One of very few movies, for me, that is so horrible as to be difficult to watch. Unlike something like 'Saw', though, 'Thirst' isn't merely a menagerie of gore. It explores religion and vengeance, and presents us with a range of (often cartoonish) personalities.
This is one of my favourite films from Park Chan Wook, who is one of my favourite South Korean directors. The lead is a troubled young priest, played by Song Kang-ho (my favourite South Korean actor) who volunteers for a test in which he is infected with a leprosy-type thing and have possible cures tested on him. Surprisingly, it works, but he soon finds that he is transforming into a vampire.
It is a very dark movie. Though not as extreme in it's violence as some of Park's other films, it is imaginatively yucky. Sang-hyun (Song) finds he also has the power to heal people, and so begins to gather a following. To begin with he does his best to feed off hospital patients, and not to kill anyone. This changes after he starts obsessing over a patient's wife, he turns her, and together they kill her husband, Kang-woo.
He is one of my favourite aspects of this movie. He always looks sickly, damp, sweaty, and oily. He has watery eyes, and his nose is always running. Sang-hyun pulls him into the water while fishing, and holds him down at the bottom with a big rock. This isn't the end of him, though, as the pair are later haunted by visions of a saturated Kang-woo. He appears between them: sitting, in bed, even - hilariously - during sex. And he is forever wearing his stupid grin, soaked, and leaking water out of his mouth.
Sang-hyun and his now vampire girlfriend, Tae-joo, continue doing their vampire thing. They deck out their flat in white, which makes for some very nicely shot sequences. Trouble brews though, as while Sang-hyun prefers being a parasitic vampire, Tae-joo wants to be more predatory. This dispute concludes violently, and the burning scene at the end, as the sun rises, is both beautiful and gruesome. It reminds me of the end of '30 Days of Night', but it is done better here.
Overall, a very atmospheric and eerie film. 'Thirst' builds tension expertly, holds it and creates a tooth-grinding atmosphere without becoming boring, and pays of with bouts of bloody violence.
And I'm back to my spoiler-packed norm. Oh well.
This is one of my favourite films from Park Chan Wook, who is one of my favourite South Korean directors. The lead is a troubled young priest, played by Song Kang-ho (my favourite South Korean actor) who volunteers for a test in which he is infected with a leprosy-type thing and have possible cures tested on him. Surprisingly, it works, but he soon finds that he is transforming into a vampire.
It is a very dark movie. Though not as extreme in it's violence as some of Park's other films, it is imaginatively yucky. Sang-hyun (Song) finds he also has the power to heal people, and so begins to gather a following. To begin with he does his best to feed off hospital patients, and not to kill anyone. This changes after he starts obsessing over a patient's wife, he turns her, and together they kill her husband, Kang-woo.
He is one of my favourite aspects of this movie. He always looks sickly, damp, sweaty, and oily. He has watery eyes, and his nose is always running. Sang-hyun pulls him into the water while fishing, and holds him down at the bottom with a big rock. This isn't the end of him, though, as the pair are later haunted by visions of a saturated Kang-woo. He appears between them: sitting, in bed, even - hilariously - during sex. And he is forever wearing his stupid grin, soaked, and leaking water out of his mouth.
Sang-hyun and his now vampire girlfriend, Tae-joo, continue doing their vampire thing. They deck out their flat in white, which makes for some very nicely shot sequences. Trouble brews though, as while Sang-hyun prefers being a parasitic vampire, Tae-joo wants to be more predatory. This dispute concludes violently, and the burning scene at the end, as the sun rises, is both beautiful and gruesome. It reminds me of the end of '30 Days of Night', but it is done better here.
Overall, a very atmospheric and eerie film. 'Thirst' builds tension expertly, holds it and creates a tooth-grinding atmosphere without becoming boring, and pays of with bouts of bloody violence.
And I'm back to my spoiler-packed norm. Oh well.
Thirst: 84.5