The Story:

Sang Hyun, a priest on a mission to become a martyr of God, contracts a disease with the intention of helping to find a vaccination so he can heal the sick and dying. The disease causes the priest to quickly deteriorate until he is nearly dead. In a final attempt to save him, the medical staff decide to give him a blood transfusion. Little does the priest know, the blood used was vampiric, and he doesn’t survive the procedure.

The Characters:

Sang Hyun, after surviving the experiment is seen as a miracle healer to the outside world. The sick and injured stalk him everywhere he goes. He decides to help a sick man, realizing he was close with the family in his past, but falls in love with the man’s adopted sister (now wife) who has been used as the family’s slave most of her life. The priest soon discovers the vampire blood is giving him the thirst for all the earthly desires he had once sworn away from.

Effects/Gore:

The movie is focused on the story rather than the gore, but it still manages to deliver some great kills and decent blood spray thanks to some bloody fight scenes including the priest’s deterioration.

Lasting Appeal:

The world is so torn on what a vampire is these days, and rightfully so when some franchises and their fans act as though they invented the creature. The vampires in South Korea’s Thirst fit the bill, while also expressing real human emotion in situations that actually matter in the grand scheme of things. Sometimes you forget they are vampires, because they are very similar to humans (apart from the whole drinking blood and only coming out at night hang-up). The vampire is very intelligent, he does things for a reason, he displays both fear and a conscience even after the thirst gets the best of him. While it’s a respectful, smart effort for the genre, the length of the movie makes you feel cheated when the characters act in a manner that doesn’t make sense, which in turn will hurt the replay value.

Final Headcount:

Genre Heavy-weight Chan Wook-Park (The Vengeance Trilogy, 3 Extremes) drains the over-saturated vampire market with a great story, likable characters, and a very smart lead. It does lose some steam near the end but manages to pick up and keep running till the downbeat finale.