Film Threat by Michael Ferraro

This is definitely not your typical Cronenberg. No matter if you either love his cinematic oddities, or if you’re put off by them, watching A History of Violence would prove beneficial. It’s no doubt one of the best films of the year.

Entertainment Weekly by Lisa Schwarzbaum

David Cronenberg's brilliant movie -- without a doubt one of the very best of the year.

Washington Post by Desson Thomson

A sobering reflection on our culture's attitude toward violence.

Chicago Reader by Jonathan Rosenbaum

This masterpiece, an art film deftly masquerading as a thriller, seems to celebrate small-town pastoralism and critique big-city violence, but this position turns out to be double-edged.

USA Today by Mike Clark

Violence is in the spirit of the hardest-hitting film noir offerings from the '50s, but far more explicit. It's also in the spirit of the Western.

The New York Times by Manohla Dargis

A masterpiece of indirection and pure visceral thrills, David Cronenberg's latest mindblower, A History of Violence, is the feel-good, feel-bad movie of the year.

Rolling Stone by Peter Travers

Other films this year will have to sweat bullets to match the explosive power and subversive wit of David Cronenberg's A History of Violence. It slams you like a body punch and then starts messing with your head.

Portland Oregonian by Shawn Levy

It's Cronenberg's most mainstream work, and yet it has all the power of his creepiest nightmares.

Village Voice by J. Hoberman

Cronenberg's movie manages to have its cake and eat it--impersonating an action flick in its staccato mayhem while questioning these violent attractions every step of the way.

L.A. Weekly

Cronenberg holds up a mirror, but he leaves it up to us to recoil at what we see.