One of David Cronenberg’s Defining Masterpieces Just Came to Criterion

Arguably one of the more mainstream works by the celebrated filmmaker David Cronenberg, A History of Violence finds him peering into the heart of darkness in an all-American homestead — and emerging with one of his most memorably unsettling provocations in a career full of them.

In his first of many collaborations with the director, Viggo Mortensen stars as Tom Stall, a family man whose dark past in organized crime comes to light after he literally leaps into action to prevent two would-be robbers from terrorizing his diner. The lethal force and efficiency with which Tom dispatches the assailants makes him a local hero in his idyllic corner of small-town Indiana, but it also unsettles his facade of normalcy.

Initially, his wife (Maria Bello) is sexually excited by what she senses in her husband, and their teenage son (Ashton Holmes) is inspired by his model of heroism. But when a menacing gangster (Ed Harris) turns up to level a startling accusation—that Tom is in fact Joey Cusack, a former mob hitman from Philadelphia—the family’s understanding of reality is forever transformed.

Adapted from the graphic novel of the same name by John Wagner and Vince Locke, originally published by two imprints of DC Comics, A History of Violence is a film fascinated by the psychology of this character, who is indeed running from himself but has also inhabited his new life to such a degree that calling it a cover would be incorrect. In a performance of unsettling physical and existential duality, Mortensen is mesmerizing to watch as a man housing two versions of himself: both identities somehow true, each an individually convincing mask, neither complete without the other.

How Was A History of Violence Received Upon Release?

After premiering at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival, where it competed for the Palme d’Or, the film was released to considerable acclaim, with New York Times critic Manohla Dargis hailing it as “a masterpiece of indirection and pure visceral thrills” and reflecting that “few directors working today know more about the erotics of screen violence than this filmmaker, who can make your head spin and your pulse quicken with a single edit.”

For the Village Voice, which ranked it as the best film of 2005 in its year-end poll, critic J. Hoberman wrote that “Cronenberg's movie manages to have its cake and eat it — impersonating an action flick in its staccato mayhem while questioning these violent attractions every step of the way.” This wolf-in-sheep’s-clothing characteristic of A History of Violence was observed also by Chicago Reader critic Jonathan Rosenbaum, who noted that “Cronenberg isn't engaging in parody or irony. Nor is he nihilistically pandering to our worst impulses: the filmmaking is too measured and too intelligent. He implicitly respects us and our responses, even when those responses are silly or disturbing.”

Unusually, for a Cronenberg film, awards voters embraced A History of Violence, with supporting actor William Hurt (who plays Richie Cusack, Joey’s dangerous brother) nominated for an Oscar alongside screenwriter Josh Olson (whose adapted screenplay was reportedly reworked by both Cronenberg and Mortensen). If the film was initially well-received, its reputation has only grown in the years since its release. The prestigious French film magazine Cahiers du Cinéma ranked A History of Violence as the fifth-best film of its decade, and it has since appeared on lists of the greatest films of the 21st century from publications like Rolling Stone and Empire.

Why Is A History of Violence Important to See Now?

Across his distinctive body of work, Cronenberg has been fascinated both by matters of the flesh and the amorphous insides of his characters. Considering the complexities of our bodies and their realities, and the relationship between one’s capacity for violence and their innermost self, this film feels like one of his most direct statements about the unique contradictions of American identity. In its story of a self-made man and what lurks inside him, it has much to say about the difficulties of assimilation — and how the opportunity to reinvent oneself is essential to iconic American mythologies of individualism and masculinity.

Best known as a key originator of the body-horror genre through flesh-rending freakouts like Videodrome and Scanners, as well as romantic tragedy The Fly and erotic psychodrama Crash, Cronenberg has long been fascinated by physical and psychological issues of metamorphosis. Compared to those earlier films, A History of Violence keeps everything under the skin — but it’s a work as obsessively conscious of the human body and its eruptive potential as any Cronenberg’s made. Twenty years later, A History of Violence holds up as one of his most emotionally riveting and psychologically rich meditations on the base animal impulses that make us who we are.

What New Features Does Criterion’s A History of Violence 4K UHD Blu-Ray Have?

A History of Violence was notably one of the last Hollywood films to be released on VHS; by 2006, that once-ubiquitous home-video format had been near-entirely displaced by compact, higher-quality DVDs, then by even sleeker Blu-ray discs. And while physical-media collectors might hold onto those earlier versions of the film as mementos of a bygone era, it’s safe to say that Criterion’s edition of A History of Violence is a significant upgrade and certain to become the definitive release for this title.

With a new 4K digital restoration from the original 35mm camera negative and a 2K digital intermediate, presented in Dolby Vision in its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio, this release is superior in all respects to the previous Blu-ray, which suffered from a surplus of digital noise reduction and had a softer, more muted look. Avoiding the distracting flatness of that previous release, this sharp new 4K treatment—which was personally supervised by director of photography Peter Suschitzky and approved by Cronenberg—provides unparalleled texture, detail, and definition, rendering film grain beautifully while allowing the film’s brooding, understated color palette to truly pop. The 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack is similarly dynamic and well-balanced throughout.

Additional supplements, some of which have been carried over from previous releases, include:

• Audio commentary featuring Cronenberg
• New interview with screenwriter Josh Olson, conducted by writer-producer Tom Bernardo
• Excerpts of Cronenberg and actor Viggo Mortensen in conversation at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival
• Acts of Violence, a 66-minute documentary on the making of the film, featuring behind-the-scenes footage
• Three featurettes
• Deleted scene with commentary by Cronenberg
• Trailer
• English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• An essay by critic Nathan Lee

A History of Violence is now available on 4K UHD/Blu-Ray from the Criterion Collection.