Park Chan-wook has been so popular with his Vengeance trilogy which begins with “Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance” (2002), the film about the class conflict in his country and it divided the Korean public because of its extreme style, but became a cult classic at home and abroad, and a favorite on the international film festival circuit. Next from the director is a masterpiece opus “Oldboy” (2003), which won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival and soon will be re-imagined by Hollywood filmmakers. After his last feature, the quirky romance “I'm a Cyborg But That's OK” which was not particularly well received, Park is tackling the vampire project which he has been talking about for years. “Thirst” (a.k.a. Bakjwi or Evil Live) is the title of the film that also written by Park himself. Universal Pictures and Focus Features have been invested and co-produced the film that was shot in Korea and Australia. In addition, Focus now distribute the film worldwide in its home entertainment version. After the film made good impact in its theatrical releases and some International film festivals including Cannes Film Festival, it's time to experience "Thirst" in your own home.
Plot: We are introduced to Sang-hyun (Song Kang-ho), a priest whose free time is spent volunteering at the local hospital and providing ministry to the patients. He is well respected for his unwavering faith and the dedicated service he provides to all those around him, but he secretly suffers from overwhelming feelings of doubt and sadness about living in a world that seems to be drowning in suffering and death. After getting fed up with the endless cycle of human suffering that the world offers, Sang-hyun volunteers to participate in an experiment to find a vaccine for the deadly F.I.V. virus with the hope of saving even one life, and heads off to Africa. Although the experiment fails disastrously and Sang-hyun is infected with a seemingly fatal disease, he makes a complete and rapid recovery. News of his marvelous recovery is quickly spread to the devout parishioners of Sang-hyun’s congregation, and they begin to believe that the man has a miraculous gift for healing. Soon, thousands more people flock to Sang-hyun’s services. Among the new churchgoers are Kang-woo (Ha-kyun Shin), Sang-hyun’s childhood friend, and his family. Later on, Kang-woo invites his old friend to join the weekly mahjong night at his house, and there Sang-hyun finds himself precariously drawn to Kang-woo’s wife (Kim Ok-bin), Tae-ju. Suddenly Sang-hyun relapses into his illness; he coughs up blood and passes away. The next day however, he opens his eyes in dire need of shelter from the sweltering sunlight; he has become a vampire. At first Sang-hyun feels a newfound vigor and is energized by his insistent bodily desires, but soon he is aghast to find himself sucking down blood from a comatose patient in the hospital. After attempting to kill himself, he finds that he is drawn back to the taste of human blood against his will. To make matters worse, the symptoms of F.I.V. have come roaring back. Desperately trying to avoid committing a murder, he resorts to stealing blood transfusion packs from the hospital. Tae-ju, now living with her ill husband and her over-protective mother-in-law, leads a dreary and unhappy life. She finds herself drawn to Sang-hyun and his odd new physicality, and his inability to resist his desires. The two begin an affair, but when Tae-ju first discovers the truth about Sang-hyun’s new lifestyle, she retreats in fear. When Sang-hyun pleads with her to run away with him she turns him down, suggesting that they kill her husband instead.
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Another creature film from South Korea entitled “Chaw,” is an action adventure/thriller about a small village being terrorized by a man-eating, mutant boar. The Korean title "Chaw" apparently has multiple meanings. It is a variant of the English word ‘chew’ and is defined as ‘to bite and grind with the teeth; to masticate’ while in the Korean dialect of Gyeonggi and Chungcheong provinces it also refers to ‘a trap’. The film is helmed by Shin Jung-won, director of "To Catch a Virgin Ghost," a horror-comedy hybrid that was moderately successful at the Korean box office. According to an interview with one Korean weekly movie magazine, Shin said that after his first feature he has received many comedy scripts, but none of which were funny enough to him. So he began writing “Chaw” to make ‘a funny movie’ by himself. The interview indicates that Shin’s definition of the word ‘funny’ is not what it traditionally means, and claims that his imagination is very twisted. He also said that he began making films after admitting that he enjoyed crashing clichés. Somehow, Idea for “Chaw” was came from a survey which shows that it was the boar that sat on the top of the food chain and periodically appeared all over the country leaving serious damages to farms and sometimes even attacked people in Korea. But strangely people took boars as one of the pig sorts as livestock not knowing their nature or having met them in real. Comes from this unexpected dual image, it has been developed to be a cannibal creature in the movie. In the end, this tall tale of horror and adventure proves to be a fine addition to the local stock of computer graphics-ridden monster flicks ― offering a believable, rather than realistic, experience that persuades the viewer with more than just flesh-gnawing gore. Now, you can also check the "Chaw" monster via your home entertainment set as YESASIA will release it on 2-Disc Special Edition DVD.
Mysterious, gruesome deaths plague Sammae-ri, a peaceful little village in the Jirisan National Park of South Korea, which boasting no criminal cases for 10 years. Some parts of dead body ripped off cruelly are discovered by ecologists who stayed in the mountain for studying wild animals. Among the victims is the granddaughter of Cheon Il-man (Jang Hang-seon), a native of Sammae-ri and a professional hunter. Police cannot find any clues and there is no progress in the investigation. Then Kim (Eom Tae-woong), a recently relegated police officer from Seoul who is now partnered with lead detective Shin (Pak Hyeok-kwon), finds out that the killer is none other than a wild boar. The news attracts many hunters from all over the Korean peninsula, but the situation quickly goes from bad to worse, causing counterattacks from the wild boar. In this chaos, Kim’s mother (who suffers from dementia) goes missing. Kim forms a team with Shin, Cheon, a hunter named Baek (Yoon Je-moon) and zoo-ecology researcher Soo-ryeon (Jeong Yu-mi) to track the wild boar’s hoofmarks and face the deadly beast on its home turf.
At a budget of 5 million US, “Chaw” actually requires a team of visual effects artist to create a fully CG generated giant boar, and like another CGI heavy South Korean film “Haeundae,” special effects of “Chaw” has been provided by The U.S.' Polygon Entertainment. Hans Uhlig, Polygon’s founder and CEO gave his own statement, “Although we were able to use a practical, full-scale model of the creature for some of the effects shots, the majority of these shots required computer-generated imagery. We assembled our own team of highly skilled and experienced artists who created a fully CG creature, and their work is truly amazing. Be prepared to see some really incredible and frightening visual effects!” Though set in Korea, this film is actually was shot in a forest outside San Francisco, just like a report that Uhlig, who also served as 2nd Unit Director, added in “Chaw” press release, “As the majority of the film takes place in a rural setting, we were able to shoot most of the principal photography right here in northern California.” One of the many reasons for filming in the U.S. is that it was much easier to get permission for shooting in the woods than would be the case in South Korea. And the San Fransisco area commands a striking view and looks similar to many counterpart locations in Korea.
Rising star Uhm Tae-woong (Birth of a Family, Forever the Moment) leads the cast in the battle against the carnivorous pigs with the help of Jang Hang-seon (Seven Days), Yoon Je-moon (The Show Must Go On), Jeong Yu-mi (Family Ties) and Park Hyeok-gwon (A Good Day For an Affair).
This 2-Disc Edition comes with the following special features:
# Audio Commentary by Director and Cast
# Attack of the Killer Boar
# Five Member Pursuit
# Horror vs. Comedy
# Deleted Scenes with Director's Commentary
# Premiere
# Poster Shoot
# Trailer
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