Director: Abel Ferrara
Screenplay: Nicholas St. John
Starring: Lili Taylor and Christopher Walken
Country: United States
Running Time: 82 min
Year: 1995
I’ve spoken about my love for Abel Ferrara in the past while covering his decent 80s film Fear City (which you can read my review for here) and as time goes on, he’s becoming one of my favourite filmmakers of all time. I mean, who else has made as many classics as him? Bad Lieutenant, King of New York, Body Snatchers, China Girl, Ms. 45, The Driller Killer and of course, The Addiction. While his late-era pieces can be more divisive, I’m a huge fan of that too. All in all, he’s one of my favourites and when I heard that Arrow were reissuing one of his most beloved works amongst cinephiles, The Addiction, I had to cover it for the website.
While Ferrara’s work has always had a bleak edge to it, The Addiction might very well be his darkest and most dour feature out there. The film follows university student Kathleen, played by Lili Taylor, who’s attacked by a woman late one night and slowly begins turning into a vampire. Once Kathleen is approached by a vampire named Peina, played by Ferrara regular Christopher Walken, she attempts to beat her addiction once and for all. Shot in gorgeous black-and-white, the film uses the themes of vampirism and treats them as an allegory for drug addiction in an uncomfortably realistic manner.
Ferrara and writer Nicholas St. John clearly had a lot on their mind making this film, and I don’t think I’m even fully capable of analysing the film in every way, given how rich the film is but there’s themes of drug addiction as previously mentioned, with Kathleen stealing blood from people and injecting it into her body, as well as references to the AIDS crisis of the late 80s and early 90s, religious imagery (which is a given in Ferrara’s work) and much, much more that I don’t want to give away for those who haven’t seen the film.
Lili Taylor is absolutely tremendous in the film, and is required to go to some extremely dark places which she pulls off with flying colours. It’s a dark, moody performance but Kathleen goes through a range of emotions in a manner you’d expect from a character with an addiction, and it’s one of the strongest performances in a Ferrara film easily. Walken is delightful in his sequences too, although he’s saved for the latter half of the film and isn’t as present as some might expect.
It’s also quite possibly Ferrara’s best looking film and I wish he shot more of his films in black and white, if they called for it, of course. It’s obvious that the film takes place in the 90s, given a lot of the dialogue, the fantastic hip-hop soundtrack featuring artists like Cypress Hill, Onyx and Schooly D, but there’s a timeless quality about the look of the film. Arrow’s UHD presentation is fantastic, which I’ll dive into with the latter half of my review, but it’s an incredibly well-directed feature that’s tailor-made for the UHD format. Joe Delia’s score for the film is also fantastic, offering some incredibly disturbing and eerie pieces of music to complement some of the more horrifying scenes in the film.
All in all, while it’s not my absolute favourite Ferrara film, it’s up there for me as one of his best. It’s difficult to really highlight any issues with the film, outside of the fact that it’s so unpleasant that it might throw off some viewers. I was initially watching the film alongside a friend who had to leave halfway through because of how bleak it was, and said he wanted to give it another shot in the future when he was in the right headspace. That’s something I totally get, because it’s a tough watch. If you think you have it in you to watch a harrowing film that uses the classic tropes of vampirism as an allegory for severe drug addiction, give this one a watch. Again, it won’t be for everyone but I think it stands among Ferrara’s best films and I couldn’t recommend it enough.
Film: 
The Addiction releases on the 9th of December via Arrow Video on Limited Edition 4K UHD Blu-ray. Arrow previously released the film on Blu-ray back in 2018, and this is a reissue of the title with a native 4K transfer and Dolby Vision HDR. All of the extras, audio tracks and other content is identical to the Blu-ray release. The 4K UHD transfer is honestly as close to perfect as one could want from a UHD release. The image quality is phenomenal, the black levels are outstanding and the bitrates are always exceedingly high. Audio wise, there’s two tracks, a 2.0 track and a 5.1 track. I tried out both and ended up sticking with the 2.0 mix, but both are great. Given the mix of fairly lowkey dialogue and booming hip-hop tracks, it’s mixed exceptionally well. Optional English subtitles are included. All things considered, this is one of the best Arrow UHD transfers I’ve ever seen. The following extras are included:
LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS
Brand new 4K restoration from the original camera negative by Arrow Films
4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray™ presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10/compatible)
Optional lossless 5.1 and 2.0 soundtracks
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
Audio commentary by director Abel Ferrara, moderated by critic and biographer Brad Stevens
Talking with the Vampires, a 2018 documentary about the film, featuring actors Christopher Walken and Lili Taylor, composer Joe Delia, cinematographer Ken Kelsch, and Ferrara himself
2018 interview with Abel Ferrara
2018 interview with Brad Stevens
Abel Ferrara Edits The Addiction, an archival piece from the time of production
Original trailer
Image gallery
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Peter Strain
Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring writing on the film by critic Michael Ewins and an archival interview with Ferrara by Paul Duane
As I stated before, all of the extras are ported from Arrow’s Blu-ray release and there’s no new additions this time around. Still, I’ll cover them for those interested.
The archival audio commentary with Abel Ferrara and Brad Stevens is incredible. When I say incredible, of course, there’s tons of fun anecdotal pieces of information about the production but also, this is an Abel Ferrara commentary. For those unfamiliar, Ferrara’s commentaries are a riot, purely for how hilarious the man is to listen to. Talking about not getting permits to shoot in public places to the fact that it’s shot in black and white because it’s not a Hammer horror film, it’s delightful. Honestly, it’s a commentary track so good, it’s worth picking up the release for but that can also be said for any Blu-ray release with a Ferrara commentary track. Side note, anybody interested in other great Ferrara commentaries, check out Arrow’s releases of King of New York and The Driller Killer. They’re all a riot.
Talking with the Vampires is the 2018 documentary ported over from Arrow’s Blu-ray. Running for 31 minutes, it features interviews with cast and crew members like Abel Ferrara, Lili Taylor and Christopher Walken and Joe Delia. It’s a solid retrospective piece that’s filmed by Ferrara himself and because of that, it’s a fun time. A lot of people are unaware about Ferrara’s documentary work, but it’s equally as interesting as his narrative features. Definitely check this one out.
Two interviews from 2018 are included, one with director Abel Ferrara and one with film critic Brad Stevens. The Ferrara piece runs for 16 minutes and his opening sentence begins with the phrase “ya dig” so you know you’re in for a good time. He talks about the powerful nature of having a female protagonist, his collaborations with writer Nicholas St. John, cinematographer Ken Kelsch and more. A delightful interview. The Brad Stevens interview lasts for 9 minutes and he goes over some of the comparisons between The Addiction and Ferrara’s earlier film Ms. 45 narratively, as well as how people can misinterpret some of the themes of the film. It’s a good, but brief piece.
Abel Ferrara Edits The Addiction runs for 8 minutes and is exactly what it says on the tin, it features Ferrara editing sequences from the film. It’s a fun archival piece that’s worth your time.
The original 36 second theatrical trailer is included, alongside an image gallery.
I wasn’t provided with the slipcover or the booklet, so I’m unable to comment on those but I assume that they’re identical to Arrow’s 2018 Blu-ray release.
Ferrara’s The Addiction could very well be his masterpiece and Arrow Video have done a tremendous job reissuing it to 4K UHD. While there’s nothing new over their already excellent Blu-ray release, the extras are so good that it’s not a real problem. The new native 4K transfer is phenomenal and it sounds great too. One of the year’s best releases, hands down. Buy it now.
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