries, continuity polaroids, production stills and a poster gallery. Arrow’s limited edition also comes with a booklet with new writing on the film, a double sided poster and reversible sleeve.

Joe Dante’s INNERSPACE is out on 4K in individual UHD and Blu-ray editions on Monday 27th April 2026

Excalibur 4K (1981)

 

“Impressive, Definitive, Essential”

John Boorman’s unique, stunning retelling of the story of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table is getting a 4K restoration release as part of a three disc set from Arrow Films.

There’s nothing quite like EXCALIBUR, a film that took a markedly different approach to the King Arthur movies that both preceded and followed it, emphasising the mythic aspects and deliberately setting it ‘out of time’ (to use Boorman’s words) rather than giving it a traditional medieval setting. The film boasts a glorious, otherworldly look (thanks to both Boorman and DP Alex Thomson) and has a cast that does the subject matter justice, playing up the dramatic while never descending into pulp parody. 

It’s by no means a perfect film. At 140 minutes it’s a bit too long and it does have a tendency to be a bit overly pompous at times (two things that spoiled its chances at the box office in 1981), but considering this is essentially the unique vision of one man, John Boorman can be forgiven for not getting it exactly right, and for not catering to the mainstream too much.

So what’s on Arrow’s set? Disc One has the film in 4K and in the correct aspect ratio of 1.66:1. Of course, being clearer means you can see the grain a lot more so some may wish to hang onto their Blu-ray copies for nostalgia’s sake. We get the previously released archival commentary from the director, plus two new ones. The first is from Brian Hoyle, author of The Cinema of John Boorman, and he very sensibly does his best not to repeat what the director says on his own commentary. Second is film-maker David Kittredge who at the time of recording was completing his documentary Boorman and the Devil and who talks more about how the film fits into Boorman’s oeuvre as a whole. 

Disc Two is a veritable treasure trove of excellent extras, starting with Neil Jordan’s 48 minute 1981 Making Of which has only been rarely seen previously. Boorman himself takes us through the film-making process and there are interviews with stars Nicol Williamson, Cherie Lunghi, Nicholas Clay, Paul Geoffrey and Helen Mirren, as well as DP Alex Thomson, choreographer Anthony Van Laast and armorer Terry English.

New extras include interviews with John Boorman and his son Charley (28 minutes), Neil Jordan (25 minutes), and art director Anthony Pratt (26 minutes). Howard S Berger provides us with a massive, career-encompassing interview with second unit director Peter MacDonald (75 minutes) and returns with his Flying Maciste brother Kevin Marr for a 30 minute looks at ‘The Death and Life of Cinematic Illusion’ in Boorman’s cinema. There’s also an excellent visual essay / interview about Boorman’s writing collaborators including Alexander Jacobs and Bill Stair but concentrating mainly on Rospo Pallenberg who gets to talk at length (38 minutes). Finally for disc two you get trailers and a still gallery, which includes the original screenplay by Pallenberg and Boorman. 

Disc Three opens with the ‘TV Version’, which will be something of a curio for UK viewers who got to experience EXCALIBUR in all its uncut glory when it premiered on Channel 4 back in the day. Apparently this is the version shown on US TV (aha!) and is twenty minutes shorter to remove ‘controversial content’. It was also the version shown in US schools (aha again!) whereas UK school-kids, made of sterner stuff, got to debate how Uther Pendragon could possibly have sex with Ygraine while wearing all that armour. Also on Disc Three is the 2016 documentary “Excalibur: Behind the Movie” which includes interviews with Liam Neeson, Helen Mirren, Patrick Stewart, Gabriel Byrne, Nigel Terry, Paul Geoffrey, Cherie Lunghi, Clive Swift and all the Boormans.  Arrow’s set also comes with a perfect-bound book with new writing on  the film, a double-sided poster, a reversible sleeve and six art cards.

John Boorman’s landmark EXCALIBUR is out from Arrow in a limited edition three disc set (one UHD and two Blu-rays) on Monday 23rd February 2026