Overview: Remember the shelves of your local video store? Those days aren’t gone! Reject reality and substitute your own with Arrow Video!

In 1983, entrepreneurial producer and director Charles Band founded Empire International Pictures, which would go on to make some of the most memorable and beloved genre movies of the 1980s.

Empire became a mainstay of video stores across the world with their catchy titles, outlandish art and Band’s wholehearted belief in giving audiences a good time.

Blu-ray Verdict: In The Dungeonmaster (AKA Ragewar) (1984), computer programmer Paul Bradford is sucked into a fantasy world by Mestema, a demonic sorcerer in search of a worthy opponent.

Sure, it’s a silly little yarn about a computer genius that is able to uplink to his PC and do all sorts of computer related stuff. Like instantly diagnose and fix hardware issues, force the traffic lights to change and even steal money from ATM’s. You know, things we thought were possible back in the 80’s.

But this delicious mountain of cheese really takes off when an evil sorcerer played by B-movie legend Richard Moll kidnaps the computer guy’s girlfriend and he must survive something like eight different challenges to get her back!

But he won’t be alone in this, as he can bring with him his computer, or magic machine, as the evil Mestima calls it. Which has quite conveniently been turned into a set of bracers that can do computer stuff like fire lasers! Yeah, in truth, that’s more or less their only function at this time!

So what happens is he’s transported to a dozen different worlds or however many it was, and he needs to fight the big bad there and you’ll never guess how he defeats them all. He defeats them with his laser! Every single one.

Big rock statue? Laser. Mad Max type post-apocalyptic future? Laser. Evil monkey demon thing? Laser. The hair metal band WASP? Laser. The beauty of this is that each scene was directed by a different guy and as far as I know they all went on to make Full Moon entertainment. So this ROCKS!

Meanwhile, fresh from the one-two punch of Re-Animator and From Beyond, director Stuart Gordon takes a turn toward fairytale gothic in Dolls (1986), in which a group of strangers find themselves forced to seek shelter at the isolated home of an old toymaker and his wife, only to find that the puppets and dolls have a vicious life of their own.

It starts out great with a hateful, abusive couple driving in the rain with the adenoidal-voiced daughter of a mean-spirited father in an unnamed remote locale somewhere in England. You know you are in good hands the first time the bitch step-mother spews invective!p> The dialog is consistently fun throughout, the whole thing is consistent. A fun macguffin (Hitchcock term for a misleading plot turn) happens next and then the plot kicks in. It’s nothing new - a play on The Old Dark House - but there’s comfort in familiarity. The setting isn’t important, it’s what happens thereafter.

Remember horror movies that had a moral code? Where lots of nasty things happen but ultimately the good guys, the people who demonstrate courage and honor win, and those who are rude, unpleasant and nasty, lose? You don’t see that much anymore, even Gordon’s films aren’t usually so moral, for want of a better word. It’s refreshing now and then for even Dolls is actually inspirational in a way. I won’t spoil the message but, there is one, and it’s not a bad one.

Dolls Original Trailer

In Cellar Dweller (1987), a comic book artist (Jeffrey Combs) with a penchant for the macabre takes inspiration from an ancient tome and unleashes an ancient evil.

Jeffrey Combs is Colin Childress, an occult comic book illustrator, whom inadvertently sets a demon loose in his basement after he draws him on the comic page!

He’s able to destroy him, but in his wonderment he fails to notice that a fire has started and before it’s too late and he is engulfed along with the monster.

That was 30 years ago. Now a huge fun of Mr. Chilress and another cartoonist herself, Whitney (Debrah Farentino of Earth 2 cult fame) has come to Colin’s house, now part of an artist’s colony. She meets a new friend, Phillip (Brian Robbins primarily know for being Eric from Head of the Class), and it turns out he’s the only one who actually likes her of the group of artists.

Meanwhile, she’s unaware that her drawings are resurrecting the creature to kill once more. Jeffrey Combs is great for the very limited amount of screen time that has. The rest of the film is fun enough, but it all felt too insubstantial, although the story line is excellent, the acting delightful for the age, and the cellar dweller itself, well, man made fluff-n-stuff of the greatest order, as you would only expect given the year.

Arena (1989) presents the ultimate fight night event: man vs monster! In the far future of 4038, a short order cook becomes the first human in fifty years to compete in an intergalactic boxing event on the far side of the universe.

All bets are off at a corrupt intergalactic fighting competition where a system removes the fighter’s advantage, no matter what species and puts them on an even standing.

Made and released in the UK in 1989, like Robot Jox, Crash & Burn, Oblivion and other Charles Band productions the lack of money is obvious but this B-film captures the imagination which many larger budgeted films fail to do.

Arena taps into a time when fighting films had peaked and Rocky was deep rooted in the conciseness along with WWF specials. Director Peter Manoogian offers plenty of showdowns. His direction is fine and many of the makeup and special effects still hold up.

In a cast of outlandish aliens, Claudia Christian features as Quinn and the Christopher Reeve-a-like Paul Satterfield’s Steve Armstrong works as the stereotype hero.

Despite its clichés and the fact it was never going to win any Oscars, its many references to other science fictions and fresh concept makes it an enjoyable low budget science fiction, nonetheless.

Finally in Robot Jox (1989), Stuart Gordon directs Empire Pictures’ most ambitious movie yet, as men and women pilot giant machines in gladiatorial battle to settle international disputes over territory.

It is post-World War III. War is outlawed. In its place, are matches between large robots called Robot Jox. These matches take place between two large superpowers over disputed territories. The main character Achilles is a pilot in one of the large Robots. The plot revolves around him and a match for the state of Alaska.

Although I would consider myself a bigger than average Stuart Gordon fan, this was a film I never got to see until now (2015). And what a strange addition to his career. The robot fights, though perhaps retro or dated, are pretty great, and indeed the highlight of the film. (Why they start off just punching when we later see them fighting in space is unclear).

The acting is pretty cheesy, especially the actor who plays Tex. I would love to have seen more of the robot fights and less of the human interaction, which seemed forced. None of the people are particularly likable. How the female lead went on to be as big as she is after this is unclear.

The film began shooting in Rome in 1986, inspired by the Transformers and Macross, as well as The Right Stuff (which Gordon used for visual cues). The plot mixed in aspects of the Iliad and the story of Achilles, and the cast included Robert Sampson (Re-Animator), Hilary Mason (Dolls). That all said, and created with a mix of classic Gordon elements and something all too futuristic, for my personal tastes, Robot Jox is still very much a worthwhile Sunday afternoon watch.

Freshly restored for the digital era with a wealth of new and archival extras, these films have never looked better. No need for a time machine, these golden age video classics will send you back to the 80s!

Limited Edition Contents:
High Definition Blu-Ray (1080p) presentations of all five films
Double sided posters for each film featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Ilan Sheady
15 postcard-sized reproduction artcards
Arrow Video store “membership card”
80-page perfect bound book and more!

DISC ONE - THE DUNGEONMASTER:
New 2K restoration by Arrow Films from the original negative
Three different versions of the film via seamless branching: the US theatrical version (The Dungeonmaster), the pre-release version and the international version (Ragewar)
Original lossless mono audio
New audio commentary with star Jeffrey Byron, moderated by film critics Matty Budrewicz and Dave Wain
I Reject Your Reality and Substitute My Own, a new interview with star Jeffrey Byron
Theatrical trailers
Image gallery

DISC TWO - DOLLS:
New 2K restoration by Arrow Films from the original interpositive
Original lossless stereo audio
New audio commentary by David Decoteau, Empire alumnus and friend of Stuart Gordon
Archive audio commentary with director Stuart Gordon and writer Ed Naha
Archive audio commentary with cast members Carolyn Purdy-Gordon, Stephen Lee, Carrie Lorraine, and Ian Patrick Williams
Assembling Dolls, a new interview with Lee Percy, editor of Dolls, Re-Animator and From Beyond
Toys of Terror: The Making of Dolls, an archive featurette with Gordon, Yuzna, Purdy-Gordon, Williams, Charles Band and Gabe Bartalos
Film-to-storyboard comparison
Theatrical trailers
Image gallery

DISC THREE - CELLAR DWELLER:
Additional picture restoration by Arrow Films
Original lossless stereo audio
New audio commentary by special make-up effects artist Michael Deak who inhabited the Cellar Dweller creature suit, moderated by film critics Matty Budrewicz and Dave Wain
Grabbed by the Ghoulies, a new appreciation of John Carl Buechler, special make-up effects artist of many Empire Pictures films and director of Cellar Dweller, by film critics Matty Budrewicz and Dave Wain
Inside the Cellar, a new interview with special make-up effects artist Michael Deak
Original sales sheet
Original production notes
VHS trailer
Empire Pictures trailer reel
Image galleries, including behind the scenes photos courtesy of special make-up effects artist Michael Deak

DISC FOUR - ARENA:
New 2K restoration by Arrow Films from the last known surviving 35mm elements
Original lossless stereo audio
New audio commentary with director Peter Manoogian, moderated by film critics Matty Budrewicz and Dave Wain
Alternative fullframe presentation
Not His Arena, a new interview with co-screenwriter Danny Bilson
Empire of Creatures, a new interview with special make-up effects artist Michael Deak
Theatrical trailer
Image gallery

DISC FIVE - ROBOT JOX:
New 2K restoration by Arrow Films from the original negative
Original lossless stereo audio
Archive audio commentary with director Stuart Gordon
Archive audio commentary with associate effects director Paul Gentry, mechanical effects artist Mark Rappaport, and stop-motion animator Paul Jessell
Crash and Burn, a new interview with actor Gary Graham and more!