Flesh and Blood

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Review added by
David Simpson

Certificate: 18
Running Time: 128 Mins
Retail Price: £17.99
Release Date: 06/08/2018
Content Type: Movie

Synopsis:
A deliriously violent medieval epic from genre master Paul Verhoeven ( Robocop, Total Recall), Flesh + Blood sees a savage and amoral band of mercenaries take revenge on the noblemen who betrayed them.

In Western Europe, 1501, a small army of mercenaries led by the charismatic and mercurial Martin ( Rutger Hauer; Blade Runner, The Hitcher) reclaim a heavily fortified castle for its owner Arnolfini, who then betrays the band and ejects them from the city by force. Swearing revenge, Martin leads a violent assault on the nobleman and ends up accidentally kidnapping the beautiful Agnes ( Jennifer Jason Leigh The Hateful Eight), the fiancée of Arnolfini s son Steven, who in turn pledges to wipe out the mercenary group once and for all.

With its vision of a brutal and morally bereft Medieval Europe, the film shocked audiences who had become used to the highly romanticised depictions of the era commonly seen on the big screen. Originally censored in the UK due to its extreme amounts of sex and violence, Eureka Classics is proud to present Flesh + Blood fully uncut, and on Blu-ray for the first time in the UK in a special Dual Format edition. 
ReviewA vivid and muscular, if less than fully startling, account of lust, savagery, revenge, betrayal and assorted other dark doings in the Middle Ages. --Variety
the film overflows with pestilence, plague and pillage. --Time Out
"The rawness of it all fits into Verhoeven s persistent vision of a world of mass delusion --AV Club

Special Features:
DUAL FORMAT SPECIAL FEATURES

Limited Edition O-Card slipcase (first print run only)
◾1080p presentation of the film on Blu-ray, with a progressive encode on the DVD.
◾Uncompressed LPCM audio (on the Blu-ray)
◾Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
◾Audio commentary by director Paul Verhoeven
◾ Paul Verhoeven in the Flesh (21 mins)
◾An extensive interview with director Paul Verhoeven from 2016, covering the entirety of his career up until that point (45 mins)
◾Audio interview with actor Rutger Hauer (24 mins)
◾Interview with screenwriter Gerard Soeteman (17 mins)
◾Interview with composer Basil Poledoris
◾Original theatrical trailer
◾ A collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film (first pressing only)

Related Websites:
https://www.eurekavideo.co.uk/classics/flesh-blood