Arrow Video Reveals January 2027 Releases, Led by The Hand
Arrow Video has revealed its January 2027 releases, and horror fans looking to spend their Christmas money irresponsibly already have something to put at the top of the list. Oliver Stone’s rarely discussed 1981 horror film The Hand is getting a Limited Edition Blu-ray, while post-apocalyptic favourite The Book of Eli makes the jump to 4K UHD.
The January line-up stretches considerably beyond horror, with new editions of Under Siege 2: Dark Territory, The Cannonball Run and The Cannonball Run II, Matthew Bright’s gloriously twisted Freeway films and violent Hong Kong thriller The Big Heat also joining the Arrow catalogue.
For us, though, there is only one sensible place to begin. Michael Caine has an angry severed hand and Oliver Stone is directing it. January suddenly looks much more interesting.
The Hand Leads Arrow Video January 2027 Releases
Long before Oliver Stone became synonymous with films such as Platoon, Wall Street, Born on the Fourth of July and JFK, he directed Michael Caine in a supernatural horror film about a severed hand apparently developing murderous ambitions of its own.
Released in 1981, The Hand stars Caine as comic-book illustrator John Lansdale, whose life begins to collapse after he loses his right hand in a road accident. Unable to draw as he once did and already experiencing difficulties in his marriage to Anne, played by Andrea Marcovicci, John’s anger and frustration begin consuming him. Then come visions of his missing hand committing violent acts, while people who cross John start turning up dead.
Stone both wrote and directed the film, while the special effects came courtesy of Carlo Rambaldi, whose extraordinary career would also include Alien, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and King Kong.
Arrow’s Limited Edition Blu-ray presents The Hand in 1080p with original lossless stereo audio. Stone contributes an audio commentary and interview, while the extras also include interviews with Bruce McGill, Andrea Marcovicci, producer Edward R. Pressman and Annie McEnroe Pressman. The original theatrical trailer and an image gallery are included alongside a reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned Adam Rabalais artwork and a collector’s booklet with new writing by Johnny Mains.
For horror collectors, this is easily the January release we’re most interested in. The Hand occupies an unusual position in Stone’s filmography and has never enjoyed anything approaching the cultural profile of the films he would make later. A proper Arrow edition feels like a good opportunity for it to crawl back into the spotlight.
The Book of Eli Joins Arrow Video January 2027 in 4K
Not strictly horror, but sitting comfortably enough beside it for Stalk & Slash purposes, the Hughes Brothers’ The Book of Eli is receiving a Limited Edition 4K UHD.
Released in 2010, the film stars Denzel Washington as Eli, a solitary traveller crossing the remains of America three decades after an apocalyptic catastrophe. Eli protects a mysterious book he believes must reach the West Coast, eventually encountering Carnegie, a ruthless local ruler played by Gary Oldman who desperately wants the book for himself.
Mila Kunis, Ray Stevenson, Jennifer Beals, Frances de la Tour, Michael Gambon and Tom Waits also feature in a film that mixes post-apocalyptic science fiction, western imagery, action and religious allegory.
Arrow’s release features a brand new 4K restoration approved by co-director Albert Hughes and cinematographer Don Burgess, presented in Dolby Vision with HDR10 compatibility. New material includes interviews with Hughes and production designer Gae S. Buckley, while a substantial collection of archival material covers the production, action, design, music and post-apocalyptic world.
Deleted and alternate scenes, trailers, an image gallery and two graphic novel-style shorts are also included. The package is completed by a reversible sleeve and collector’s booklet featuring new writing from David Michael Brown.
Freeway Gets a Twisted 4K Double Bill
Matthew Bright’s Freeway and Freeway II: Confessions of a Trickbaby are being paired for a two-disc Limited Edition 4K UHD collection, bringing two particularly warped fairy-tale reinterpretations together.
The 1996 Freeway stars Reese Witherspoon as Vanessa Lutz, a delinquent teenager travelling towards her grandmother’s home when she encounters Kiefer Sutherland’s Bob Wolverton, a seemingly respectable man who may actually be the serial killer known as the I-5 Killer. Bright’s film takes the basic structure of Little Red Riding Hood and drags it through crime, black comedy and deeply transgressive territory.
The sequel stars Natasha Lyonne and takes inspiration from Hansel and Gretel, following teenage sex worker Crystal “White Girl” Van Meter after she escapes juvenile detention with a 16-year-old serial killer known as Cyclona.
Both films receive 4K presentations in HDR10. The first disc contains both the 104-minute uncut and 102-minute theatrical versions of Freeway, with multiple commentaries and extensive interviews. Freeway II receives a new commentary and a feature-length documentary, Once Upon a White Girl: Remembering Confessions of a Trickbaby, alongside archival interviews and behind-the-scenes material.
The Rest of Arrow Video’s January 2027 Line-Up
Action fans get Steven Seagal’s Under Siege 2: Dark Territory on Limited Edition 4K UHD, with Arrow providing a brand new restoration from the original 35mm camera negative. The release includes Dolby Vision, a new Dolby Atmos mix, a commentary by writer Richard Hatem and several new interviews and appreciations.
For something considerably less murderous, Burt Reynolds puts his foot down in The Cannonball Run Collection. Hal Needham’s two star-packed road comedies receive brand new 4K restorations, bringing together casts that included Roger Moore, Farrah Fawcett, Dom DeLuise, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Jackie Chan and Frank Sinatra.
Finally, Arrow heads to Hong Kong for The Big Heat, the ferociously violent 1988 neo-noir thriller co-directed by Andrew Kam and Johnnie To. Waise Lee stars as Inspector Wong Wai-Pong, whose investigation into his former partner’s murder drags him towards Hong Kong’s criminal underworld. Arrow’s Limited Edition Blu-ray includes new interviews and commentary alongside both Cantonese and English audio options.
It’s an unusually varied way for Arrow to begin 2027, ranging from killer hands and post-apocalyptic wastelands to Steven Seagal fighting terrorists aboard a train and Burt Reynolds attempting to cross America as quickly as possible. For horror fans, however, The Hand is the standout. Oliver Stone directing Michael Caine while a disembodied hand apparently murders people is exactly the sort of strange corner of horror history that deserves another chance to grab us. You can ORDER HERE!
