Thirst

Madman

R4 DVD

Thirst is an unusual character driven vampire first by Korean director Park Chan-wook, best known for Old Boy. It is a psycho-sexual love story, filled with angst, suppression and desire and a vampire tale told in a new post-modern sort of way.

Sang-hyun is a devoted priest; he sees too many of his patients dying and decides to commit his body and mind to an experimental laboratory working with leprosy patients. Its unorthodox approach is not sanctioned by the Vatican but his compassion overrides his obedience. He is infected with the leprosy virus and when the vaccine fails he begins to die. He is given a blood transfusion in a last ditch attempt to save his life and after a period of no bodily response, suddenly returns to the land of the living. There is a hitch, he is now a vampire. The only way to keep the virus at bay is to drink fresh human blood at regular intervals. If he does not have a regular dose of blood, he becomes crippled with pain and covered in leprous sores.

Sang-hyun tries to keep to his vows and drinks the blood of dying patients and then the blood of patients who wish to commit suicide. However the vampire blood also inflames his passions and he begins having a difficult time keeping his vows.

During a game of Mah-jong he meets Tae-ju, a beautiful young woman he once knew during his youth growing up in an orphanage. Her adopted family is abusive and she lives in near slavery. She is married to a near idiot who has no thought for her needs or desires.

As Sang-hyun becomes more aware of Tae-ju’s plight, their motivations become unclear. Is Sang-hyun's attraction born out of his compassion or his lust for sex and blood? Is Tae-ju the innocent she seems or is she manipulating Sang-hyun’s obviously naive affection to gain a better life? Their interactions are the nexus of this fascinating film.

These complex issues become more significant as they begin a passionate relationship (initiated by Tae-ju), which finally results in the death of her husband. This results in a quirky sequence where it is hard to tell whether they are haunted by her husband’s ghost, their own guilt or worse, he is still somehow alive. As the story continues, their conflict results in Tae-ju’s death and Sang-hyun making her a vampire.

While Sang-hyun tries to avoid killing, Tae-ju revels in it. She has been downtrodden throughout her life and now sees a way to get revenge on the world she despises. While Sang-hyun sees himself as some sort of mutated human, trying to use his new found powers in a compassionate way, Tae-ju sees herself in a role similar to a fox and a chicken; she hunts and kills with abandon.

As both of their characters disintegrate under the effects of the vampire blood, and when three of their friends are slaughtered by Tae-ju, Sang-hyun makes a decision which will confront and surprise.

Thirst possesses a depth not often found in vampire films. It explores a range of themes using the core tale of a priest who in searching for a compassionate means to end suffering becomes a blood drinking killer. At the same time this is a film which could have easily become too heavy, yet Park Chan-wook has imbued it with a dark, if at times bleak, sense of humour which strikes the right balance and makes it a very unusual vampire tale. Considering just how many vampire films are made, this is a very different from any you have seen before and startle, amuse and maybe even get you thinking.

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This review will appear in Volume 3 No. 3 of the digital and print edition of Synergy Magazine.

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