“Thirst” (2009) – Park Chan-wook (“Old Boy” (2003), “The Handmaiden” (2016)) spins the “classic” tale of…Priest contracts an incurable disease, Priest becomes a vampire, Priest meets Girl in a proudly eccentric horror film set in Seoul.
Sang-hyun (Song Kang-ho) is a thoughtful, earnest man of the cloth, and he regularly reaches out to help humanity, including attempting to discover a cure for the Emmanuel Virus, but he becomes infected and – out of the blue – becomes a vampire.
Since his new vampire skills suppress the virus, the public reveres him as a legendary figure.
Sang-hyun beats the infection!
However, “fortunate” priest acquires two problems: a frequent need to consume human blood and an ever-present rule to avoid sunlight.
His existence is now infinitely more complicated, and one more straw is added on the camel’s back when he falls in love with his friend’s wife, Tae-ju (Kim Ok-bin), who plays a Lucy-like role in this Dracula story, however, her part carries more weight than the famed pawn.
In Park fashion, “Thirst” spills in unpredictable directions, and even though this vampire story has art-house DNA, there is no shortage of blood and violence, especially in the third act.
Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon: 4
Song Kang-ho stars in “Thirst” (2009)
Song Kang-ho stars in “Snowpiercer” (2013) with Tilda Swinton
Tilda Swinton stars in “Doctor Strange” (2016) with Chiwetel Ejiofor
Chiwetel Ejiofor stars in “12 Years a Slave” (2013) with Michael Fassbender
Michael Fassbender stars in “X-Men: First Class” (2011) with Kevin Bacon
Directed by: Park Chan-wook
Written by: Park Chan-wook and Seo-kyeong Jeong
Starring: Song Kang-ho, Kim Ok-bin, In-hwan Park, Hee-jin Choi
Runtime: 134 minutes
Rated: R
Image credits: Focus Features
