Arrow Video, with sales and distribution support provided by
MVD Entertainment Group, looks to May 17 for the Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack release
of a new 2K restoration of director Nico Mastorakis’ 1990 all-action thriller, Hired
to Kill.
This is not to be confused with the Steven Seagal film of
the same name released theatrically that year.
Mastorakis’ Hired to Kill went the direct-to-video route in the domestic
market, but that wasn’t until February of 1992.
This is the third Mastorakis film to be restored by Arrow
Video — Island of Death was released in May of last year and The
Zero Boys arrives on Apr. 26.
It is something of a cult thing and Hired to Kill fits right in … a pure
guilty pleasure.
Recruited for the cast are such familiar faces as Oliver Reed
and Oscar-winners George Kennedy (Cool Hand Luke) and José Ferrer (Cyrano
de Bergerac), but its Brian Thompson as hired gun Frank Ryan and his
“magnificent seven” bevy of super model operatives that are the focus of our
attention. He’s hired to break Ferrer
out of prison and his cover is that he is a fashion photographer (with a limp
wrist) on a photo shoot (pardon us while we snicker).
Yeah, right, that’s just an excuse for some skin between
episodes of violence, but let’s give our boy Frank Ryan an A for effort in
trying to sell dictator Michael Bartos (Reed) that he’s not the rugged action
he appears to be (the big scene: “The Kiss”).
As to bonus goodies, Arrow Video has a commentary option
with veteran film editor Barry Zetlin (Breeders, Friday the 13th Part VII: The New
Blood, Cellar Dweller, Children of the Corn II: The Final Sacrifice,
etc.), newly prepared video sessions with both filmmaker Nico Mastorakis and
the film’s star, Brian Thompson, plus there’s a copy of the original shooting
script (which was titled “Freedom or Death”).
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