Absolute Horror Wiki
Register
Advertisement
Addictionposter

The Addiction is a 1995 American vampire horror film directed by Abel Ferrara and starring Lili Taylor, Christopher Walken, and Annabella Sciorra. Edie Falco and Kathryn Erbe appear in supporting roles. The film was written by Ferrara's frequent collaborator, Nicholas St. John and was filmed in black-and-white. Its plot follows a philosophy graduate student who is turned into a vampire after being bitten by a woman during a chance encounter. After the attack, she begins to develop an addiction for human blood. The film has been considered an allegory about drug addiction, as well as an allegory of the theological concept of sin.

Plot[]

Kathleen Conklin, an introverted graduate student of philosophy at New York University, is attacked one night by a woman who calls herself "Casanova." She pushes Kathleen into a stairwell, bites her neck, and drinks her blood. Kathleen soon develops several traditional symptoms of vampirism, including aversion to daylight and distaste for food. She grows aggressive in demeanor, and propositions her dissertation advisor for sex at her apartment, afterward stealing money from his wallet while he sleeps. Jean, a doctoral candidate in Kathleen's cohort, notices a rapid change in Kathleen's personality.

During finals week in the library, Kathleen meets a female anthropology student. The two go to the woman's apartment to study, where Kathleen bites her neck. While the young woman weeps incredulously, Kathleen coldly informs her: "My indifference is not the concern here, it's your astonishment that needs studying". Later, Kathleen runs into an acquaintance, who goes by the street name "Black," at a deli. She propositions him for sex and the two leave, but soon attacks him on an empty street and drinks his blood. Later on campus, Kathleen confronts Jean, rambling about the nature of guilt, before proceeding to bite her neck and drink her blood.

While walking on the street, Kathleen meets Peina, a vampire who claims to have almost conquered his addiction and as a result is almost human. For a time he keeps her in his home trying to help her overcome hers, recommending she read William S. Burroughs' Naked Lunch. Later, Kathleen defends her dissertation to a committee, and is awarded her Doctorate of Philosophy. At the department's graduation party, she and Jean feast on the blood of a waitress in a storage closet. Afterwards, she, Casanova, Jean and some of Kathleen's other victims proceed to attack the other attendees in a bloody, chaotic orgy.

Kathleen, apparently overdosed from the bloody bacchanal and looking wracked with regret, wanders the streets. She ends up in a hospital and asks the nurse to let her die, but the nurse refuses. Kathleen decides to commit suicide by asking the nurse to open the curtains. After the nurse leaves, Casanova appears in Kathleen's hospital room, shuts the curtains, and quotes R. C. Sproul to her. Next, a Catholic priest visits Kathleen's room and agrees to administer Viaticum. In the final scene, Kathleen visits her own grave, in broad daylight. In voice-over, Kathleen quotes: "self-revelation is annihilation of self."

Advertisement