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Released by: Arrow Video
Released on: June 26th, 2018.
Director: Abel Ferrara
Cast: Lili Taylor, Christopher Walken, Annabella Sciorra, Edie Falco, Michael Imperioli
Year: 1995
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The Movie:
Kathleen Conklin (Lily Taylor) is a young philosophy student who lives in New York City. One night, after finishing up a class on atrocities committed during war time, she walks back to her apartment. Along the way, she's grabbed by Casanova (Annabella Sciorra) and pulled into a dark alleyway. Kathleen is told that if she orders Casanova to leave, she'll have to oblige - but that doesn't happen and Kathleen is bitten on the neck. Initially, after being let out of the hospital, she doesn't really think that much of it, chalking it to an encounter with one of the many unstable types that populate large cities, but of course, we know better.
A short time later, during a lecture, Kathleen is clearly not feeling well. After vomiting blood, she winds up back at the hospital where but is once again soon released. The next day she meets her friend Jean (Edie Falco) for lunch but doesn't have much of an appetite. As the story progresses, we notice that Kathleen is avoiding light, wearing sunglasses all the time and covering up mirrors when and where she can. After that, she finds a homeless man and drinks his blood - but it's not enough. From here, she sets up a series of victims, eventually scoping out an older man named Peina (Christopher Walken) only to find out he too is a vampire. He claims to be able to teach her to live as a vampire without the need for blood… but not until she reads a copy of Naked Lunch.
Directed by Abel Ferrara and written by longtime collaborator Nicholas St. John, The Addiction is more of a philosophical art film than a traditional horror movie, though the scenes of bloody neck biting give it enough of a genre film anchor to quality there as well. As Kathleen's experiences evolve, we're privy to her thoughts by way of the film's narration wherein she quite frequently talks to herself about the changes that she's undergoing and how to cope with becoming something both more and less than human. Of course, as the title indicates, the whole thing is an allegory for drug addiction and substance abuse but as heavy handed as it can get at times, you have to admire the creativity and penchant for extrapolating from the narrative an impressively interesting take on the parasitical nature of vampirism and, in turn, addiction. And, as this is a Ferrara film, some underlying themes of the merits of Catholicism and
Like the best of Ferrara's films, New York City is as much a character in this movie as any of the human - or undead - denizens that inhabit it. Seeing it shot in the mid-nineties in black and white gives us some interesting visuals to take in and, somehow, it suits the story really well. The visuals are strong throughout, shadowy and atmospheric, almost noirish at times, but as strong as the imagery is, the real reason to check this out is for Lily Taylor's fantastic performance. As Kathleen evolves from being confused over what's happened to her to an almost primordial beast ruled by bloodlust, her acting goes to great lengths to communicate this not just with her dialogue, but with her body language as well. The supporting work in the picture is great - Walken's appearance is just as loopy as you could hope it would be - but this is Taylor's show all the way and she really does make the most of it.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Arrow brings The Addiction to Blu-ray on a 50GB disc in AVC encoded 1080p high definition framed in its original aspect ratio of 1.85.1 widescreen sourced from a new 4k scan of the original 35mm negative. This is, by anyone's standard, a beautiful transfer. The black and white image shows perfect contrast with strong black levels, clean whites and a nice greyscale. Grain inherent in the original elements is left intact, but it's never distracting, it just simply adds some welcome texture to the image. There are no obvious compression artifacts nor are there any issues with noise reduction or edge enhancement issues. Detail is very strong from start to finish and there's very good depth to the image as well. The image is also very clean, showing no problematic print damage, just the occasional small white speck now and then to remind us that this was shot on film.
Audio options are provided in DTS-HD 5.1 or LPCM 2.0 English language tracks with optional subtitles offered up in English only. The 5.1 mix is quite strong, using surround channels to build atmosphere and mood without bombarding the audience with over the top sound effects. This is subtle at times, but very effective. Additionally, the 2.0 mix is also quite strong, though it obviously lacks the surround elements of the 5.1 mix and so some may find that it's not quite as engrossing. Either way, both tracks are clean, clear and properly balanced - there are no issues here to note.
The substantial selection of extras on the disc start out with an audio commentary by Abel Ferrara, moderated by critic and biographer Brad Stevens. If you've heard Ferrara's commentary tracks before you'll know that he has a tendency to ramble on about things that aren't always related to the movie and that he tends to lose focus - this happens quite frequently here, despite Stevens' best efforts. Ferrara talks over him quite often, but when he's engaged and into it, he's an interesting subject. Thankfully that's often enough to make this track worthwhile, and when he's off on his periodic tangents, he's at least still entertaining to listen to. Ferrara is one of a kind, that's for sure.
From there, we move on to the thirty-one-minute Talking With The Vampires, a new documentary about the making of the film made by Ferrara himself that features interviews with cast members Christopher Walken and Lili Taylor, composer Joe Delia, Ken Kelsch and, not to be left out, Ferrara himself. This is great stuff, and it covers a lot of ground from shooting on location in New York City at night to the black and white cinematography to substance abuse issues and how various actors got along on set and quite a bit more. This is interesting and quite a bit more refined than the looser structure of the commentary track - it's also interesting that Ferrara actually interviews the participants himself, which gives things a bit more of a personal touch.
Additionally, the disc includes a separate solo interview with Ferrara that runs sixteen-minutes. He talks in quite a bit of detail about his own well-known issues with abuse over the years, how that ties into the film and a fair bit more. The guy is pretty blunt about certain things, you've got to appreciate his honesty. We also get a nine-minute interview with Brad Stevens that is more of a critical reading and appreciation of the film than anything else. He makes some interesting points here about the effectiveness of the metaphors used in the film, the cast, the locations, and of course the director's contributions to all of this. Both of these are exclusive to this release. Arrow also includes Abel Ferrara Edits The Addiction, a nine-minute archival piece shot during the course of the production. As the title suggests, the focus here is on Ferrara's editing process, one key scene in particular.
Rounding out the extras on the disc is an original trailer for the feature, menus and chapter selection.
The Final Word:
Arrow's presentation of Abel Ferrara's The Addiction is pretty much flawless. The presentation is gorgeous and the extras are plentiful and quite interesting. The film itself is a grim and challenging affair but it's very well made - worth seeing just for Lili Taylor alone, but there's so much more to recommend it for than just her work. Overall, a very impressive package for a wholly deserving film.
Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!
