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Thirst
Generally favorable reviews
Based on 21 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 10 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info
Genre(s): Drama | Horror
Written by: Park Chan-wook
Directed by: Park Chan-wook
Release Date:
Theatrical: July 31, 2009
DVD: November 17, 2009
Running Time: 133 minutes, Color
Origin: South Korea
Language(s): Korean | English
Summary
RATING: R for graphic bloody violence, disturbing images, strong sexual content, nudity and language
Starring Song Kang-ho, Shin Ha-kyun, and Kim Ok-bi
Sang-hyun is a priest who cherishes life; so much so, that he selflessly volunteers for a secret vaccine development project meant to eradicate a deadly virus. But the virus takes the priest, and a blood transfusion is urgently ordered up for him. The blood he receives is infected, so Sang-hyun lives – but now exists as a vampire. Struggling with his newfound carnal desire for blood, Sang-hyun’s faith is further strained when a childhood friend’s wife, Tae-ju, comes to him asking for his help in escaping her life. Sang-hyun soon plunges into a world of sensual pleasures, finding himself on intimate terms with the Seven Deadly Sins. (Focus Features)
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Time Richard Corliss
Blending plot elements of "Double Indemnity" and "Natural Born Killers" with the ripe sensuality of Francis Coppola's take on "Dracula," the film should make audiences sit up in startled pleasure, as if they'd just received the most luscious neck-bite.
Read Full Review >Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir
A brilliant and gruesome work of cinematic invention as well as a passionate and painful human love story.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
A gaudy, daring, operatic, and bloody funny provocation of a melodrama from Park Chan-wook.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips
Be warned: Thirst is one of those pictures that tacks on another chapter just when you think it’s wrapping up.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Betsy Sharkey
Are you hungering for that rare vampire movie with serious intellectual heft, ravishing undead, biting passion and a healthy splash of irony as well as iron in all that spilled red blood? Wait no longer, Korean auteur Park Chan-wook's Thirst should satisfy.
Read Full Review >Film Threat Nick Antosca
A terrific film. Loosely based on Emile Zola's novel "Therese Raquin."
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps
Thirst never picks up the momentum of Park’s best-known work. But its turgid pace creates a queasy fascination all its own, drawing viewers into an ever-darkening locus of sin and obsession where even the wish for redemption comes at a terrible cost.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Jennie Punter
The summer's most lip-smacking movie treat.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
Movies exist to cloak our desires in disguises we can accept, and there is an undeniable appeal to Thirst.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Ty Burr
Thirst is deliriously bonkers and keeps getting more so; you watch it holding your breath, waiting to see where Park will zigzag next.
Read Full Review >The New York Times A.O. Scott
Unfortunately, it is also less than the sum of its parts -- overly long, lacking in narrative momentum and too often choosing sensation over coherence.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Maggie Lee
Stunning production quality and the story's extremity should arouse interest beyond the specialty Asian market.
Read Full Review >New York Magazine David Edelstein
The movie's evolution from somber spiritual torment to icky body horror to fetishistic sex to wild lyricism (vampires pogoing off buildings) to Grand Guignol splatter is exhilarating.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Jim Ridley
The most intriguing aspect of Thirst is the steady erosion of Sang-hyeon's ethics, slackened from "do not" to "do not kill" to "do not kill the undeserving" by the lure of those O+ cocktails.
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer
What the film is saying, so far as I can tell, is that, if cut, you will bleed. And bleed. As the vampire's kindred Seven Deadly Sinner, wild-haired Kim Ok-vin looks like she's having a high old time.
Read Full Review >USA Today Claudia Puig
Forget "Twilight." Fans of vampire movies are not likely to see anything more graphic, extreme or twisted than Thirst.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Tirdad Derakhshani
Do you dig the current vampire craze? Do you love "Twilight" so much you'd die for it? Then skip South Korean writer-director Park Chan-wook's violent, bloody Thirst, a genre-bending - if not genre-destroying - foray into the vampire myth.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Jan Stuart
Thirst is good, insolent fun for about two-thirds of the way, before it stumbles and drowns in a pool of its own excess. Still, you can't help but admire a horror movie that prompts us to wonder how vampires with a surplus of blood got by before the advent of Tupperware.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Walter Addiego
I'll stick out my neck and say that Park Chan Wook's wildly gruesome Thirst is the most whacked-out version of an Emile Zola novel ever to reach the screen.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov
Taken as a whole, Thirst meanders too far from the crossroads of life and death; it gets outright dull in spots, although they are few and far between.
Read Full Review >Variety Derek Elley
An overlong stygian comedy that badly needs a transfusion of genuine inspiration.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 6.6 (out of 10) based on 10 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
matthew a. gave it a5:
The Variety review is the most spot-on. This sadly pales in comparison to any of his films in the revenge trilogy (even the mostly mediocre Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance). Good performances (not surprisingly) but an uneven script that really went nowhere and had more than a few holes in the plot. His films are always beautiful to look at though and there are some scenes of brilliance. Just not as consistent as Lady Vengeance and especially Old Boy.
