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Original title: History of Violence, A
Release Date
• USA: Sep 30, 2005
• UK: 30 Sep 2005
DVD Release Date
• R1: Mar 14, 2006
Budget USD 32,000,000
BoxOffice: $31.4M
Official Website:
A History of Violence Website
MPAA Rating
Rated R for strong brutal violence, graphic sexuality, nudity, language and some drug use.
Running Time
1 hour, 30 minutes
Country USA | Germany
Production Companies
New Line Productions, BenderSpink, Media I! Filmproduktion München & Company
Studio New Line Cinema
More info on IMDb.com
Other Titles
• A History of Violence (2005)
• more
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Genre: Drama, Gore, Gangsters, Gay/Lesbian, Comic Book
Tagline: Everyone has something to hide.
Plot: Canadian director David Cronenberg, whose impressive oeuvre includes such disparate works as THE DEAD ZONE, THE FLY, DEAD RINGERS, M. BUTTERFLY, and SPIDER, has made what might be the best film of his career with A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE. Loosely based on the graphic novel by John Wagner and Vince Locke, the movie stars Viggo Mortensen as Tom Stall, a quiet, easygoing family man who runs a diner in a small Indiana town. But when two dangerous criminals come into the restaurant prepared to wreak havoc, Stall turns hero and shoots them both. After Stall's story is blasted all over the media, Philly mobster Carl Fogaty (an excellent Ed Harris) shows up, claiming that Tom is actually former hit man Joey Cusack--and they've got some important business to finish. While Stall insists that Fogaty is mistaken, his family--his wife, Edie (Maria Bello); teenage son, Jack (Ashton Holmes); and young daughter, Sarah (Heidi Hayes)--gets dragged into the danger that constantly threatens to explode. Cronenberg, whose films often deal with the fantastical, the futuristic, and the supernatural, has done a masterly job creating a wholly believable modern world where evil lurks just around the corner. Howard Shore's tense, moody music complements the outstanding acting in a violent, powerful film that
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Cronenberg knows Americans have a history of violence. It's wired into our DNA. Without a hint of sermonizing, he shows how we secretly crave what we publicly condemn, and how we even make peace with it. The family tableau that ends the film is as chilling and redemptive as anything Cronenberg has ever crafted. You won't know what hit you.  --Peter Travers (Rolling Stone)
Cronenberg here appears to have (unwittingly?) stumbled on to a truth taught in the Bible — that is, however much we might try to reform, the person we once were is only too willing to come out when he gets the chance. 1/5, 3.5
Yet the star of the show is Cronenberg, whose tightrope walk between spectacle and critique hits hard at both gut and mind.-- (BBC Films)
The graphic novel source material does not summon the visualist in Cronenberg, as, say "Road to Perdition" did in Sam Mendes. But there is an equivalence in the portraits that both paints of flawed men caught in violent spirals of their own making, and shows how those spirals spin out of their control. 
Why was this routine (if slightly unpredictable) multiplex movie made as a low-budget independent? And just what drew such talented, independent filmmakers and actors to its shrug-worthy script?  --Rob Blackwelder
A History of Violence is well worth looking into if you’re tired of dumb action thrillers. It most definitely has substance (efficiently packed into 96 minutes), but judged on what it tries to be and who it should be for, the movie simply has too little to offer to be praised the way it is. As far as a history of violence is concerned, this is the Cliff notes version.  --Chris Wilson (eFilmCritic.com)
On every level, this is the work of a master filmmaker at the top of his form–a dark and dizzying exploration of the heart of darkness that beats within all of us that will force anyone who watches it to re-examine their own feelings regarding the subjects that it raises.  --Peter Sobczynski (eFilmCritic.com)
A History of Violence gives us a very realistic and disturbing look at exactly how complicated things can become when lives are touched by violence. The repercussions can be staggering. The film is a graphic illustration of what might have happened had Charles Manson visited Mayberry…only darker!
This is when the Cronenberg sensibility mind-melds with the hyper-real graphic novels that are all the rage these days with the cool kids, but "Violence" also suffers for its source material, too often detached when it gets close to human beings and one-dimensional in its approach to complex themes.
A History of Violence gives us a very realistic and disturbing look at exactly how complicated things can become when lives are touched by violence. The repercussions can be staggering. The film presents a graphic illustration of what might have happenedhad Charles Manson visited Mayberry …only darker!--Frank Wilkins
In "A History of Violence,'' director David Cronenberg's delirious wow of a movie about violence and sex and the American dream, cinema regains all its original power to shock and surprise. --Bruce Newman
This is a film with good and bad elements, but the good elements I have been familiar in films for almost half a century.
Once you know what evil lurks in the hearts of men, Cronenberg asks, how do you live with that knowledge? For all the bloodshed, it's fundamentally a cold, cold fable, the icy whisper that turns every happy thing to ash. 
Tightly-plotted, brilliantly directed, thought-provoking thriller with terrific performances from its three leads. This is one of the best films of the year. --Matthew Turner (ViewLondon)
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| Cast |
Viggo Mortensen
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King |
 | Maria Bello
Secret Window, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, Payback |
 | Ed Harris
The Truman Show, The Rock, A Beautiful Mind |
 | William Hurt
The Incredible Hulk, Into the Wild, Artificial Intelligence: AI |
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| Music By |
Howard Shore
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, The Silence of the Lambs |
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The whey-faced William Hurt is miscast as a backstabber, and the way one of the characters slips in and out of a Philadelphia accent has symbolic significance but little plausibility.
Director, David Cronenberg certainly isn't afraid to take his violence to the next level and he does that again with this movie as he mixes the violence and emotion to such a level several will consider it disturbing, but all-in-all I found it to be a breath of fresh air in a world where watered down features have become all to traditional. B---Brad Brevet
Thus, it is amusingly ironic that a film such as A History of Violence, which chooses to scrutinize initial reaction, may fall victim to impulsive judgments that are not accompanied with proper contemplation.--Chiranjit Goswami
Blood gets spilled as the plot takes twists and turns, but the real suspense comes from the sense that should the bond between the couple break, its snap will be the most destructive act Cronenberg could film.
"A History of Violence" can be enjoyed strictly on face value, as a modern-day "Death Wish," but this is a David Cronenberg film. Plenty is bubbling underneath for those willing to look and debate.
Really, there’s two wildly impressive things in this movie. One is the remarkable contrast between the innocent life of Tom Stall, and one is the disgusting brutality of his former life as Joey Cusack. Cronenberg purposely drags out A--Zak Santucci (TheCinemaSource)
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