History of Violence - Drama Classic Movies on DVD (2005) Starring Viggo Mortensen; Maria Bello; William Hurt & Ed Harris; Directed by David Cronenberg; New Line Home Video : OLDIES.com

DVD Features:

Audio:

(unspecified) - English

Additional Release Material:

Audio Commentary - David Cronenberg - Director
Deleted Scenes - With Commentary by David Cronenberg - Director
Documentary - "Acts of Violence"
Featurettes - 1. "The Unmakeing of Scene 44"
2. "Violence's History: U.S. vs. International Versions"
3. "Too Commercial for Cannes"

Entertainment Reviews:

Movieline's Hollywood Life - 09/01/2005

"Some of the performers -- especially Maria Bello as the hero's wife and Ed Harris as a mysterious stranger -- are gripping."

Rolling Stone - 10/06/2005

"The family tableau that ends the film is as chilling and redemptive as anything Cronenberg has ever crafted....You won't know what hit you."

Uncut - 10/01/2005

"Cronenberg plays that pulp-revenge thriller plot with a perfectly pitched straight face throughout..."

Entertainment Weekly - 10/07/2005

"It's about the violence that surpasseth all understanding -- a cataclysm of awful consequence that unfolds with insidious intimacy and a Cronenbergian delight in the animal squish and shock of torn bodies." -- Grade: A

New York Times - 09/23/2005

"A masterpiece of indirection and pure visceral thrills, David Cronenberg's latest mindblower, A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE, is the feel-good, feel-bad movie of the year."

Sight and Sound - 10/01/2005

"Cronenberg's masterful, intelligent and gripping meta-thriller leaves us pondering about our enduringly perverse desire for alternative realities, in which surrogate violent alter egos run righteously and preposterously amok."

USA Today - 09/23/2005

"[With] a fabulous Ed Harris in Blues Brothers shades as a mutilated Mob smoothie; the best William Hurt in years; and career-topping work by both leads. Always keeping us unbalanced, VIOLENCE finally seems less eccentric than scintillatingly original."

Premiere - 02/01/2006

"[I]t's tight, exciting, and, let's not forget, hilarious."

Uncut - 01/01/2006

Ranked #1 in Uncut's Best Films Of 2005 -- "An heroic mainstream comeback for director David Cronenberg....A modern American masterpiece."

Entertainment Weekly - 12/30/2005

Included in Entertainment Weekly's Top Ten Films Of The Year -- "Right to the last shot, this thrilling, hardheaded movie refuses to draw conclusions....This is the best movie of the year."

Product Description:

Canadian director David Cronenberg, whose impressive oeuvre includes such disparate works as THE DEAD ZONE, THE FLY, DEAD RINGERS, M. BUTTERFLY, and SPIDER, has made what might be the best film of his career with A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE. Loosely based on the graphic novel by John Wagner and Vince Locke, the movie stars Viggo Mortensen as Tom Stall, a quiet, easygoing family man who runs a diner in a small Indiana town. But when two dangerous criminals come into the restaurant prepared to wreak havoc, Stall turns hero and shoots them both. After Stall's story is blasted all over the media, Philly mobster Carl Fogaty (an excellent Ed Harris) shows up, claiming that Tom is actually former hit man Joey Cusack--and they've got some important business to finish. While Stall insists that Fogaty is mistaken, his family--his wife, Edie (Maria Bello); teenage son, Jack (Ashton Holmes); and young daughter, Sarah (Heidi Hayes)--gets dragged into the danger that constantly threatens to explode. Cronenberg, whose films often deal with the fantastical, the futuristic, and the supernatural, has done a masterly job creating a wholly believable modern world where evil lurks just around the corner. Howard Shore's tense, moody music complements the outstanding acting in a violent, powerful film that is not to be missed.

Plot Keywords:

Production Notes:

Theatrical Release: September 23, 2005

Cast and Crew:

Starring		Viggo Mortensen, Maria Bello, William Hurt & Ed Harris
Directed by		David Cronenberg
Produced by		David Cronenberg, Josh Braun & Justis Greene
Screenwriting by		Josh Olson
Composition by		Howard Shore
Director of Photography		Peter Suschitzky
Performer		Stephen McHattie & Peter MacNeill
Executive Production by		J.C. Spink, Kent Alterman & Cale Boyter
Associate Production by		Chris Bender