The Addiction 4K UHD

In the films of Abel Ferrara, there are hunters and there is prey.  And his best work follows characters in transition between the two. 1995’s The Addiction is what some might call an unconventional vampire movie.  Although it adheres to two of the most familiar conventions - an aversion to sunlight and a thirst for human blood – Ferrara’s undead are also beset by philosophical questions of free will and other existential crises. It seems immortality raises the stakes on what makes life worth living in general.

Kathy (Lili Taylor) is on the cusp of completing her doctoral thesis in philosophy at NYU when she is bitten on the neck by a seductive stranger (Annabella Sciorra).  Suddenly her scholarly obsession with death becomes a physical reality as she wanders the streets searching for victims and some sort of meaning in her new undead existence.  Schooled by a vampire elder (Christopher Walken), Kathy comes to an educational epiphany that mixes Jean-Paul Sarte and Bram Stoker in equal measure.

For all the star power on display (besides Walken there’s also future Soprano co-stars Edie Flaco and Michael Imperioli), The Addiction could easily be mistaken for a NYU student project.  Shot in black-and-white with minimal music, no special effects and wall-to-wall intellectual diatribes, Ferrara plays up the ‘90s low-budget film festival format to full effect. But, damn, if it doesn’t tap a vein just the same with allusions to politics, drug use and the human condition all competing for attention.

Taylor was an indie darling at the time - this role falling between similar off-center performances in Say Anything and I Shot Andy Warhol - and she is perfectly cast as a victim of academia who discovers her entire education is a supernatural farce.  Walken, as he is wont to do, walks away with a two-scene cameo that the movie never really able to top.  But Ferrara gives the film a gritty vibe reminiscent of his early exploitation days (there’s a lot of Ms. 45 in The Addiction’s DNA) and a third-act feeding frenzy that is tough to shake.

Although it might seem an unlikely choice for a 4K upgrade, Arrow’s new UHD is seriously gasp-worthy, turning up details on the late Ken Kelsch blue-collar beautiful cinematography.  The new 4K restoration is paired up with all the previous extras from the Blu-ray edition (commentary, documentary, interviews, trailer) and collector’s booklet.

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