Park Chan-Wook’s Vampire Film Thirst Coming to the U.S. in July
If you’re a fan of Oldboy the rest of the so-called Vengeance trilogy, you’ll be excited to hear that Korean director Park Chan-Wook’s next film Thirst is headed to North America relatively soon… next month, in fact. After its premiere at Cannes, where it won the Prix du Jury but received somewhat lukewarm reviews, Focus Features went on to announce a U.S. release date of July 31st. Screenings will start in New York, San Francisco and L.A., before expanding further afterward.
Thirst is the story of a priest who becomes a vampire after a medical experiment gone awry. Believe it or not, Universal and Focus Features actually co-produced the film, marking the first time that a Korean film received U.S. funding prior to its release. Clearly they were hoping to repeat the success of Tomas Alfredson’s Let The Right One In, the Swedish vampire film that went on to become an underground hit in 2008. Whether or not Thirst will have the same appeal remains to be seen, but we will find out on July 31st. Are you a fan of Park Chan-Wook’s films? Are you looking forward to this movie? Check out the Korean trailer for the film below.
Comments (8)
BONER ALERT!
Sean, you just made my day. I can’t wait to see this. It’s one that will definitely leave blood in your underwear.
Posted by Phil G on June 5th, 2009Oldboy I liked. Lady Vengeance was a bit too convoluted for me, though I liked the last half hour or so. Regardless, both movies are shot wonderfully. My favorite shot in Lady V is of Yeong-ae Lee sitting at the edge of the bed while smoking a cigarette – I forget where the scene is timeline-wise or even its importance. It’s almost like a Wong Kar Wai shot in that the camera pretty much lies just as still as the actor, who is doing something mundane.
Be warned: the image they use for Lady V’s dvd menu is kinda a mini-spoiler; or maybe not a spoiler if you know absolutely nothing about the film, but the image – when you finally get up to that part in the movie – you’ll kinda wish you hadn’t seen it. It doesn’t kill the movie, but it just would’ve been a nice surprise, to see how the scene plays out.
Posted by Mike D on June 5th, 2009Epic win
Posted by joe on June 5th, 2009Hopefully this will be Chan-Wook’s first film since Oldboy to leave blood in my underwear.
Posted by Ryan M. on June 5th, 2009How were they hoping to repeat the success of Let The Right One In when production began before the hysteria over that film occurred? I think you are extrapolating your interesting thesis statement a tad too far.
Posted by necom on June 7th, 2009Let The Right One started playing festivals in early 2008. Universal and Focus Features came on board Thirst in September 2008 I believe. But yeah, I could be just jumping to conclusions.
Posted by Sean on June 7th, 2009For your info, Park’s “Old Boy,”
Posted by Henry Oh on June 11th, 2009“Lady of Vengeance” and “Thirst” were box office flops in Korea itself. Many Koreans think Park is a weirdo.
Check out this exclusive interview with Park Chan-Wook at Comic-Con talking about ‘Thirst’!
Sounds like it will be one to die for!
http://www.fearnet.com/videos/b16118_sdcc_2009_park_chan_wookrsquos_thirst.html
Posted by Matt on July 29th, 2009Leave a Reply