Korean Horror Film to Satisfy "Thirst" for Vampires

Set to hit select theaters in the US July 31st, the latest film from director Chan-wook Park centers around a frustrated priest played Kang-ho Song, who you might recognize as the bumbling older brother of the little girl abducted by sea monsters in the Korean horror movie The Host.

But Song has come a long way from playing the comic relief, and here he takes on a much more serious and brooding role as a man of the cloth who is disillusioned with God because of the suffering people have to go through in this life to get to the next.

In this frame of mind, he volunteers himself to be a guinea pig for a vaccine to cure the deadly F.I.V. virus. But instead of curing the disease he contracts it and it leaves him with a hunger for human blood.

The trailer (especially the last part) left me with the same creeped out feeling I got from watching Takeshi Miike's Audition. There is a similair tension and a disgusted treatment of sex that I sense from both films that is sure to put some on the edge of their comfort zones.

Thirst is part of a greater trend of the Americanization of foreign horror as CJ Entertainment and Universal's Focus Features duke it out for the rights to a stateside remake. The idea for a US remake was prompted by the success of vampire films like Twilight and the HBO show TrueBlood, but as with most American versions of foreign horror films (The Grudge, The Ring) it will probably lack the edginess that has made the original such a success.

Thirst made it's debut at the Cannes film festival and here's what Maggie Lee of the Hollywood Reporter had to say about the screening:
"Park takes his famed eroticization of violence, pain and cruelty to new, feverish heights, and garnishes it with deliciously sadistic gallows humor. Those who thrive on gore, twisted sexuality and brutish handling of women can drink their fill from this film."





Further Reading:
Thirst Remake Coming?
Thirst… finally vampires who feed on blood and have sex!

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