A Double Dose of Dark 'HISTORY'

2-Movie Collection: AMERICAN HISTORY X and A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE (Blu-ray)

1998/2005 / 215 min (2 movies)

Warner Bros

Available at MovieZyng.com

Review by Princess Pepper😺

Some dedicated physical media collectors poo-poo re-issue collections like this, but as long as the movies themselves are still packaged on individual discs, I don’t really have a problem with it. If both titles are worth owning, it’s a lot easier on my wallet. And with available shelf space being an increasing issue in the movie cave, I appreciate being able to save a little room

So as long as the video/audio transfers don’t suck, here’s hoping the major studios keep offering this option. This particular set collects two older New Line Cinema releases that are thematically unrelated, but in terms of tone and overall intensity, they make a nice pairing.

1998’s American History X features a tour-de-force performance by Edward Norton as Derek Vinyard, a former neo-Nazi who has just been released from prison. Renouncing his affiliation with the white supremacist group, Disciples of Christ, he’s now trying to keep his impressionable younger brother, Danny (Edward Furlong), from following the same path.

Alternating between the present-tense and black & white flashbacks of Derek’s harrowing rise (and fall) as an Aryan leader, the film is often a disturbing, uncomfortable experience (even after multiple viewings). At the same time, it’s the character relationships (good and bad) that ultimately drive the narrative, leading to moments both heartwarming and tragic. Thematically, it’s a little heavy-handed at times, but still delivers a strong message. It also features one of the most horrifying deaths I’ve ever seen.

EXTRA KIBBLES - ADDITIONAL SCENES; TRAILER

"No, you may not take cuts."

Considering director David Cronenberg’s reputation at the time, 2005’s A History of Violence was something of a departure. Equal parts thriller and family drama, the film is about small-town diner owner Tom Stall (Viggo Mortensen), who thwarts a robbery by killing both attackers. Soon after, all the unwanted media attention brings a group of gangsters into town, led by Carl Fogarty (Ed Harris), who’s convinced Tom is actually former hitman Joey Cusack, the brother of mob boss Richie (William Hurt). It’s a revelation that wreaks havoc on Tom’s personal life and estranges him from his wife, Edie (Maria Bello).

Though never as goopy or gory as Cronenberg’s most notorious films, the violence is still pretty potent. However, it isn’t what drives the story. Front-and-center is the increasingly tumultuous family dynamic, which is effectively realized by Mortensen, Bello, and Ashton Holmes (playing Tom’s bullied son). A History of Violence certainly isn’t the director’s flashiest film, but it might be his most down-to-Earth, humanistic one, with a subtly haunting denouement.

EXTRA KIBBLES - FEATURETTES: Violence’s History: United States Version vs. International Version; Too Commercial for Cannes; The Unmaking of Scene 44 (a fascinating look at an unused scene, which is ironically the most ‘Cronenbergian’; ACTS OF VIOLENCE is an hour-long, six-part making of doc; AUDIO COMMENTARY by David Cronenberg; DELETED SCENE (the aforementioned scene 44); TRAILER 

This is a re-issue of a Blu-ray originally released in 2011.