Following its hugely successful theatrical release in October, which saw it being hailed as Film of the Week in both Time Out and The Guardian and being awarded four star reviews in The Daily Express, Time Out, The Sun, Empire, Total Film and Loaded, Park Chan-wook’s Thirst comes to DVD and Blu-ray on 25th January 2010.
The joint winner of the Jury Prize at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival, Thirst sees Park Chan-wook the director of such acclaimed and varied films as the military thriller JSA: Joint Security Area, the comedy romance I’m A Cyborg and the standout movie of his “vengeance” trilogy Oldboy further emphasising his versatility as a storyteller and a filmmaker by turning his hand to Western horror traditions and taking on the ever-popular vampire genre.
Very loosely based on Emile Zola’s novel Therese Raquin, the story concerns a priest who, accidentally cursed with vampirism, is thrown into a whirlpool of moral decline that leads to him into a nightmare world of lust, adultery and murder.
Sang-hyun (Song Kang-ho) is a priest who cherishes life; so much so, that he selflessly volunteers for a secret vaccine research project designed to eradicate a deadly virus. When the virus is found to be affecting the priest and threatening his life, a blood transfusion is urgently ordered up for him. However, the blood he receives is unknowingly infected, the result of the transfusion being that Sang-hyun survives the viral attack but now exists as a vampire dependent upon the life blood of others.
Struggling with his newfound carnal desire for this vital fluid, Sang-hyun’s faith is further strained when a childhood friend’s wife, Tae-ju (Kim Ok-vin), comes to him asking for his help in escaping her tormented life. It’s not long before the former priest is plunged headlong into a world of sensual pleasures, finding himself on intimate terms with the deadliest of the Seven Sins.
Starring Song Kang-ho (The Good, The Bad, The Weird) as Sang-hyun and Kim Ok-vin (Dasepo Naughty Girls) as Tae-ju, Thirst is a visceral, thought-provoking and darkly comic exploration of human existence in extreme circumstances from one of the most original and provocative directors working in modern cinema.
Special features on the DVD and Blu-ray release include: Audio commentary by director Park Chan-wook; Dolby 2.0 and 5.1 and DTS audio options; trailer; UK exclusive interview with Park Chan-wook.
Palisades Tartan will be releasing Thirst on DVD and Blu-ray on 25th January 2010 and Chris and Phil will be reviewing it in a future podcast.
