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Fall into autumn with a wonderful selection of DVDs from Arrow.

The hot, hot summer heat is finally starting to come to a close with the cool, crisp days of autumn right around the corner. To help you deal with the seasonal shift and welcome in the colors of fall, Arrow is giving viewers seven new films to keep you nice and cozy.

The slate begins with a couple of new entries from Arrow Academy starting with Tomu Uchida’s Bloody Spear at Mount Fuji.

This road adventure set during the Edo period is equal parts comedic and dramatic. A samurai and his two servants go on an epic journey is this hidden gem finally getting out to a wider audience.

From the Far East to the far west we shift with the release of the Peter Fonda directed western, The Hired Hand. Initially disregarded by critics and audiences, the film experienced a bit of a renaissance in 2001 thanks to a release from the Sundance Channel and is now considered a western classic. The film stars Fonda alongside Warren Oates.

The Arrow Video side brings out the reds of the season with two new horror titles starting with a brand new 4K restoration of Dario Argento’s horror masterpiece Deep Red. Long regarding as one of the greatest Italian horror films of all time, this edition comes fully loaded with bonus features to cure your Argento fever. Joining Deep Red is the extremely bizarre horror entry, The Baby. This strange look at an eccentric family and the social worker assigned to deal with them is sure to leave an impression. This release of the film includes a new retrospective from film professor Rebekah McKendry.

If you’re looking for a different brand of cult, Arrow has you covered with Horrors of Malformed Men and The Pyjama Girl Case. The former is a Japanese horror film from 1969 about a medical student that is perfectly sane but somehow ends up in an asylum. This classic is praised for its stylistic approach that lands all over the map.

The latter comes from director Flavio Mogherini and is the only giallo to take place in Australia. Following the true story of an unsolved Australian murder about a young girl that turned up dead on the beach in distinctive pajamas, this haunting giallo is sure to send a chill up your spine.

Arrow brings September to a close with Fred Zinnemann’s classic, The Day of the Jackal. Based on a novel written by Frederick Forsyth, this political thriller was nominated for 6 BAFTA awards, winning for best editing, and earn an Oscar nod.

The Day of the Jackal received a 4-star review from legendary critic Roger Ebert, who wrote that the film is “not just a suspense classic, but a beautifully executed example of filmmaking.”

It’s always important to fight for freedom. Always.

The next major big-screen fight will be found in the upcoming film Freedom Fight, starring Sam Neill, David Kross and Ella Purnell. in which Canadian actress Andrea Bucko and leads a cast of “next-generation” actors, in a harrowing portrayal of a true Cold War escape. Directed by Hungarian actor/director Endre Hules, Freedom Fight takes place in 1956, and vividly follows the first-person account of journalist Frank Iszak and his struggle to divert a domestic Hungarian flight across the Iron Curtain to safely find refuge in West Germany. The film is based on the book Free to All to Freedom.

The movie begins shooting this fall, and is director Endre Hules’ powerful follow-up to his CINE Golden Eagle Award-winning feature The Maiden Danced to Death. He is a director whose work has been seen on every continent and at more than 50 festivals, and Hules hand-picked Andrea Bucko’s for the role. “She has impressed me immediately with her talent as an actress,” he says. “Andrea’s sensibility and quirky sense of humor made her perfect for one of the film’s vital roles.”

Bucko brings to light the liberating journey that began on a rainy afternoon on Friday, July 13, 1956. She plays Monika, one of seven desperate young people boarded a twin engine DC-3 in the Eastern Bloc People’s Republic of Hungary, with plans to redirect it to freedom. They had no weapons, no map and no idea whether the plane carried enough fuel. They braved Russian MiG fighters in hot pursuit and a harrowing flight over the stormy Alps, without navigation. Failure would mean certain death.

It is a moment of ascension for the energetic actress. Bucko is a thoughtful artist making a name for herself in Hollywood by selecting ambitious projects that reveal with untold true stories. Freedom Flight adds to a series of films she has in the works, each drawing on historical incidents to create powerful narratives.

“Reading Frank Iszak’s inspiring true story, I felt it must be told,” she says. “Storytelling can make a difference and sometimes have a huge impact on the world. I want to make an impact with the stories I choose to be a part of.”

Other upcoming roles clearly demonstrate her sincere passion. She’s slated to portray Evelyn in Jubilee, a feature film by Mason Freeman that will star Peter Fonda and Tarynn Manning. This movie chronicles the path of the Underground Railroad and the lives of enslaved Americans seeking liberation on a long road towards justice. She will also play the role of Danielle Devert in another of her upcoming film projects, an international co-production that draws from the riveting facts of the 1973 kidnapping of Paul Getty III.

Want her sooner? Bucko will next be seen on camera in September as Trina in Neon Candy, a psychosexual thriller takes place in the early ’90s along Route 66 and the Las Vegas outskirts. written by Courtney Paige Theroux and directed by Kate Twa. The cast includes Sean Carrigan, Courtney Paige Theroux and Sarah Porchetta.

Do we dare say Bucko, known for the films Big Eyes, Gord’s Brother and Meridiem, is also eye candy?

Tag Archives: Peter Fonda

Arrow shoots some nifty DVDs right into fervid film fans’ hearts

Andrea Bucko: An actress who bucks up her career by accepting roles that will “make an impact”