One of Ferrara's most idiosyncratic yet popular slices of misanthropy.
The Addiction (1995)
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Reviews Counted:26
Fresh:19
Rotten:7
Average Rating:6.3/10
Consensus: Abel Ferrara's 1995 horror/suspense experiment blends urban vampire adventure with philosophical analysis to create a smart, idiosyncratic, and undeniably odd take on the genre.
Runtime: 82 mins
Genre: Horror/Suspense
Synopsis: In director Abel Ferrara's THE ADDICTION, vulnerable New York University grad student Kathleen (Lili Taylor) becomes a philosophic vampire after an alleyway attack. Shot in expressionistic black... In director Abel Ferrara's THE ADDICTION, vulnerable New York University grad student Kathleen (Lili Taylor) becomes a philosophic vampire after an alleyway attack. Shot in expressionistic black and white, Ferrara's film blends a cool underground aesthetic with analytical digressions on Nietzsche and Kierkegaard delivered in a breathy voice-over as Kathleen stalks and seduces new victims. Parallels are drawn between vampirism and drug addiction--and intellectualism and genocide--as Kathleen bites and infects a cross section of the East Village, including cabbies, hustlers, and professors, while completing her doctoral thesis on the nature of evil. Her attacks and dissertations are accented by footage from Vietnam, Bosnia, and Nazi death camps that further the parallels. Christopher Walken has a memorable scene as Peina, an older vampire who gives Kathleen some sage advice. Schoolly D provides a fittingly nihilistic rap soundtrack. As with most of Ferrara's films written by longtime collaborator Nicholas St. John, this is a heady, hallucinatory mix of urban grit, violence, and spirituality. Different from the typical vampire film by a mile, it's worth investigating, especially for Taylor, letter-perfect in her unique role. [More]
Starring: Lili Taylor, Christopher Walken, Annabella Sciorra, Edie Falco
Starring: Lili Taylor, Christopher Walken, Annabella Sciorra, Edie Falco, Paul Calderon, Fredro Starr, Kathryn Erbe, Michael Imperioli, Jamal Redrum Simmons
Director: Abel Ferrara
Director: Abel Ferrara
Screenwriter: Nicholas St. John
Producer: Denis Hann, Fernando Sulichin
Reviews for The Addiction
Scary, funny, magnificently risible, this could be the most pretentious B-movie ever -- and I mean that as a compliment.
It's got a remarkable visual texture, integrity to burn, and almost -- but not quite -- enough intelligence to justify its lofty ambitions.
No matter, without exactly transcending the awful material, Ferrara puts it across with astonishing poetry and conviction.
What we get is a slight, but entertaining movie, that's (dare I say it?) unintentionally funny at times.
Reflecting Ferrara's obsession with guilt and redemption, the film acknowledges the capacity for evil, urging viewers to take responsibility for their actions, or else there won't be a way to arrest evil's diffusion from one generation to the next.
Love him or hate him, Mr. Ferrara is one of the few directors who can turn genre movies into something deeper.
Christopher Walken, who always looks like one of the living dead, proves that he hasn't exhausted his capacity to make your skin crawl.
Ferrara's film both impresses and terrifies sufficiently for most of its duration.
Abel Ferrara, working from a rabidly ambitious script by Nicholas St. John, gives the genre a provocative and perversely funny snap that Anne Rice might envy.
Ferrara sinks his teeth into a moral fable that equates bloodlust with amorality and postulates that there may, even now, be salvation for the sinner.
Latest News for The Addiction
October 03, 2008:
Further Reading: Marion Cotillard and Forest Whittaker in Abel Ferrara's Mary
As the NFT in London prepares a Juliette Binoche season, Kim looks at Abel Ferrara's Mary which also stars Marion Cotillard and Forest Whittaker. More...
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