Thirst
Dir: Park Chan-wook
2009
****
I'm a big fan of Park Chan-wook's films, although I feel that most of them are flawed in one way of another. Originality and stunning visuals generally make up for this, his 2009 horror Thirst being a good example of this. There are a few notable alternative Vampire films worth praise, Thirst being one of the more creative in resent years. The first half of the film is a very long hour indeed, it is intriguing enough but very slow and almost formulaic. In contrast, the second half is full of colour, fast-paced action, unpredictable twists and is completely nuts. It comes as a huge relief for a Park Chan-wook fan. The director has a knack of continuing the story long beyond where you would think he should finish without loosing any momentum of quality of story. I've seen many Korean films and I still don't quite understand their method of acting, it looks overcooked to me but I'm not sure if it is a nation thing or a Chan-wook thing but it is effective in places. It's nice to see well timed and well-balanced humour in original horror too, it hits the right tone quite successfully, funny but without raising a poorly timed laugh but not something you could class as 'black comedy' in the usual sense. Thirst, much like Chan-wook's other films, is a unique joy that really brings life to an exhausted genre.