Movies

Get Your Reps In: Quench Your “Thirst” for Vampires Before Halloween

What to see at Portland’s repertory theaters.

By Chance Solem-Pfeifer
Thirst (2009) (IMDB)

Thirst (2009)

Park Chan-wook’s most famous movie is more or less a torture device so unthinkably ornate that Old Boy (2003) vaulted its director to art house sicko stardom. So, when Park made his vampire film, Thirst, of course the South Korean master dialed right in to the uniquely masochistic nature of bloodsuckers more often portrayed as sadists. When a terminally ill priest (Song Kang-ho) finds himself cured by vampire blood, he embarks on an illicit affair with childhood acquaintance Tae-ju (Kim Ok-vin) and a wild descent into guilt.

In Park’s hands, the vampire’s sensuous power is immediately an ironic torment. Here, we have a man of the cloth who self-flagellates just for thinking about sex. Now, he can suddenly see and hear inside the pulsing veins of his love interest. It’s a perceptual impossibility for Father Sang-hyun to ignore his lust.

On that note, Thirst also stages one of the best “turning” scenes between vampire and victim in the history of the genre. Cinema 21, Aug. 29 and 30.

Also Playing:

5th Avenue: Lingui, The Sacred Bonds (2021), Aug. 29–31. Academy: Se7en (1995), Aug. 27 and 28. Cool Hand Luke (1967), Aug. 27–29. The Warriors (1979), Aug. 27 and 28. Jaws (1975), Aug. 29–Sept. 4. Mo’ Better Blues (1990), Aug. 29–Sept. 4. Cinema 21: Saturday Night Fever (1977), Aug. 30. Cinemagic: Fast Times at Ridgmont High (1982), Aug. 27 and 28. Zeirman 2 (1994), Aug. 27. Mechanical Violator Hakaider (1995), Aug. 28. Clinton: Peasants of the Second Fortress (1971), Aug. 27. Mind Game (2004), Aug. 28. Wolf Children (2012), Aug. 30. The Legend of the Stardust Brothers (1985), Aug. 30. The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), Aug. 30. Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972), Sept. 2. Cult Classics: The Stuff (1985) Aug. 31. Hollywood: The Ruins (2008), Aug. 29. Flesh + Blood (1985), Aug. 30. Jaws (1975), Aug. 30 and 31. VHYes (2019), Sept. 2. Tomorrow: Office Space (1999), Aug. 29. Magnolia (1999), Aug. 29. Eyes Wide Shut (1999), Aug. 30. The Iron Giant (1999), Aug. 31. American Movie (1999), Aug. 31.

Chance Solem-Pfeifer

Chance Solem-Pfeifer

Chance Solem-Pfeifer is a film critic and arts journalist. He hosts "The Kick" movie podcast on the Now Playing Network and is a founding member of the Portland Critics Association.

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