A History of Violence

2006 Oscar nominee:
Best Supporting Actor (William Hurt)
Best Adapted Screenplay (Josh Olson)

In this thrill-packed actioner, small-town diner owner, Tom Stall (Viggo Mortensen, the Lord of the Rings trilogy) finds himself a local hero after he successfully takes down two thugs during an attempted robbery. But his sudden celebrity draws unwanted attention from the outside world, including mobsters Carl Fogarty (Academy Award nominee Ed Harris, A Beautiful Mind) and Richie Cusack (Academy Award winner William Hurt, Kiss of the Spider Woman), who insist that Tom is intricately tied their past. Fogarty begins stalking Stall's wife (Maria Bello, The Cooler) and children, resulting in a bloody standoff in which Tom must protect his family from what is either a case of mistaken identity or a violent past that's finally caught up with him.

"A masterpiece of indirection and pure visceral thrills, David Cronenberg's latest mindblower is the feel-good, feel-bad movie of the year." Manohla Dargis, The New York Times

"Violence is in the spirit of the hardest-hitting film noir offerings from the '50s, but far more explicit." USA Today

"This is not a movie about plot, but about character. It is about how people turn out the way they do, and about whether the world sometimes functions like a fool's paradise." Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

"A gripping, incendiary, casually subversive piece of work that marries pulp watchability with larger concerns without skipping a beat." Los Angeles Times

"Other films this year will have to sweat bullets to match the explosive power and subversive wit of David Cronenberg's A History of Violence." Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

"There's not a scene wasted in the 97-minute unspooling, not a detour that doesn't tell, surprise, horrify, delight. (Grade: A)" Entertainment Weekly

DVD Features:

• Available Subtitles: English, Spanish
• Available Audio Tracks: English (Dolby Digital 5.1), English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround)
• Commentary by director David Cronenberg
• Deleted scene with optional commentary by director David Cronenberg
• "Acts of Violence" hour-long documentary
• "Violence's History: U.S. vs. International Versions" featurette
• "Too Commercial for Cannes" featurette
• "The Unmaking of Scene 44" featurette