Vengeance Is Mine
Vengeance Is Mine
Vengeance Is Mine
Vengeance Is Mine
Vengeance Is Mine
Vengeance Is Mine
Vengeance Is Mine
Vengeance Is Mine
Vengeance Is Mine
Vengeance Is Mine
Vengeance Is Mine
Vengeance Is Mine

The Film Desk

Vengeance Is Mine

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Edition Type: Standard Edition

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This Partner Label release is distributed through Vinegar Syndrome's sister company OCN Distribution. Vinegar Syndrome had no part in, nor are responsible for, the restoration, extras, quality control or any content(s) of this release. We hope you enjoy our growing roster of Partner Labels and the expertise and curation brought to each release by their dedicated staff!

Details

This listing is for the standard edition Blu-ray. The limited edition slipcover (designed by Brandon Schaefer) was limited to 1,000 units and is sold out. The two versions are identical, aside from the slipcover.

The Film Desk is a theatrical and disc distributor founded in 2007 by Jake Perlin, dedicated to releasing masterpieces of international cinema, with a focus on titles never before released in the United States, or long out of circulation, primarily in new 35mm prints.  

Returning to her East Coast childhood home to heal old familial wounds, Jo (Brooke Adams, Days Of Heaven, Invasion Of The Body Snatchers), finds her adoptive mother withdrawn and distant, and a half-sister who has successfully escaped the cold clutches of their family. Impulsively, Jo enters into the troubled life of the neighbors, befriending a couple whose marriage is collapsing under the weight of alcoholism and mental illness.

A melodrama without the traditional indicators, Vengeance Is Mine (originally titled Haunted), is a considerably more pointed continuation of Roemer’s previous insights on fraught relationships. Though completely different in tone than Nothing But A Man and The Plot Against Harry, Vengeance Is Mine forms a trinity of utterly original works confronting the inevitable complications within the American family.

directed by: Michael Roemer
starring: Brooke Adams, Trish Van Devere, Ari Meyers, Jon DeVries
1984 / 118 min / 1.66:1 / English DTS-HD MA 1.0

Additional info:

  • Region A Blu-ray
  • Q&A with Michael Roemer and Brooke Adams, moderated by Bilge Ebiri
  • Interview with Michael Roemer by A.S. Hamrah
  • Essay on Brooke Adams by Madelyn Sutton
  • New trailer by Zach Clark
  • English SDH subtitles

        Overall rating: 4.714286 / 5 from 84 reviews.

        AI Generated Review Summary

        Vengeance Is Mine, a Blu-ray release, is praised for its well-developed characters, compelling storytelling, and special features. The film's drama and performances, particularly by Brooke Adams, are highly regarded. However, opinions on the title vary.

        Summary topics

        • Character Development: 8%
        • Special Features: 7%
        • Product Release: 17%
        • Drama Quality: 13%

        Review topics: ["quality","packaging","picture","buy","work","film","performances","release","drama","brooke adams","melodrama","features","title","movie","characters","acting","transfer","storytelling","illness","booklet","flick","dynamics","masterpiece","portrayal","story","discovery"].

        Review highlights

        • "The storytelling of this film is great and the special features are great." — Sebastian M.
        • "Brilliant melodrama with spectacular performances." — Neil D.
        • "Good character study, nice collection of features." — Hai Z.

        Reviews

        Better than it looks

        "It's easy to be throw off by the look of this movie in the first few minutes, but give it time and it opens up nicely."

        — James B. (5/5)

        Amazing TV Movie

        "TV movie with emotional complexity and searing human psyches? Yes, please."

        — Nick C. (5/5)

        Great stuff

        "Can’t find this movie anywhere, for a blu ray not bad quality on my larger tv (55”) Sony. Vinegar syndrome is doing the dirty work keeping these lesser known great titles in circulation, I’ll be back here again for more!"

        — Will B. (5/5)

        Feministic 1980's TV Drama

        "1980's feministic TV drama starring Brook Adams directed by Michael Roemer. An interesting time capsule."

        — William G. (5/5)

        God Bless The Film Desk and VS

        "Discovering Michael Roemer's work through boutique labels like Film Desk has been a joy. This film is unique in it's tone and pacing and overall production. A true gem. I pray that more people continue to discover its quiet power as I have."

        — Sean G. (5/5)

        Don't sleep on this great release!

        "Creates a sense of incremental apprehension almost immediately without elliptical editing, ominous sound design or off balance camera work. It’s a feeling built from organic performances and generated almost entirely from expressions of profound, depressive unease. Family dysfunction as the kind of horror show familiar in later ‘90s domestic thrillers, but with all the horrific audio/visual artifice stripped away. The emphasis on unadorned, low-key naturalism for something so increasing unhinged is an approach that makes the experience that much more unnerving, simultaneously catching the viewer in a split personality contradiction of close proximity narrative immersion and emotional distance. The murky, troubling character dynamic between Brooke Adams and Trish Van Devere as a multi-directionally, off-putting psychotic mother who unleashes a torrent of searing, screaming abuse on her young daughter like Faye Dunaway in Mommie Dearest without the camp, is uncomfortably compelling. If the daughter is a mirror image of Adams’ character’s traumatic early years, her mother is the possibility of the thoroughly broken woman she could still become. Watching both actors build layer upon layer the deeper they become entwined, means that the more we learn about them, the less we truly know. Disquietingly intimate, Vengeance Is Mine is embittered chamber piece Bergman for the American beach house set, and a film you can never really get a fix on, both for its tone and intent. Even the title refuses to be instantly understood or easily interpreted. Convinced Paul Thomas Anderson saw this film’s final shot and replicated it for Magnolia."

        — Timothy E. (4/5)

        Vengeance Is Mine

        "Interesting film from the director of The Plot Against Harry."

        — Oliver B. (5/5)

        Great release of an obscure TV movie masterpiece

        "By the director of The Plot Against Harry, this is a very different film, a cruel melodrama with convincing characters and a rich text. Very enjoyable release."

        — Fabrice B. (5/5)

        Chilling character study with staying power

        "Austere, clinical, and deeply unsettling — not because of violence but because of the emotional void at the center. Imamura refuses to provide moral comfort, and that refusal is what makes the film stick. The new transfer gives the image a sharpness and density that makes the coldness even more palpable."

        — Thomas L. (5/5)

        Gripping film with Brooke Adams

        "Solid and gripping film, with Brooke Adams from Days of Heaven - definitely worth a watch"

        — Rory C. (4/5)

        Q&A

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