The Addiction

Of 1995's two B&W art-house vampire flicks (remember NADJA?), Abel Ferrara's angst-ridden parable is the winner by a nose. It's got a remarkable visual texture, integrity to burn, and almost -- but not quite -- enough intelligence to justify its lofty ambitions. Morose hipster Kathleen (Lili Taylor), an NYU philosophy student, experiences the ultimate existential crisis after she's bitten by ferocious Casanova (Annabella Sciorra). Overnight, she becomes a Greenwich Village blood junkie, sporting wraparound shades, flaunting a bad attitude and getting her fixes via the necks of unwary friends and other enablers. Director Ferrara and screenwriter Nicholas St. ...