Official press releases are out...
SLEEPLESS...
THE MASTER OF NIGHTMARES IS BACK!
True horror fans prepare to rejoice! The undead spirit of the "video nasty" and some of the best examples of Italian exploitation cinema are about to be raised from the grave and reborn on DVD courtesy of Arrow Video's forthcoming Masters of Giallo imprint.
The first bloody batch, hitting the shelves on 29th June 2009, gives a much-welcomed new lease of life to three of the genre's most revered classics – Lucio Fulci's THE HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY, Lamberto Bava's MACABRE and Dario Argento's SLEEPLESS. Released completely uncut on DVD for the first time in the UK, each film comes with an unholy host of brand new extras, along with two-sided sleeve inserts featuring all-new, specially commissioned exploitation artwork plus the film's original release artwork. Finally paying these movies their due respects after far too long, these releases are everything an insatiably hungry horror fan could ask for. As a special bonus, each release also comes complete with a poster featuring the brand new art.
In Dario Argento's SLEEPLESS insomniac detective Moretti (Max von Sydow) is called upon to investigate a series of murders which bear a remarkable resemblance to those committed 17 years earlier and attributed to a killer nicknamed "The Dwarf". Is the new spate of crimes being committed by the same culprit or a copycat killer? Aided by Giacomo, the son of one of the original murderer's victims, Moretti sets out to solve the mystery.
Opening with a thrilling 20-minute sequence that reminds the viewer just why Argento is regarded as a true master of horror, SLEEPLESS sees the director on top form and his full of his trademarks, from the murderer's black glove and glinting knives to the beautiful women in peril, an abundance of red linen, unrelenting violence and, of course, glorious cinematic set-pieces, the best of which is an incredible, slow tracking shot of a carpet which leads to a truly gruesome pay-off.
SLEEPLESS (cert. 18) will be released on DVD (£15.99, tbc) by Arrow Video on 29th June 2009. Special Features include: Murder Madness and Mutilation: Sleepless and the Modern Italian Giallo; The Making of Sleepless; trailer; photo gallery; press kit.
