The Addiction

Stephanie Prange

May 29, 2018

MVD Entertainment will release a pair of films on Blu-ray Disc from Arrow Video June 26.

Vincent Ward’s directorial debut, Vigil, is a New Zealand film that was the first from the country to screen in competition at the Cannes Film Festival. It follows an 11-year-old girl attempting to get over the death of her father who is determined to protect her family from a mysterious stranger that she believes to be the Devil.

Special features include:

• a new appreciation by film critic Nick Roddick, recorded exclusively for this release;
• an on-set report from the long-running New Zealand television program “Country Calendar”;
• an extract from a 1987 Kaleidoscope television documentary on New Zealand cinema, focusing on Vigil and Vincent Ward;
• the theatrical trailer; and
• for the first pressing only, an illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by critic Carmen Gray.

Also due is the 1995 Abel Ferrara black-and-white vampire film The Addiction. In the cult classic, philosophy grad student Kathleen (Lili Taylor) is bitten by a vampire and must learn to come to terms with her new lifestyle, which now features a frequent craving for human blood. The film has undergone a new restoration from a 4K scan of the original camera negative by Arrow Films, approved by Ferrara and director of photography Ken Kelsch.

Special features include:

• audio commentary by Ferrara, moderated by critic and biographer Brad Stevens;
• “Talking with the Vampires” (2018), a new documentary about the film made by Ferrara especially for this release, featuring actors Christopher Walken and Lili Taylor, composer Joe Delia, Ken Kelsch and Ferrara himself;
• a new interview with Ferrara;
• a new interview with Brad Stevens;
• “Abel Ferrara Edits The Addiction,” an archival piece from the time of production;
• the original trailer;
• a reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Peter Strain; and
• for the first pressing only, an illustrated collector’s booklet containing new writing on the film by critic Michael Ewins.