Updated with image of banned posters! Well now, this is a shame. A poster is banned and we can’t see it, what a waste of good press! Today Variety broke the news that the one sheet for Park Chan-wook’s Thirst has been banned in Korea. You can read all about it inside and watch for the film to hit theaters here in the States thanks to Focus Features. Click here for the international trailer, or read on for the story.
Koreans treat their clergy with reverence — even if that means upsetting a favorite native helmer.

“Oldboy” director Park Chan-wook found out the hard way when a teaser poster for his vampire pic “Thirst” was banned because it depicts a priest in a sexual context.

Poster features the figure of a bat, which is the Korean title of the film, using the images of its leading character, a priest-turned-vampire (Song Kang-ho) being strangled by a naked woman (Kim Ok-bin).

The ban is the work of the South Korea’s Media Rating Board, which has become more strict about the depiction of sexuality these days. The international poster for John Cameron Mitchell’s “Shortbus” was banned in February.

“Thirst,” co-financed by Universal, is due for release in South Korea on April 30; the production team still plans to use the poster as key artwork for marketing outside Korea.