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Ha-kyun Shin, Hae-suk Kim, Song Kang-ho, Ok-bin Kim, Park In-hwan ... see more see more... , Dal-su Oh , Song Young-Chang , Mercedes Cabral , Kim Hae-sook

Song Kang-ho, Shin Ha-kyun, and Kim Ok-bin star in Oldboy director Park Chan-wook's frightener concerning a priest whose life takes a turn for the worst after he participates in a medical experiment t... read more read more...o find a cure for a deadly disease. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Flixster Users

74% liked it

17,182 ratings

Critics

82% liked it

107 critics

R, 2 hr. 13 min.

Directed by: Chan Wook Park

Release Date: April 30, 2009

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DVD Release Date: November 17, 2009

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Stats: 1,570 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (1,570)

  • axadntpron
    August 25, 2011
    axadntpron
    A hyper-sexual and highly stylized meditation on the sins of the flesh. Song Kang-Ho is superb here as a man "living" in a perpetual state of crises. On top of this, one can see a higher level of maturity in the direction when compared to Park Chan-Wook's previous films. There is... read more some very subtle yet amazing camera work in this movie and I give him credit for doing something interesting with the tired vampire genre. All in all, this film is very unique and like all Park Chan-Wook films, worth a watch just for the experience.
  • garyX
    May 10, 2011
    garyX
    A priest accidentally infected with vampirism struggles with his new found earthly lusts and temptations while engaging in a love affair with an old friend's wife. Chan Wook Park indulges his fascination with the macabre with beautifully artistic visuals and a wicked streak of bl... read moreack humour as the vampire myth is once again deconstructed for the modern audience. Beautifully performed, particularly by Song Kang-ho as the tormented holy man in a nicely understated interpretation of a blood sucking monster who sees his condition as an unwanted curse rather than a gift. In fact technically, there is very little to be faulted here as aside perhaps from a rather slow first half, its pretty much a perfectly executed dark fantasy; the Crouching tiger style wirework of their undead acrobatics are particularly effective. The biggest problem is the source material as the vampire film is so ubiquitous its difficult to find anything here that hasn't been done before. Although this is the more complete film by far, the format is very reminiscent of Guillermo Del Toro's Cronos and the post modern concepts have been explored numerous times over the years. Certainly one of the most elegant examples of the genre but let's face it, vampires have been done to (un)death.
  • Alireza64ir
    March 10, 2011
    Alireza64ir
    My favorite from Park's movies.Since im big fan of blockbuster i cant describe how much i enjoyed this one.Despite many weak blockbusters which we have seen recently.This one is thoughtful and brought discussions about human being's moral challenges.No wonder why it won jury priz... read moree in Cannes Festival.
  • FilmFanatik
    January 13, 2011
    FilmFanatik
    There are some good things about this film and there are some bad things about it. First of all, the first half of the film is phenomenal. The pace, the characters and everything leading up to the mid-point of the picture really tell a nice story. Everything after that, howeve... read morer, is a mess. The latter half of the film seems to be going in several different directions and can never find a firm foothold story-wise. One of the things about the film that I admire are the love-making scenes. I am often a cheerleader for uncomfortably forced sex scenes and having them just for the sake of having them, but in this particular film not only are they successful, but they are also character-driven, highly erotic and just flat-out sensual. I can't say that this is a perfect film, but it is intensely interesting and I wish that the latter half of the film could have kept up with the first half.
  • WrenchLT
    January 9, 2011
    WrenchLT
    Crazy Korean Vamp epic from Park Chan Wook. It's unique and offers something very different to Hollywoods overdone take on the Vampire genre. Some nice visuals and camerwork create some thrilling memorable scenes and even lovers of the gore will have plenty to soak up as it the b... read morelood flows fairly often. But overall it was just a bit too long and slow at times.
  • neverteaseaweasel
    December 8, 2010
    neverteaseaweasel
    Within the first half-hour of this film, I wondered if I was watching the right thing. The poster looks so broody and seeing as it was a selection at the Cannes, I was expecting something poetic and dramatic. What we have is a campy, wickedly humorous tale essentially about nothi... read moreng more than the joys of sex and blood. Does that mean it's bad? Absolutely not! The film is wildly entertaining, but not at all what I had anticipated. There is some meat to the story and characters, yes; but nothing that memorable. I think the thing that sticks in the memory the strongest is when Kang-Woo is drinking blood right from one of those medical-tube things that shoot blood from the machine to the patient (I have no idea what the proper term would be) And he is slurping! It's a scene that is so twisted and horrible, but you cannot help but giggle. In varying degrees, that's how the rest of the film goes. A couple scenes are really wacked out and surreal and I wasn't totally sure what was going on and I also dozed off a bit in the middle - but the thing is terribly long. There are some moments that are genuinely unsettling, some truly gross; but overall, it's just entertaining. No, it's not what I expected, but, honestly, I think it is probably better and definitely more original.
  • LorenzoVonMatterhorn
    December 5, 2010
    LorenzoVonMatterhorn
    "Grant me the following in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Like a leper rotting in flesh, let all avoid me. Like a cripple without limbs, let me not move freely. Remove my cheeks, tht tears may not roll down them. Crush my lips and tongue, that I may not sin with them. Pull... read more out my nails, that I may not grasp nothing. Let my shoulders and back be bent, that I may carry nothing. Like a man with tumor in the head let me lack judgment. Ravage my body sworn to chastity leave me with no pride, and have me live in shame. Let no one pray for me. But only the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me."

    A failed medical experiment turns a man of faith into a vampire.

    REVIEW

    There's this whole theory of horror that some people adhere closely to that the monsters and the violence should be kept off-screen. Park Chan-Wook throws that concept completely out the window and shows directly what he wants--and what he wants to show is pretty much anything he can think of. Leaving it to the actors and dialog to create subtlety, from a stylistic perspective Park seems willing to do just about anything to get his point across. Whether it's long involved ensemble scenes with the camera whizzing around a mah-jong table or entire weeks confined to a single shot between two other scenes, dialog from the scenes before and after bleeding over them, Park doesn't keep to a specifically structured style but focuses more on telling the entire story of a couple's relationship from virginal remove through utter codependence to utter self-annihilation--and uses vampirism as the link and priestliness as the drama. It's that simple, and that complex, at the same time.

    You gotta give him credit. Too many people are ready to compare any modern vampire movie to Twilight, with Twilight almost always being the lesser of the works, but here the stories are actually comparable, but this one is more raw and honest. None of this sparkly coming in the window during the night to talk crap, but anything ranging from the dirtiest, most desperate and virginal sex scene to eventual spousal abuse as the two leads begin to vie for power over one another. It's the same deal--guy and girl meet, girl finds out guy is a vampire, decides to join him anyway, but with no happily ever after, just straight-up limited time as they become forced to keep each other closer and closer and run out of options. The girl's motivations are particularly interesting as one desperately craving power and attention, to a fault, foiled by the guy who just wants to live a good life as best he can under the circumstances, but is a hypocrite who cannot admit that he's merely using his vampirism as an excuse to act against his moral training.

    The movie isn't perfect and it does tend to stretch (there's no three act, five act, or any act structure here, just scene after scene of character building and dysfunctional romance), but what's great about it is that Park Chan-Wook is willing to show everything frankly and honestly while delighting the horror sensibilities of tension and gore. He also provides an expertly chosen soundtrack to hit the emotional high-notes in a pretty effective way, too.
  • djdemersseman
    November 7, 2010
    djdemersseman
    Only the third vampire movie I've really enjoyed so it makes sense that it comes from the same director who created Oldboy.
  • fb573414556
    October 12, 2010
    fb573414556
    A beautifull yet brutal vampire film.
  • CloudStrife84
    September 10, 2010
    CloudStrife84
    Asian film-makers sure have a flair for being original. Here it's the vampire genre that they given a new twist to. Although quite absurd and far-fetched story-wise, this was a very engaging experience (not to say delightful to look at, with its stunning mise-en-scene). Unlike ot... read moreher vampire films, which tend to focus on the glamorous side of things, this one gives thought to all the moral implications. It harbors a depth and intelligence that the Twilight-movies could only dream of. So for people like me, who love the supernatural but also crave some substance, this was the perfect alternative.

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Critic Reviews

Peter Rainer
September 10, 2009
Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor

What the film is saying, so far as I can tell, is that, if cut, you will bleed. And bleed.

Roger Moore
September 9, 2009
Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel

Thirst is a grim antidote to the sanitized, pale young things of Twilight, Supernatural and True Blood. Full Review

Tirdad Derakhshani
August 27, 2009
Tirdad Derakhshani, Philadelphia Inquirer

Thirst begins with great intellectual and artistic promise, then devolves into a repetitious mess of teeth, blades, necks, bites, arterial sprays, sex, sex, sex and death. Full Review

Ty Burr
August 20, 2009
Ty Burr, Boston Globe

Thirst keeps coming up against the limitations of its various inspirations like a bumper car on a crowded court. On almost every other level, the film's audaciously entertaining, at times even quite m... Full Review

Cliff Doerksen
August 20, 2009
Cliff Doerksen, Chicago Reader

Park aficionados are assured their fix of lurid imagery and baroque plotting, though straight-up horror buffs may get restless during the sluggish and murky middle section; Twilight fans need not apply. Full Review

Christopher Orr
August 14, 2009
Christopher Orr, New Republic

[U]nlike most exercises in hematic excess--Richard Rodriguez's Planet Terror, for instance, or Tarantino's Kill Bill--Thirst offers not the consolations of camp but the intensity of opera. Full Review

Roger Ebert
August 13, 2009
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

Movies exist to cloak our desires in disguises we can accept, and there is an undeniable appeal to Thirst. Full Review

Jennie Punter
August 7, 2009
Jennie Punter, Globe and Mail

Thirst is juicy filmmaking -- psychologically rich, cathartic, kinky, visually engaging and almost free of vampire-movie clichés. Full Review

Peter Howell
August 7, 2009
Peter Howell, Toronto Star

Too bad the film never quite gets the blood pumping in the viewer, which may be a failure of Park's to define his audience. Full Review

Ben Mankiewicz
August 3, 2009
Ben Mankiewicz, At the Movies

There were moments where I was genuinely scared and moments where I was genuinely moved. Full Review

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