The Frighteners 4K (1996)

 

        Arrow Films are releasing a three disc set (either one 4K UHD and two Blu-rays or three Blu-rays) of THE FRIGHTENERS, the film Peter Jackson made in between HEAVENLY CREATURES (1994) and THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING (2001), with that latter film partly coming about because of all the computers left over from this, at least according to Jackson’s own three minute introduction here. 

Frank Bannister (Michael J Fox) works as a psychic detective in the small seaside town of Fairwater. There’s a lot of psychic phenomena there, mainly because Frank’s ghostly friends (Chi McBride, Jim Fyfe and John Astin as an ancient cowboy) are causing it, with Frank being called in to sort things out and, of course, be paid for it.

But there’s something else going on in Fairwater as well - a large number of unexplained deaths in otherwise healthy people whose hearts have just stopped. When Frank starts seeing numbers carved into the heads of future victims it kicks of an investigation that leads back to the infamous Fairwater massacre back in 1964.

THE FRIGHTENERS represented a comedy horror step up for Jackson after his gore comedies BAD TASTE (very homemade but still lots of fun) and BRAIN DEAD (much more professional but just as outrageous), and while there is levity here be prepared for things to get serious in places. Jackson also benefits from having an excellent cast that includes fantasy favourites Fox, Dee Wallace Stone, Jeffrey Combs and Jake Busey. The effects were groundbreaking for the time but the 30 year old CGI will look a little clunky to people unfamiliar with technology in any movie more than ten years old, especially with Arrow’s 4K transfer, which is crisp and lovely and shows off the New Zealand locations to their best advantage.

Arrow’s set consists of three discs. Disc One (4K UHD) has two versions of the film - theatrical cut (110 minutes) and director’s cut (122 minutes), with a ported over Peter Jackson commentary on the longer version. There’s also the previously mentioned introduction (recorded for the film’s tenth anniversary release) and a trailer. Disc Two is the same, but on Blu-ray and with open-matte versions of the film.

Disc Three has the extras, which kick off with a 2022 retrospective (95 minutes) featuring interviews with Stone, Busey, editor /producer Jamie Selkirk, DP John Blick, and creature FX supervisor Richard Taylor and others. The picture quality of the interviews is rough, possibly because they were conducted over Zoom, but it may be deliberate. The other big extra is the 1998 making of which was originally on the laserdisc release. This runs just over four and a half hours and is as exhaustive as you might expect, featuring interviews with all the major players and a lot of on-set footage. There’s also a dedicated 41 minute interview with Richard Taylor from 2022 and an image gallery. Finally the limited edition sets both come with a reversible sleeve and a booklet featuring archival material that includes original production notes.

Peter Jackson’s THE FRIGHTENERS is out in 4K from Arrow Films in limited edition three disc sets of either 1 x UHD and 2 x Blu-rays, or 3 Blu-rays, on Monday 26th October 2026

The Last Boy Scout 4K (1991)

“Hugely Entertaining Action-Packed Neo-Noir”

Arrow Films are releasing, in separate limited 4K UHD and Blu-ray editions, a new 4K restoration from the original 35mm negative (supervised by director of photography Ward Russell and it looks fabulous) of director Tony Scott’s LA neo-noir that’s liberally peppered with violence, car crashes and explosions.

Joseph Hallenbeck (Bruce Willis) is a down on his luck Private Investigator. His wife and child hate him and he spends more time sleeping in his car than at home. He gets the job of acting as bodyguard to exotic dancer Cory (Halle Berry), the girlfriend of disgraced football player Jimmy Dix (Damon Wayans). When Cory is gunned down Hallenbeck and Dix resolve to find out why. 

Needless to say they uncover a web of corruption, all linked to American football, in this big budget, fast-paced, tightly scripted (by Shane Black), well-directed piece that’s one of the better action movies of the period. Part of that is due to it being less an actioner and more of a modern noir piece, at least in its opening half. Willis (the biggest action star around when this was being shot) and Wayans have great chemistry to the extent that by the time the film is over you find yourself wishing there was another film with these two characters.

For a movie this slick, glossy and seemingly effortless in its storytelling the revelation that it was quite the troubled production may come as a surprise to those who know little of its making. All of this (and more) is covered in the excellent extras on Arrow’s disc. First off is a new commentary track from critics Josh Nelson and Martyn Pedlar which is informative and chatty and is the equivalent of having two friends watching this with you who know all about the film. There are two very good career spanning new interviews with Shane Black (36 minutes) and actress Danielle Harris (32 minutes) who plays Hallenbeck’s daughter in the movie. French critic Stéphane Moïssakis, who literally write the book on Tony Scott, provides an excellent 30 minute talking head piece in which he discusses the making of the film and in particular Scott’s directorial technique and how it had evolved up to this point.

Shane Black at the American Cinematheque is a splendid 30 minute Q&A from 2024 which followed screenings of four of his movies. Amongst the subjects discussed are how he comes up with his characters, his relationship with producer Joel Silver, and his love of classic 1960s-era Dr Who. The interview flies by and you get the feeling he could easily have talked for at least twice as long and still kept it fascinating. 

You also get 23 minutes of alternate and deleted scenes from a recently discovered workprint (with comparisons to the final version included), trailers, an image gallery and the first and second drafts of Shane Black’s screenplay. Finally, Arrow’s limited edition set also comes with a reversible sleeve and a booklet featuring new writing on the film. 

Tony Scott’s THE LAST BOY SCOUT is out from Arrow Films in a new 4K restoration in separate limited UHD and Blu-ray editions on Monday 12th October 2026

Misery 4K (1990)

“Benefits Immensely From its 4K Presentation”

The late Rob Reiner’s masterful adaptation of Stephen King’s novel is getting a 4K release from Arrow on UHD. You might not think that a film that is essentially one person terrorising another in a house would benefit that much from the upgrade, but Arrow’s presentation here really sparkles, especially in the exterior shots of the snow-covered landscape. 

Paul Sheldon (James Caan) is a writer famous for a series of best-selling historical romances featuring the character of Misery Chastain. But his most recent Misery novel is to be the last. He has killed her off and has written a new novel he hopes will gain him critical accolades.

He sets off with the only typewritten copy of what looks like his rather short novel into a snowstorm which causes him to crash, Thankfully help is on hand from the psychotic Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates who won the Oscar for this) who prises him from the wreckage and begins nursing him back to health. She also happens to be, or believes herself to be, Sheldon’s number one fan. However, when the latest Misery novel hits the bookstands she is less than impressed with how it turns out and becomes determined to get Paul to write a new one, even if it means breaking most of the bones in his body to do it.

MISERY was one of a number of Stephen King adaptations from Castle Rock Entertainment who, as explained by director Reiner in one of the extras on here, steered away from more overt horror and concentrated on the character pieces like STAND BY ME and THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION. The combined talent of everyone involved here didn’t necessarily mean MISERY would be a great movie but it very much is, and a fine example of transferring a book to the big screen.

Just how it was transferred is discussed in the two archival commentary tracks on here - one from Reiner and the other from screenwriter William Goldman. There’s also a brand new commentary from Teri Gamble and Julia Marchese of the Horror Movie Survival Guide podcast which, after all the welcome technical detail from Reiner and Goldman, nevertheless feels like a chatty breath of fresh air.

The one new interview here is an excellent 15 minutes with composer Marc Shaiman and his piano (and score!) where he talks about how he came up with a number of cues for the film. There are also archival interviews from 2017 with Reiner and physical FX maestro Greg Nicotero. From 2002 we get an archive making of (30 minutes) and piece on the film’s score (15 minutes). There’s also a set of curious featurettes from 2007 which are all about stalkers and feature forensic psychologists and others discussing the laws on staking and diagnosing Annie Wilkes’ mental illness. Finally you get trailers and image galleries. Arrow’s limited edition set also includes, along with the disc, a collectors’ booklet with new writing on the film and a reversible sleeve.

Rob Reiner’s film of Stephen King’s MISERY is out from Arrow on 4K UHD on Monday 21st September 2026

Mortal Kombat 4K (1995) and Mortal Kombat: Annihilation 4K (1997)

“Mortal Kombat!”

With the latest in the franchise only just out of cinemas, Arrow Films are releasing the first two films to bear the name MORTAL KOMBAT in 4K on UHD and Blu-ray with a bunch of extras. Based on a bestselling video game and featuring plenty of martial arts, the question I am best posed to answer here is: can these films be enjoyed by someone who has never played the game and has only a very passing interest in martial arts?

Let’s find out.

Disc One: Mortal Kombat (1995)

In which a group of fighters including Johnny Cage (Linden Ashby), Liu Kang (Robin Shou) and Sonya Blade (Bridgette Wilson from Bill Malone’s superior HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL remake) are recruited to fight for humanity in a series of tournaments. If they lose some enormously evil Emperor will get to rule our realm. In order to do this the Emperor has to win ten tournaments of which he has won nine so far. Who makes these rules? And what’s to stop him from cheating?

The opening half of MORTAL KOMBAT is actually quite engrossing, with excellent Thailand locations and some impressive sets. The actual main villain seems to be Shang Tsung (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa) but there’s also a chap with four arms who’s much bigger and taller than anyone but still delights when he wins a fight against someone much smaller than him. 

Our heroes enter the tournament. I think. Because that’s when it all starts to get a bit unclear. However if you’ve paid your money to see lots and lots of fighting then you’ll likely be happy with what you get here. Presiding over everything on the side of good is Raiden (Christopher Lambert) who looks as if he has just stepped out of a shampoo commercial into a gig that probably paid about the same amount of money. It’s all bouncy, energetic stuff with likeable leads and hissable villains - a bit like an Empire Picture but made with a lot more money and in its favour it has to be said that it’s never dull, even if the ending is of the ‘is that it?’ variety.

Extras on Arrow’s disc include two new commentaries from director Paul WS Anderson (who starts by explaining the WS in his name) and podcaster Dave Baxter. There are new interviews with star Ashby (16 minutes), DP John R Leonetti on his career and on becoming a director (16 minutes), producer Lawrence Kasanoff (18 minutes) and special effects artist Tom Woodruff on bringing Goro to life (16 minutes).

Archival extras include a 1995 promotional featurette with most of the main cast and crew (15 minutes), who also feature in a collection of tiny minute-long soundbites. There’s also 13 minutes of behind the scenes footage, a trailer and image gallery.

Disc Two: Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (1997)

The budget goes up while the quality goes down in this infamously poorly-rated sequel that looks a lot more like an Empire production than its predecessor. We pick up where the previous film left off except Christopher Lambert has been replaced by James Remar and some of the others have been brazenly recast as well, with the film showing us the previous Sonja and then the new Sonja (Sandra Hess) and not caring two hoots that audiences would likely be scratching their heads two minutes in before staring open-mouthed as a major cast member gets killed right away.

If that suggests that MORTAL KOMBAT: ANNIHILATION isn’t fun then far from it. In fact in its own way it’s even more of a blast than the first film. Brian Thompson is the baddie this time around and he embraces his role with all the gusto of Jack Palance in HAWK THE SLAYER and just like that film, this one also deserves a cult all to itself. The plot is bonkers, some of the location shooting is amazing (the city of Petra in Jordan) and the CGI is just one step up from 1990s-era Doom, but the film isn’t dull for a single one of its 95 minutes and some of the scenes are instant ‘show this to your friends the next time they’re round’. I had no idea what was going on much of the time and I still had a blast with it.

Extras this time include a new commentary from director John R Leonetti, prompted by Gillian Wallace Horvat, and another from a returning Dave Baxter. There are new interviews with star Musetta Vander (18 minutes), composer George S Clinton (16 minutes) and stunt man J J Perry (20 minutes), with archival behind the scenes footage (15 minutes) and on-set soundbites (around 10 minutes in all). Plus of course trailers, TV spots and image galleries. Arrow’s limited edition set also comes with a booklet, two double-sided posters and a reversible sleeve.

The Mortal Kombat Kollection is out in limited edition 4K UHD and Blu-ray sets from Arrow Films on Monday 29th June 2026   

Insomnia 4K (1997)

Second Sight are giving their extra special treatment to director and co-writer Erik Skjoldbjaerg’s Nordic Noir thriller starring Stellan Skarsgård, and which was remade a few years later by Christopher Nolan with Al Pacino in the lead.

Police officers Jonas Engström (Skarsgård) and Eric Vik (Sverre Anker Ousdal) come to the north of Norway to investigate the murder of a 17 year old girl. Engström is considered brilliant but a cloud hangs over him because of his sexual relationship with a witness in a previous case. A trap is set for the killer but it goes wrong and Engström mistakenly shoots Vik dead. His seniors believe the killer did it but a full investigation is ordered, meaning that as well as catching the girl’s killer, Engström now has to cover up his involvement in Vik’s killing as well.

A dog dies as part of Engström’s cover up. I’ll put that up there now because I know there are people out there who will want to know. In the Nolan version Pacino’s character comes across a dead dog but here Skjoldbjaerg is keen to blur the line between cop and criminal with Skarsgård’s performance, and while Engström is good at getting the job done he’s also ruthless, self-serving, and inappropriate with some of his female acquaintances. INSOMNIA is a cold, very blue (literally) film and if you’re a fan of Nordic Noir and haven’t seen this you’ll definitely want to add it to your list.

Second Sight’s 4K UHD / Blu-ray limited edition combo set comes with a commentary from Erik Skjoldbjaerg and co-writer Nikolaj Frobenius (in English, in case you were wondering) which is scene-specific. Other extras include interviews with Skjoldbjaerg (29 minutes), and producer Petter J Borgli (who explains why their names aren’t on the US version, 10 minutes). Alexandra Heller-Nicholas provides a 12 minute video essay analysis of the film, and there are three Skjoldbjaerg short films: Spor (17 minutes), Close to Home (31 minutes and made while the director was in the UK) and Near Winter (34 minutes).

The limited edition also comes with a 120 page book with new essays, six art cards and a rigid slipcase to keep it all in.

Eric Skjoldbjaerg’s INSOMNIA is out from Second Sight in a limited edition 4K UHD / Blu-ray set as well as standard edition separate UHD and Blu-ray releases on Monday 25th May 2026