SHERDOG MOVIE CLUB: Week 36 Discussion - Thirst

[Guestx]

NOTE to NON-MEMBERS: Interested in joining the SHERDOG MOVIE CLUB? Shoot me a PM for more info.


Thanks to @MusterX, we walked the path of the Korean undead this week. And so we'll be discussing Park Chan-wook's. . .

Director Bio​

One of the most popular filmmakers in his native South Korea, PARK CHAN-WOOK is a director, screenwriter, producer and former film critic.

He studied philosophy at Sogang University in Seoul, and while a student there he started a film club. It was his original intention to be a critic and he published several pieces on contemporary cinema, but after seeing Vertigo he resolved to make films of his own.

Park's debut feature, The Moon Is. . . the Sun's Dream, was released in 1992. It took five years before he was able to release his second feature film, Trio. It wasn't until 2000, however, when he released Joint Security Area that he found both critical and commercial success, with the film going on to become the most watched film of all time in South Korea.

After Joint Security Area he went on to make Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance and Oldboy, the latter winning the Grand Prix at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival.

He has listed Sophocles, Shakespeare, Kafka, Dostoevsky, Balzac, and Kurt Vonnegut as being influences on his career.

In 2013, Park released his first English-language film, Stoker. In 2016, he released his most recent film, The Handmaiden, which currently has a 94% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Our Stars​

Song Kang-ho: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0814280/?ref_=tt_cl_t1

Kim Ok-bin: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1982607/?ref_=tt_cl_t2

Film Overview and YouTube Videos​

Premise: Through a failed medical experiment, a priest is stricken with vampirism and is forced to abandon his ascetic ways.

Budget: ?
Box Office: $13 Million (worldwide)

​

Trivia
(courtesy of IMDB)​

* The first mainstream Korean film to feature full-frontal male nudity.

* The original Korean title directly translates to "Bat."

* The film won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival.

Members: @shadow_priest_x @europe1 @EL CORINTHIAN @HUNTERMANIA @iThrillhouse @DaDamn @chickenluver @jeicex @MusterX @BeardotheWeirdo @In The Name Of @Coolthulu @AndersonsFoot

 

[HUNTERMANIA]

Had this downloaded for over a year, meaning to watch it, will definitely post about it in here.

 

[Guestx]

@europe1, this one's for you bro. You're always saying it's midnight when these threads go up.

From what I can tell, it should be about 7 o'clock in Vikingland right now.

 

[Joseph Budden]

overdramatic asian vamp flick. Yall should've voted Near Dark

 

[europe1]

@europe1, this one's for you bro. You're always saying it's midnight when these threads go up.

From what I can tell, it should be about 7 o'clock in Vikingland right now.

Haha. Thanks mate, I'm actually watching this flick right now as you posted this thre...HOLY CRAP THE PENIS IS FLACCID!!!!

 

[europe1]

Alright, I'm going to do this breakdown in note-form.

* Thematically, I'm not sure what to say about this film. It's obviously some sort of morality-play involving vampirism. Thirst focuses on what it is like to actually live with vampirism and what efffect is has on the person... and all that jazz. But what is the movie trying to say? What is it's conclusions and messages? Plus there is an entire plethora of subjects that the movie seems to be alluding to. Catholic Guilt? A God-less universe? Dysfunctional Korean family unit/sexual mores? I'll return to this subject if I'm able to think-up something coherent about it.

* That part near the ending where they were playing mahjong was brilliantly funny. With the mother-in-law communicating with blinks and then Tae-ju lifting up her chair with the sort of blasé attitude that makes you think she had forgotten that she was supposed to be hiding it.

* Honestly, the visuals where mostly what kept me engaged with this film. The framming and composition where really pleasing to the eye. It was meticulously done yet often had quirky features to it that added to the dark humor (notice for example how they positioned the mother-in-laws eyes on the screen. When they were in the car she was so submerged into the seating that only her eyes popped forth. Oddly humerous).

* The pick of colours were likewise very precise. For much of the film it's a rather dark and muted hue that dominates the screen (which makes the scenes where it's not so stand-out alot and feel emphasized. Such as that all-white room where they murder the mahjong guests). I also -- and forgive me for becoming weird for a moment -- almost got the impression that the characters blended-in with the background. They are all rather pale and not animated at all, they don't move energetically, don't do anything sporadic, and are not lit so to make them stand-out. Much of the acting (except for some contrasting vampire-scenes) are rather muted and subdued which atunes these factors to the visual-style of the filmmaking.

 

[Guestx]

All right, Thirst. . . This write-up is going to be all over the place, so be forewarned.

Before last night, the only Park Chan-wook movie I had seen was Oldboy. I love that film and had been meaning to expand my knowledge of his films, but I just hadn't done it so the opportunity to watch another of his movies was one I was looking forward to. Having now actually seen Thirst, I sit down to write this with pretty mixed feelings.

The biggest problem, as I see it, is that there's a long stretch of the film that doesn't make a whole lot of fucking sense. At least, that is, until the end and everything comes together. So I felt like it started strongly, and ended fairly strongly, but there's a HUGE section in the middle--a good hour or more--where I was just like, "So WHERE is this movie going?" I was really starting to check out mentally at a certain point.

But I want to hit a few other points and then I'll backtrack.

First off, fuck that EV disease. That looks like some horrendous shit, and I have to say, props to anyone who has the balls to intentionally subject themselves to it for the good of humanity. I could never do that.

Second, while watching the film I was curious about how prominent Christianity actually is in South Korea. Surprisingly, I learned that about 30% of South Koreans are Christians. This contrasts with about only 1% of Japanese. That seems very strange to me. Both nations have had about the same amount of exposure to the West, so why such a huge disparity between South Korean and Japanese Christians?

Third, and this ties in somewhat with my last point, I have always been fascinated with Catholicism. I consider myself an agnostic today, but I was raised Baptist and at one point began investigating Catholicism. The more I learned, the more I realized that I REALLY WANTED to be Catholic . . . while also realizing that I could never be Catholic. There was so much that struck me as true and beautiful--the ritualism, the argument for Catholic authority, the history, the recognition of Saints--but the things that struck me as obviously not true were too foundational to the faith for me to embrace it. Ultimately, I just had to let it go. It's still a fascinating subject for me, though.

Now, to get back to the film, I felt like the main thrust of Catholic-priest-becomes-a-vampire was interesting, but Park doesn't really do much with it. I thought he might say something profound about religion, but he doesn't really. Then I thought he'd at least take us on a cool vampire adventure, but he doesn't do that either. He could've focused the film on Sang-hyeon leaving his old life behind and moving on to this new existence, but instead he gives us what is essentially a small, contained domestic drama. Around the point where we get the scene where Sang-hyeon and Tae-ju are having their quarrel and jumping from rooftop to rooftop I was thinking to myself, "Okay, finally, we're free! Our vampires are going to move out into the world and the story will go on to the next stage of things!" But of course that doesn't happen. They're back in that little house again within minutes.

Thematically, it touches on a few somewhat interesting ideas: suicide vs martyrdom, the legitimacy of threats of punishment from deities who may or may not exist, the responsibility of a creator to those things that they create. But while this did give the film some interesting depth, I'm not exactly bowled over by any of it.

Like I said, I think that once you reach the end of the movie and look back over it the story makes sense, at least the broad strokes. But the murky second act had me checking my watch and wondering just what in the fuck was going on. So I can't really call the film entirely successful, because an entirely successful film doesn't lose its audience for vast stretches with the promise to tie things up later on.

I'm going to go ahead and give this one a 7/10, due to the positives that I mentioned and the fact that I think the last 30 or so minutes does a solid job of bringing the story back into focus. But it's a very tentative 7/10. Thirst is an interesting film and has a unique voice on the landscape of vampire cinema, but Oldboy it is not.

 

[Guestx]

* Thematically, I'm not sure what to say about this film. It's obviously some sort of morality-play involving vampirism. Thirst focuses on what it is like to actually live with vampirism and what efffect is has on the person... and all that jazz. But what is the movie trying to say? What is it's conclusions and messages? Plus there is an entire plethora of subjects that the movie seems to be alluding to. Catholic Guilt? A God-less universe? Dysfunctional Korean family unit/sexual mores? I'll return to this subject if I'm able to think-up something coherent about it.

Probably the one idea that I felt like came full circle in any way was that of suicide vs martyrdom.

At the beginning of the film, Sang-hyeon is telling a confessor that she needs to purge herself of suicidal thoughts and that suicide sends you to hell. Then suicide comes up again in the meeting with the doctor near the beginning where the doctor says that it's very difficult to tell the difference between someone seeking suicide and someone embracing martyrdom when they enter the study for the EV virus.

All of that is at the beginning. And then at the end of the film we have its bookend, where Sang-hyeon is killing both himself and his creation. But is this suicide? Or a selfless act of martyrdom for the greater good of humanity?

 

[europe1]

Before last night, the only Park Chan-wook movie I had seen was Oldboy. I love that film and had been meaning to expand my knowledge of his films, but I just hadn't done it so the opportunity to watch another of his movies was one I was looking forward to

I liked Oldboy but I can't say that I loved it.

I've been pretty cold on the New Korean Wave as a whole. There are plenty of films that I think are good but there hasn't really been a film in the movement that truly "wowed" me (Oldboy comming closest). Thirst, The Good The Bad The Weird, The Housemaid those are all good but nothing I consider great. But I really shouldn't state anything definitive since I haven't seen any of the crown jewels of the movement outside Oldboy (like Memoirs of a Murder or The Handmaiden)

Lady Vengeance was pretty meh (more of Park's weirdness and meandering bringing it down). As was Host.

The biggest problem, as I see it, is that there's a long stretch of the film that doesn't make a whole of fucking sense. At least, that is, until the end and everything comes together. So I felt like it started strongly, and ended fairly strongly, but there's a HUGE section in the middle--a good hour or more--where I was just like, "So WHERE is this movie going?" I was really starting to check out mentally at a certain point.

Yes. I agree. Park was juggling to many balls in the air.

Second, while watching the film I was curious about how prominent Christianity actually is in South Korea. Surprisingly, I learned that about 30% of South Koreans are Christians. This contrasts with about only 1% of Japanese. That seems very strange to me. Both nations have had about the same amount of exposure to the West, so why such a huge disparity between South Korean and Japanese Christians?

South Korea's rulling class adopted Christianity as a part of it's Westernization process. It filtered down from there. Plus some active misisonary work from what I understand.

From what I understand, in Korea the religion of the ruling classes where a bit diffrent from that of the subjects. With the ruling classes either being Buddhist/Confusian while the common folk belonged to more native shamanistic/nature-religions.


Also... wikipedia informs me that the big majority of Korean Christians are protestants -- not catholics. I heard a funny thing about that once. Apparently, when directors want to portray Christianity on screen they often go with Catholicism because all the iconography and bling make them more ostentatious and cinematic. The more casual and minimalistic style that protestant have simply isn't as striking to look at in a movie.

but the things that struck me as obviously not true were too foundational to the faith for me to embrace it.

One thing that always baffled me about Catholicism is that -- of all the brands of Christianity -- they've always been the most involved in science and philosophy (with people like the Jesuits and Thomas Aquinas for example). Other branches like Protestantism simply don't have the rich history of using logic and rationality in their theology like Catholisim has with field such as Natural Theology, for instance.

Yet, side-by-side with that, they simultaneously believe in things that are so blatantly supernatural. Such as the Bread and Wine literally (not symbolically as in Protestantism) being the Flesh and Blood of Jesus.

That disconnect is always something that has been trampling around in my mind.

Probably the one idea that I felt like came full circle in any way was that of suicide vs martyrdom.

At the beginning of the film, Sang-hyeon is telling a confessor that she needs to purge herself of suicidal thoughts and that suicide sends you to hell. Then suicide comes up again in the meeting with the doctor near the beginning where the doctor says that it's very difficult to tell the difference between someone seeking suicide and someone embracing martyrdom when they enter the study for the EV virus.

That's interesting.

I saw it more as Park deconstructing/making fun of Christianity.

The film seems to have this theme of Christian beliefs being inverted in various ways.


* Sang-hyeon volunteers for the EV virus thinking God will look out for him -- yet he turns into an unholy vampire.
* All the Christians thinking Sang's recovery was a miracle -- when it fact it was unholy vampirism.
* Sang-hyeon abandoning his vows.
* Absurd twists of scripture (God saying that man should not worry about food and water being taken as an o'kay to drink blood).
* The blind clergyman being willing to become a vampire in exhange for the return of his eye-sight.
* Christians symbols not holding any power over Vampires. Sang is able to look at a crucifix without being repelled. Which implies that such objects are not Holy.
* And so on with the examples.

So... I didn't really see his sacrifice at the end as some act of martyrdom. More as another rejection of Catholic doctrine. By committing suicide he's breaking another one of the Catholic commandments. Instead of fighting to do good and improve himself he resigns himself to death as the only avenue to escape all this evil.

But I see how it can be interpreted as an act of martyrdoom too.

but instead he gives us what is essentially a small, contained domestic drama.

It seemed as if he was trying to make some sort of comment on the Korean Family Unit in this scene. Man-children. Overbearing mother-in-laws. Wives being more like like Maids than... wives. It was all very overtly dysfunctional.

The spread of vamperism to the two main characters also coincide with an personality change.

Sang-hyeon has been living under strict vows. Tae-ju has been subservient to her family. Their infection leads to them breaking these social bounds, becomming more assertive, aggresive and libertine. They abandon the old, traditional way, so-to-say. But while Sang-hyeons monastic vows was voluntary, Tae-ju's position in the family was imposed on her. Hence her more indulgent and aggresive dispossition once she becomes a vampire.

 

[MusterX]

I'm coming in a bit later than normal tonight because today was my oldest sons birthday.

This film started slow but I felt it finished quite strong and contained elements of other famous works of fiction. So let me get straight to the examples.

When I was watching this it ocurred to me that the Father was slowly eaten up by his own guilt and it kept reminding me of something I couldn't put my finger to. The girls husband having a rock on his chest and appearing during them having sex. Then later the same person grabbing the Father from behind and attacking him. Then the girl gets guilty and begs mother to forgive her, telling her to blink if she forgives her and then it snapped tight in my mind.

These examples were the same damn thing as this.

Spoiler

Classic Edgar Allen Poe style story telling about a killer that is eaten up by his own guilt. In the Tell-Tale Heart he could hear the heart beat of the man he murdered until he was driven mad by it.

I also was struck by the unexpected twist during the same scene above when the girl begged mom to forgive her and then she told the vampire Father that she wanted to die so he crushed her neck but then he resurrected her as a vampire and told her happy birthday. She turns out to be a much more unfettered version of a vampire and has no guilt for her actions.

The next thing is I can't help but think the Father knew he had to end it because the girl was wild, more powerful than him, and would end up leaving him or getting them caught. He killed her once then realized he couldn't live without her and resurrected her as a vampire. The only solution at the end was to kill them both, either they both had to be living or both be dead.

Its a bit of an evil twist on....

Spoiler

The mother was able to communicate through eye blinking and scratching with her finger. At one point I was really reminded of this.

Spoiler

Special mentions to the Father's boss priest that was blind who told him all I want to do before I die is see a sunrise over the sea and then at the end he chose the sunrise over the sea for the suicide.

Also to the fact the Father explained to the girl to cut off the victims feet at the ankles and let gravity do the work and then at the end the girls feet fell off.

 

[MusterX]

Probably the one idea that I felt like came full circle in any way was that of suicide vs martyrdom.

At the beginning of the film, Sang-hyeon is telling a confessor that she needs to purge herself of suicidal thoughts and that suicide sends you to hell. Then suicide comes up again in the meeting with the doctor near the beginning where the doctor says that it's very difficult to tell the difference between someone seeking suicide and someone embracing martyrdom when they enter the study for the EV virus.

All of that is at the beginning. And then at the end of the film we have its bookend, where Sang-hyeon is killing both himself and his creation. But is this suicide? Or a selfless act of martyrdom for the greater good of humanity?

He was seeking suicide at the end IMO but it brings up a great point and that is the film hits on deeper meaning of life. The Father lost his faith but he held on to enough of it to know at the end they couldn't go on like that. He's the guilty vampire, kinda like this guy.

Spoiler

His faith told him he would go to hell for suicide but the girl told him twice during the film, when you die you are dead.

 

[MusterX]

Alright, I'm going to do this breakdown in note-form.

* Thematically, I'm not sure what to say about this film. It's obviously some sort of morality-play involving vampirism. Thirst focuses on what it is like to actually live with vampirism and what efffect is has on the person... and all that jazz. But what is the movie trying to say? What is it's conclusions and messages? Plus there is an entire plethora of subjects that the movie seems to be alluding to. Catholic Guilt? A God-less universe? Dysfunctional Korean family unit/sexual mores? I'll return to this subject if I'm able to think-up something coherent about it.

* That part near the ending where they were playing mahjong was brilliantly funny. With the mother-in-law communicating with blinks and then Tae-ju lifting up her chair with the sort of blasé attitude that makes you think she had forgotten that she was supposed to be hiding it.

* Honestly, the visuals where mostly what kept me engaged with this film. The framming and composition where really pleasing to the eye. It was meticulously done yet often had quirky features to it that added to the dark humor (notice for example how they positioned the mother-in-laws eyes on the screen. When they were in the car she was so submerged into the seating that only her eyes popped forth. Oddly humerous).

* The pick of colours were likewise very precise. For much of the film it's a rather dark and muted hue that dominates the screen (which makes the scenes where it's not so stand-out alot and feel emphasized. Such as that all-white room where they murder the mahjong guests). I also -- and forgive me for becoming weird for a moment -- almost got the impression that the characters blended-in with the background. They are all rather pale and not animated at all, they don't move energetically, don't do anything sporadic, and are not lit so to make them stand-out. Much of the acting (except for some contrasting vampire-scenes) are rather muted and subdued which atunes these factors to the visual-style of the filmmaking.

Ok first off wtf is wrong with you thinking this is a dark comedy or something. This film has a weird way of lulling viewers in to conclusions and feelings that are very different. Although I will admit that mother's son getting up and cutting a huge fart at the dinner table was funny as fuck to me.

I didn't feel like this was a movie about vampirism. This was a movie about forbidden love and the loss of faith and the guilt that comes with those two things.

Spoiler

Come

Spoiler

At

Spoiler

Me

Spoiler

Bro

 

[Coolthulu]

Many vampire movies blend sexuality and violence, but Thirst is without a doubt the sexiest vampire film I've ever seen. The magnificent son of a bitch that is Song Kang-ho plays a vampire priest who finds himself drawn towards sinful pleasures which his order straight up forbids. When he reunites with an old acquaintance, he finds his desire too much to resist. When she shows an interest in his vampirism, he realizes that her desire may truly be beyond his control.......




Thirst plays with some pretty traditional story elements as far as vampire movies are concerned—the need for blood vs the desire not to kill, an outsider wants to join but doesn't understand the consequences, etc.—but adds to them some of Park Chan-wook's personal cinematic flair. His ongoing collaboration with cinematographer Chung-hoon Chung is nothing short of fucking fabulous. His unique ability for finding comedy in the darkest of situations got several hyena laughs out of me through an otherwise dark and gloomy story. On the opposite end of things, he also has a knack for creating some potent nightmare fuel through his strategic use of violence and psychologically unstable imagery.

Unfortunately, where many scenes had me absolutely glued to the screen (the games of Mahjong in particular are oddly captivating), others left me less than impressed. The protagonist's introduction is a bit messy and the way he turns into a vampire is interesting........but undeveloped. More than once there were characters whose motivations were unclear and some of the scene transitions feel a bit rough around the edges thanks in part to the constantly shifting and unstable tone. But while it's not without fault, it's an exceptional and creative addition to the vampire genre.

 

[Andersons Foot]

I wasn't sure what to expect going in, never seen anything by Park Chan-wook (Need to watch Old Boy), but i really enjoyed it. It didn't feel like a typical Vampire movie to me and I enjoyed that, I liked the different vibe it had. Good acting throughout, especially the priest and Tae-ju.

I forgot to mention that it was surprisingly funny at certain points, I was not expecting any humor after seeing the first few minutes.

7.5

 

[europe1]

but Thirst is without a doubt the sexiest vampire film I've ever seen

Foolish mortal...

I also tried finding pictures of Mathilda May from Lifeforce but I can't find any pictures of her with her clothes on... Not sure if that is a good thing or not.

I'll just post this instead since it's so cool.

The protagonist's introduction is a bit messy and the way he turns into a vampire is interesting........but undeveloped.

I thought it was interesting that they left it so unexplored. The guy volounters for the EV virus and just happens to get a blood transfusion from a Vampire. But there is no fanfare about it. Not once does he stop to languish, monolouge or think about this amazing piece of happenstance.

So why not? I think Park did that to underscore the black comedy of it all. By ignoring it, his vampirism becomes more bizzare than a damantion. It also plays into the Christian Inversion theme the film has going. Sang expects God to look out for him -- but through an bizzare and untracable incident he becomes an Vampire, which gives the impression that the world is ruled by cruel chance rather than some sort of divine plan. The absurdity of it all gives the impression that God doesn't have a plan for us at all.

 

[Andersons Foot]

Now that I've had a few hours since watching the movie I think I'd lower my score from a 7.5 to a 7. Still a good movie but now that I've had time to digest it my opinion on it has lowered a little. It just felt somewhat flat at times.

 

[Guestx]

I liked Oldboy but I can't say that I loved it.

I've only watched it once, but when I did, I was blown away by it. Probably time for a rewatch.

I've been pretty cold on the New Korean Wave as a whole. There are plenty of films that I think are good but there hasn't really been a film in the movement that truly "wowed" me (Oldboy comming closest). Thirst, The Good The Bad The Weird, The Housemaid those are all good but nothing I consider great. But I really shouldn't state anything definitive since I haven't seen any of the crown jewels of the movement outside Oldboy (like Memoirs of a Murder or The Handmaiden)

Lady Vengeance was pretty meh (more of Park's weirdness and meandering bringing it down). As was Host.

But what about Dragon Wars?

South Korea's rulling class adopted Christianity as a part of it's Westernization process. It filtered down from there. Plus some active misisonary work from what I understand.

From what I understand, in Korea the religion of the ruling classes where a bit diffrent from that of the subjects. With the ruling classes either being Buddhist/Confusian while the common folk belonged to more native shamanistic/nature-religions.

On topic, I found this article which was fairly interesting:

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/20...tian-missionaries-find-japan-tough-nut-crack/

I heard a funny thing about that once. Apparently, when directors want to portray Christianity on screen they often go with Catholicism because all the iconography and bling make them more ostentatious and cinematic. The more casual and minimalistic style that protestant have simply isn't as striking to look at in a movie.

That's a code that I cracked years ago. As a Christian I was always very observant to how Christianity was portrayed on television. Whenever it's a Protestant minister, then 90% of the time his specific brand of faith is central to the story. A good example of this would Robert Duvall's EXCELLENT film The Apostle.

But if they are just a general representative for Christianity they're usually Catholic.

It makes sense, though. When you see a Catholic priest you immediately know what he is. But a Protestant minister just looks like a guy in a suit.

One thing that always baffled me about Catholicism is that -- of all the brands of Christianity -- they've always been the most involved in science and philosophy (with people like the Jesuits and Thomas Aquinas for example). Other branches like Protestantism simply don't have the rich history of using logic and rationality in their theology like Catholisim has with field such as Natural Theology, for instance.

Yet, side-by-side with that, they simultaneously believe in things that are so blatantly supernatural. Such as the Bread and Wine literally (not symbolically as in Protestantism) being the Flesh and Blood of Jesus.

That disconnect is always something that has been trampling around in my mind.

Well isn't the mark of divinity an ability to circumvent nature's laws?

The natural world is subject to the laws of nature, but God, as the author of these laws, works outside of them. He is not subject to them. So I don't really see the conflict between science and the supernatural there that you do.

As I see it, science is a tool to understand the natural world. It informs us about the mechanisms of that world. But it's in the very nature of God to break those laws when he sees fit.

What wouldn't make sense to me would be remaining Catholic while disbelieving that supernatural events are possible.

That's interesting.

I saw it more as Park deconstructing/making fun of Christianity.

The film seems to have this theme of Christian beliefs being inverted in various ways.


* Sang-hyeon volunteers for the EV virus thinking God will look out for him -- yet he turns into an unholy vampire.
* All the Christians thinking Sang's recovery was a miracle -- when it fact it was unholy vampirism.
* Sang-hyeon abandoning his vows.
* Absurd twists of scripture (God saying that man should not worry about food and water being taken as an o'kay to drink blood).
* The blind clergyman being willing to become a vampire in exhange for the return of his eye-sight.
* Christians symbols not holding any power over Vampires. Sang is able to look at a crucifix without being repelled. Which implies that such objects are not Holy.
* And so on with the examples.

So... I didn't really see his sacrifice at the end as some act of martyrdom. More as another rejection of Catholic doctrine. By committing suicide he's breaking another one of the Catholic commandments. Instead of fighting to do good and improve himself he resigns himself to death as the only avenue to escape all this evil.

But I see how it can be interpreted as an act of martyrdoom too.

I felt like in this movie we were dealing with a different kind of vampire. Being a vampire was morally neutral. Rather, it's what you DID as a vampire that determined whether you were holy or unholy. In my view at least, in the world of this particular film you could potentially be a vampire while still being a moral creature.

And in fact, it's interesting that we see Sang-hyeon wrestling with his conscience quite a bit throughout the film. My take--and this is just my take, I'm not sure that it's something the director intended--was that in the end, by choosing to die in the way that he did, he was martyring himself for the good of humanity. So it was a return to the path of righteousness.

 

[Guestx]

The girls husband having a rock on his chest and appearing during them having sex. Then later the same person grabbing the Father from behind and attacking him. Then the girl gets guilty and begs mother to forgive her, telling her to blink if she forgives her and then it snapped tight in my mind.

That WHOLE sequence was just fucking weird.

These examples were the same damn thing as this.

Spoiler

Classic Edgar Allen Poe style story telling about a killer that is eaten up by his own guilt. In the Tell-Tale Heart he could hear the heart beat of the man he murdered until he was driven mad by it.

Since this is a film club, I'm going to offer something interesting. I found this short film a while back that is a modern re-telling of A Tell Tale Heart. It was made by the owner of film tutorial YouTube channel that I subscribe to. It's basically a no-budget production, but I thought it was actually pretty effective.

Special mentions to the Father's boss priest that was blind who told him all I want to do before I die is see a sunrise over the sea and then at the end he chose the sunrise over the sea for the suicide.

One scene I really didn't understand is the one where he kills the older priest. Was that supposed to be an act of mercy or cruelty? Or had his thirst for blood just overtaken him to the point to where he couldn't help himself? I didn't get it.

 

[Guestx]

Now that I've had a few hours since watching the movie I think I'd lower my score from a 7.5 to a 7. Still a good movie but now that I've had time to digest it my opinion on it has lowered a little. It just felt somewhat flat at times.

Yeah, I ultimately have a hard time calling it a "good" movie. I feel like it had a lot of interesting elements, and certainly had some good scenes, but I basically think there is half of a good movie here. The other half is a mess.

 

[Joseph Budden]

Yeah, I ultimately have a hard time calling it a "good" movie. I feel like it had a lot of interesting elements, and certainly had some good scenes, but I basically think there is half of a good movie here. The other half is a mess.

hashtag shouldvevotedneardark