The Last Movie To Be Released On VHS Is Now Streaming On HBO Max

By Jonathan Klotz
| Updated 1 minute ago

If you’re of a certain age, you’ve lived through multiple generations of entertainment media. Given the current state of physical media, people have finally had enough and are refusing to let go of Blu-Rays. Before Blu-Rays, before DVD, there was VHS. It revolutionized movies when it arrived, but left with a whimper. VHS hung around longer than you think, since the last movie on VHS was the understated and underrated 2005 release, A History of Violence. 21 years later, and the film is tearing up the HBO Max charts since it arrived.

A History Of Violence Has A History Of Success

March 14, 2006, is the day that A History of Violence was released on VHS. Nearly a year after its May 2005 debut in theaters. A slow burn of an action thriller about a man trying to escape his past, and the damage it does to his family, is an unlikely release during the start of the Summer blockbuster season, but Warner Bros (via New Line Media) had faith in the film. $61 million dollars at the box office later, and that faith was rewarded.

A History of Violence adapts the Vertigo DC graphic novel by John Wagner and Vince Locke, making it the unlikeliest DC movie. Viggio Mortenson, fresh off Lord of the Rings, plays Tom Stack, the mild-mannered diner owner whose life is turned upside down when two men from Philly enter his diner. Maria Bello is his loving wife, Edie, and together, they have two children, Jack and Sarah. It’s an idyllic life. Until it’s not.

The Best Bad Ass Dad Movie Of All Time

Unlike later films in the “suburban dad is secretly a badass” genre, A History of Violence doesn’t glorify the violence. The action is short, brutish, and bloody, with the real harm being done in what comes after a man is shot … or stabbed. It’s an intelligent, thought-provoking take on the action genre lost in the noise of Nobody 2Liam Neeson, and countless other imitators.

The thoughtfulness and intention behind every shot is clear once you realize the director is David Cronenberg. The Master of Body Horror and Viggo Mortenson would continue to work together four more times, including 2007’s Eastern Promisesan even more violent and extreme film.

The End Of An Era

A History of Violence on VHS is now a collector’s item, with sealed copies going for upwards of $500 on eBay. Other films, including Carswere released after, but only as part of special, limited-release promotions, and not the wide, dump it in a Wal-Mart scale of Cronenberg’s hit. As for why it was the last film, it came down to timing. Distribution deals were inked years earlier when VHS was obviously on the way out, but still in a majority of homes, before DVD players became commonplace. Sometimes, it’s really that simple.

Since debuting, re-debuting actually, on HBO Max, A History of Violence has been in the top 10, reaching, as of the time of this writing, the top five. It’s well deserved for one of the best movies of the 2000’s and a career highlight for all involved. If you’re bored of the schlub dad turns out to be an assassin genre, you need to watch this movie and fall in love with the genre all over again.