Thirst: The Geekscape Review

We seem to be in a period of vampire resurgence as of late. Zombies owned most of this decade but there can be too much a good thing and audiences seem to be growing tired of the undead. Plus, vampires have the capability of making preteen girls, in the words of Kevin Smith, “moist”, which is good for business. However, if the vampire trend had nothing to rely on other than the preteen porn of Twilight, the trashy fun of True Blood,  or the information, procedural approach of the Chuck Hogan/Guillermo Del Toro book The Strain, then the fad would have no real impact and would likely blow over to make way for the next monster. I vote for The Creature From The Black Lagoon, dude is getting no love these days.

Luckily for us, but unluckily for Mr. Lagoon, we have people like Park Chan Wook who are interested in delving into what the vampire myth has to say about us. The metaphor of the vampire is the reason it has survived so long, not the teeth. On the surface it’s easy to assume that vampirism is all about sex, and in a way it is, but there is more to it than that and Wook is smart enough to know this. In his newest film, Thirst, he explores these other themes, of selfishness, faith, desire, the fall from grace, and, yes, a lot of sex.

Park Chan Wook made a big splash in the international film scene with his brilliant Oldboy, but his work beyond this flagship film is equally noteworthy. Wook has developed a very strong personal style that is present through all his films, and it is something uniquely him. His movies commonly deal with the same themes and all feature very dark and violent subject matter but he shows this with an almost whimsical elegance. Whether it be his use of classical music, his tendency to pull his camera back and let shots go a little too long to capture the awkwardness of a situation, or his interest in the quirky minutia of his characters. In this sense, Thirst is a completely typical Wook film. You could possibly fault him for not evolving his style much, but it just works so well.

Thirst tells the story of a priest, played by Wook veteran Kang-ho Song, who feels unfulfilled with his life and decides to take part in a medical experiment under the guise of wanting to help people. This seems to be a ruse, however, because the experiment is very dangerous and it is shown to be not uncommon for men of faith to take part as a form of assisted suicide. After falling very ill, the priest is given a blood transfusion which has failed to cure all the previous test subjects, but miraculously he is revived. His recovery has people believing he is blessed. He gains a group of devoted followers believing his prayers can cure them of their ailments, yet he himself doesn’t seem to believe there is anything miraculous about this event. There is also the problem of the side effects of the blood transfusion; enhanced senses, aversion to sunlight, and an intense physical reaction to the smell of blood.

This set up paves the way for what could have been a perfectly good movie about temptation, corruption and the loss of faith, as many vampire stories are. But, without giving too much away, this is really more the story of the Succubus, not the vampire. There is a girl, and this is really a twisted love story.

Ok-vin Kim plays a young woman that seems in need of saving, but looks can be deceiving. Her performance is fascinating. Watching her transformation from a cute, shy victim into something…else, is both amusing and terrifying. Her performance, and the film itself, is also very sexually charged. There is one sex scene in particular that pushes a lot of buttons. It goes from being romantic, to frightening, to hot, to awkward, and even funny. Because all sex is funny if you think about it. Wook does a great job playing all these different emotions in this scene.

Of course, you can’t talk about a vampire movie, or a Park Chan Wook movie, without mentioning the more grisly or fantastical elements of it. Thirst definitely has enough fucked up violence to satisfy those looking for purely visceral thrills. There are several incredible sequences involving jumping from or falling off of very high places where Wook not only shows off some snazzy camerawork but also manages to make you laugh and squirm at the same time.

If there is anything negative to say about it, it would be that there are some pacing issues. Like most Wook films, the structure is a little strange and he allows himself to go off on a lot of tangents. A little over halfway through I was sure the credits were going to roll, but it keeps going and turns into something else entirely. All the stuff works, but if you aren’t prepared for it the movie can seem a bit meandering.

All that said, you can definitely mark this as another win for Park Chan Wook, who has yet to put out a bad movie. I truly feel he is among the top working directors today and you should definitely seek this out to see why.

Plus, boobs. So that’s cool.