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I'm sick of vampires. True Blood and Twilight have pretty much bored the hell out of me, and I've grown tired of them since Anne Rice's books got adapted to the screen.
But I had to admit I was interested in seeing what Korean bad boy director Park Chan-wook would bring to the table when he said that he would do a vampire film based on a work by Emile Zola - and the results, while mixed, are mostly good and sometimes masterful.
The story revolves around a Catholic priest who volunteers for treatment of a rare African disease that seems like a variation of the Ebola Virus. Of the 500 volunteers that come forward to hopefully allow for a cure, the priest is the sole survivor. However, when he returns, he is regarded by some as a savior, others as a celebrity while he himself is dealing with a number of vampire symptoms and advantages. He manages to fall into the company of an old childhood friend who is critically ill, and finds himself drawing very attracted to the wife of said friend. You know this is going down a pretty dark path before the first half hour is up.
This being from Park Chan-wook, director of the Vengeance Trilogy (Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Oldboy and Lady Vengeance), it's a pretty twisted ride, and it's never boring. Catholic sensibilities are stomped on and there's some pretty inventively weird takes on vampire lore that no other Western made vampire film have never touched on before (with the possible exception of Nicholas Cage's weirdfest Vampire's Kiss). He manages to pull off a very solid first hour, losing his way from about 1h 15 min to 1h 45 min before getting back on track and delivering a really solid ending. It's not his best film, but it's not your typical vampire film either.
But I had to admit I was interested in seeing what Korean bad boy director Park Chan-wook would bring to the table when he said that he would do a vampire film based on a work by Emile Zola - and the results, while mixed, are mostly good and sometimes masterful.
The story revolves around a Catholic priest who volunteers for treatment of a rare African disease that seems like a variation of the Ebola Virus. Of the 500 volunteers that come forward to hopefully allow for a cure, the priest is the sole survivor. However, when he returns, he is regarded by some as a savior, others as a celebrity while he himself is dealing with a number of vampire symptoms and advantages. He manages to fall into the company of an old childhood friend who is critically ill, and finds himself drawing very attracted to the wife of said friend. You know this is going down a pretty dark path before the first half hour is up.
This being from Park Chan-wook, director of the Vengeance Trilogy (Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Oldboy and Lady Vengeance), it's a pretty twisted ride, and it's never boring. Catholic sensibilities are stomped on and there's some pretty inventively weird takes on vampire lore that no other Western made vampire film have never touched on before (with the possible exception of Nicholas Cage's weirdfest Vampire's Kiss). He manages to pull off a very solid first hour, losing his way from about 1h 15 min to 1h 45 min before getting back on track and delivering a really solid ending. It's not his best film, but it's not your typical vampire film either.
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