Thirst (2009)

Thirst (2009)

2009 R 133 Minutes

Drama | Horror | Thriller

Sang-hyun (Song Kang-ho), a respected priest, volunteers for an experimental procedure that may lead to a cure for a deadly virus. He gets infected and dies, but a blood transfusion of unknown orig...

Overall Rating

7 / 10
Verdict: Good

User Review

  • Thirst quenches Chan-wook's desire to craft a blood-sucking good time. Well, this was bizarre. Not something I would have ever imagined Chan-wook to direct. It can be best described as a dark religious vampiric sex-comedy. If any of those descriptions match your genre criteria, then what are you waiting for? This is quite simply one of the best vampire films available, if you can ignore its underwhelming conclusion. A priest, who desires to help the needy, volunteers to undergo an experiment to find a vaccine for a deadly virus. He becomes infected, but makes a rapid recovery after receiving a blood transfusion that turns him into a vampire. It soon becomes an illicit love story, with Chan-wook's genre bending plot delivering one of the freshest entries in this undead sub-genre. No matter how driven by faith one is, there will come a point where sinful urges take hold. Unable to resist. The irresistible, although occasionally badly written, Tae-ju is the embodiment of temptation. As the plot progresses, she soon becomes remorseless and attempts to abandon Sang-hyun, conveying the idea that not everything is as innocent as it might seem (much like Sang-hyun). It's often cold, and the love story never quite feels embellished. But that is part of Chan-wook's charm. He can integrate visual comedy and sexualised characters (trust me, lots of sex) whilst still making the entire film nuanced and fresh. And yes, it is both humorous and dramatic. The various mahjong scenes showcase this balance perfectly. Sex scenes are hilariously interrupted by a bloated corpse (in which joins in one night from a group session (don't ask...)), a terrifying vision acting as a burden for these two sinful individuals. It just worked! Ok-bin's schizophrenic-like performance was infectious and overshadowed Kang-ho's role vastly. The first and last acts were underwhelming, with the former being underdeveloped and the latter ending unsatisfactorily. However once the vampiric romance is established, there is no stopping Chan-wook. A bloody delicious film that tastes fresher than a bag of blood from a comatose patient.