2024 has been a great year for physical media releases. Even as stores like Best Buy and Target have phased out a lot of their physical movie sales, studios and boutique labels have been releasing a steady stream of very high quality restorations. There have been few 4K titles in 2024 you could point to and say aren’t very good (far fewer than in previous years). As frustrating as the overall state of physical media has seemed lately, we’re at the center of an incredible wave of movie collecting and film preservation, and Arrow Video is leading the charge.
Arrow has been doing impeccable work for years, giving beloved films beautiful restorations and putting together hordes of great features for movie fans to enjoy. It seems like this year, however, Arrow has taken things a step further and really become one of the best (if not THE best) physical media retailers around. Nothing makes that more evident than the two titles that headline Arrow’s horror slate this Halloween season: Trick ‘r Treat and Hellraiser: Quartet of Torment.
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These two releases aren’t just among the best physical horror releases in 2024, they’re probably among the best physical movie releases of the year, period.
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Let’s start with the Hellraiser: Quartet of Torment (you can order one here), which is without a doubt my favorite 4K box set of 2024. This release contains the first four films from the Hellraiser franchise, all given brand new 4K restorations from their original camera negatives. The Hellraiser movies are bloody, gooey, colorful, and uncomfortably tactile. The 4K transfers give those qualities the kind of life we’ve never seen from these films before. The first time Frank crawls out of the shadows in this restoration of Clive Barker’s original Hellraiser, it’ll send chills up your spine no matter how many times you’ve seen the film.
The quality of all four discs is out of this world, but anyone who has purchased from Arrow before knows that is to be expected. They don’t take these restorations lightly. What really sets the Quartet of Torment apart from other collections, like the recently released Paramount Scares Vol. 2, is just how much work was put into everything beyond the restoration itself.
The first Hellraiser alone has multiple hours of brand new special features that deal with Barker’s legacy and how the film revolutionized the horror genre. There are three feature commentary tracks on this thing, two of which are previous releases that feature Barker, while the third is a brand new commentary with historian Stephen Jones and film critic Kim Newman. You could spend a couple of days working through all of these features, and that’s just on the first disc. All four Hellraiser films in the collection were given a similar treatment.
Maybe the most impressive thing about the Quartet of Torment, though, is the packaging. I’m not usually one to obsess over the box a movie comes in, so long as the disc itself is great. But that’s not the case with his Hellraiser collection. The box alone is almost enough reason to buy it. The outer box, slip-cover, and actual Blu-ray case represent layers of Pinhead that peel back as you get closer to the discs. A full picture of the iconic monster transforms into a layer of flesh and blood, before the slip-cover comes off to reveal nothing but a skeleton. All of that is packaged in nicely with a 200-page hardback book detailing the history and restorations of these films.
Box sets nowadays don’t usually look half as good as the Quartet of Torment. It’s got everything a Hellraiser fan wants or needs. The craziest part is that it’s only one of two phenomenal horror releases from Arrow Video in October.
Michael Dougherty’s Trick ‘r Treat has become an iconic Halloween rewatch for horror fans over the years. People are still asking Doughtery about a sequel to this connected anthology on a regular basis (and he still plans to deliver one). It’s a movie so many love but hadn’t gotten the 4K release that a lot of film fans hoped for. That changed this month.
Trick ‘r Treat is all about creating an atmosphere, and Arrow’s 4K restoration (approved by Dougherty) brings that atmosphere to the forefront. The shadows are darker than ever before. The glow of the jack-o-lanterns are somehow even warmer than you remember. When things start to get violent, the blood creates a stunning contrast to the rest of the picture. Maybe even more impressive than anything in the picture is the audio track that almost demands some type of surround sound. Wind, leaves, footsteps, and so many individual little elements really pop through this track and transport you to a chilling Halloween night.
Like with the Quartet of Torment, this Trick ‘r Treat disc goes heavy on the special features. Dougherty returns for a brand new commentary (in addition to one of his previous commentary tracks). There are six new special features packed onto the release, alongside some of the best features from the previous Blu-ray and DVD releases. The cherry on top is the new Sam-centric cover art, which is also included as a separate poster.
You can order your copy of Trick ‘r Treat on 4K here, if they’re still in stock.
I know a lot of this sounds hyperbolic, but I wouldn’t write it if I didn’t believe in it. I am lucky enough to get sent a lot of physical releases to review and cover, so I’ve watched and played around with a good chunk of this year’s physical movies. I have yet to come across any that I’ve enjoyed quite as much as these two Arrow Video releases.
It really does make a difference when you can see and feel the love going into a physical movie. It amplifies your own love of that film, in a way. It’s like your adoration of a piece of art is enhanced when you get to experience firsthand that same adoration from others. It’s a beautiful thing. It’s also rather hopeful.
Isn’t that what movies are supposed to be?
