'Thirst' review

Kim Ok-vin and Song Kang-ho (Credit: Focus)

Korean priest Sang-hyun (Song Kang-ho, of “The Host”) volunteers for a medical experiment intended to eradicate a deadly virus. But things don’t go as planned and Sang-hyun is given a blood transfusion that turns him into a vampire. As he wrestles with a newfound desire for blood—something that runs contrary to everything he believed in as a man of God—he turns to his childhood friend (Shin Ha-kyun) for comfort, only to further complicate matters with an attraction to his friend’s unhappy and sexually aggressive wife, Tae-ju (Kim Ok-vin).

The buzz: Vampires have so thoroughly invaded pop culture it’s surprising the Wayans Brothers haven’t already put the final nail in the coffin (sorry, pun intended) with a painfully bad spoof movie. Fortunately, “Thirst” has a classy pedigree in cult favorite director Park Chan-wook (“Oldboy”) and a Jury Prize from this year’s Cannes film festival to set it apart from the pack.

The verdict: There’s so much sex, violence and offbeat humor in this bloodsucking tale it’s tempting to call it “True Blood East,” but any comparisons to existing vampire sagas shortchange the unique appeal of Park’s vision. He has a reputation for outrageous cinema and “Thirst” doesn’t disappoint in that department—from toe sucking to throat stabbing to blood vomited into a recorder, the movie vividly conveys a vampire’s intensely, um, fluid world. The film is a little slow to get going, but once Sang-hyun and Tae-ju start wrestling with a mutual attraction the action takes off. A third act twist kicks the movie into overdrive, ratcheting up the moral complexity that doesn’t let up until the wickedly beautiful final scene.

Did you know? Park asked Song to play the lead role in “Thirst” while they were working on their first movie, “Joint Security Area” in 2000. They made two other movies together first before “Thirst” finally began filming in 2008.

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