Asian Home Cinema: "Thirst" US Version DVD

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.