Movies
Thirst (Kr)
“At the hands of a less competent director, THIRST could have been an abomination, but thankfully Chan-wook delivers something above par that should probably be met with two cans of Red Bull.”
Quite possibly my favorite director on the planet right now is Park Chan-wook, who brought us such classics as JSA, OLDBOY, SYMPATHY FOR MR. VENGEANCE and LADY VENGEANCE. For this legendary Korean director to take on the horror genre is like having Paul Thomas Anderson turn to horror. While Chan-wook has been primed for the genre with the amount of bloodshed in his previous films, he also took his love for lengthy exposition-filled drama along for the ride, which just doesn’t digest well in horror. At the hands of a less competent director, THIRST could have been an abomination, but thankfully Chan-wook delivers something above par that should probably be met with two cans of Red Bull.
THIRST finds Korea’s leading man, Song Kang-ho (The Host), as a much-loved priest who becomes a vampire after a failed medical experiment; he becomes a tortured and depraved soul.
Park Chan-wook is known for his character pieces and his ability to really mold a personality for his protagonist. While typically this works for Chan-wook, it hinders THIRST a great deal. The film carries an overcomplicated plot that is not only confusing, but also drags the film to an unnecessary 133-minute length. There are unusually subplots such as one involving a vengeful spirit that’s supposed to provide a level of comic relief. THIRST is a solid drama for most of 133 minutes, so when it goes over-the-top for these segments, it literally takes you out of the movie. In fact, whenever Chan-wook attempts to throw comedy into the film, whether it be in-your-face or subtly, it’s completely lost in translation (like many Asian comedies). Even though Park has said in interviews that he loves the comedy aspect and really would like audiences to relish in it, the movie should have been 30 minutes shorter (at least) as most of the comedy could have easily been trimmed.
With that said, THIRST succeeds on so many other levels that it’s hard to focus on the negative. The most impressive aspect of the screenplay (co-written by Chan-wook and Seo-Gyeong Jeong) are the dueling leads. Sang-hyun plays a priest who believes that life is precious and volunteers for a secret vaccine development project to help save lives from a deadly virus. He becomes infected and returns to life as a blood-sucking vampire. He is also conflicted between the carnal desire for blood and his faith, which forbids him to kill, therefore leading him to a hospital where he drinks from people in comas. He meets Tae-ju (Kim Ok-bin), who is married to his childhood friend. The two fall in love and she becomes the pawn that forces him to choose evil over good. While he still holds down his principals as a Priest, he feels like a traitor to his faith and begins to bend his own rules – until they break. Tae-ju is filled with darkness as she seduces Sang-huyn into killing her husband (his friend) and eventually he kills her as well, but his love for her causes him to reanimate her as a vampire. From this point on Chan-wook does the tango with audience as the two polar opposite vampires battle for control over one another. One of the strongest aspects of THIRST is this physical and narrative battle between these two, who both love each other, can’t live without each other, and yet aren’t compatible in the least. But in an odd and beautiful way completely contrast each other.
For the hardcore horror fans, while most of the film is loaded with heavy exposition, there are still some pretty bloody and violent moments throughout. Chan-wook takes a page from George A. Romero’s MARTIN and brings the realism to THIRST. He gives Sang-huyn disgusting blisters when he doesn’t feed, when the duo have sex he fills the audience’s ears with gross sound effects and has the characters lick each other’s armpits and feet, and when the blood flows none of it sounds appealing (the slurping sounds are disgusting). There is nothing enchanting about THIRST; even the look of the film itself if darker and duller than any of Park Chan-wook’s previous works.
It’s quite unfortunate that THIRST never got trimmed and tightened up, as it really is just way too long. What the film really lacks is momentum; anyone with an attention span as short as mine is guaranteed to squirm through most of the 133 minutes. Beyond the pacing issues, this vampire tale is one worthy of seeing in a theater, just muster up enough energy to stay awake through it all – the finale is definitely worthy of your full attention.
A contemporary reimagining of H.P. Lovecraft’s short story Herbert West: Reanimator is on the way, and Deadline has unveiled the first look at the new Herbert West and the pathologist drawn to his orbit.
Adam Simon (The Haunting in Connecticut, “Salem”) and Tim Metcalfe (The Haunting in Connecticut, Kalifornia) penned the script. The original screenplay and storyline come from Jade Sandberg Wallace.
Michael Grossman (“The Originals”, “Pretty Little Liars”) directs.
The new images introduce star Joseph Morgan (“Vampire Diaries“), who plays “brilliant surgeon and scientist Herbert West, who is obsessed with creating a serum to reanimate the dead.” Katie Cassidy (Speed Demon) stars opposite as the pathologist with a troubled past who joins his efforts.
Together, they prove that conquering death may be the ultimate sin against life itself.
The film’s official synopsis: “As a child, Herbert West watches his father Peter reanimate his dead mother Judith in a secret basement lab — only for Judith to mortally wound Peter and nearly kill Herbert before Peter shoots her. The trauma leaves its mark on Herbert, but so does one final image: his mother’s finger, twitching after death. Thirty years later, Herbert West is a brilliant, secretive surgeon still chasing his father’s obsession.
“Pathologist Kate Locke arrives in town and is drawn into his orbit — first through a spark at a hospital fundraiser, then through his secret lab, where he reveals a serum capable of reanimating severed tissue. Kate, hiding a dark past of her own, is thrilled rather than horrified, and moves into West’s mansion to work alongside him. Their early experiments on a cadaver succeed only briefly. West concludes that dead tissue is the problem — they need something fresher.”
Supporting cast includes Scott Aiello, Ira J Amyx, Randall Newsome, Emma Reinagal, James D. Bryce, Kathryn A Bentley, Jack Lancaster, Amy Holland Pennell, John Pierson, Mindy Shaw, Eric Dean White, Tristan Wilder Hallet, Adrienne Lamping, Aaron Crippen, and Drew Patterson.
Makeup artist Jeff Lewis (“Star Trek: Voyager,” “Star Trek: Enterprise”) and cousin Roger Lewis are heading the production via their newly established Woodlake Entertainment.
Lovecraft’s short story, first serialized in Home Brew magazine in 1922, is the first among his works to mention the fictional Miskatonic University. It was most famously adapted into a 1985 horror movie from Stuart Gordon, starring Jeffrey Combs as Herbert West.
Herbert West: Reanimator is set in Alton, Illinois, where production is now underway.
Herbert West: Reanimator. Photo credit: Matt Lief Anderson
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