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Thirst (2009)

Priest Sang-hyeon: Grant me the following in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Like a leper rotting in flesh, let all avoid me. Like a cripple without limbs, let me not move freely. Remove my cheeks, that tears may not roll down them. Crush my lips and tongue, that I may not sin with them. Pull out my nails, that I may not grasp nothing. Let my shoulders & back be bent, that I may carry nothing. Like a man with tumor in the head let me lack judgment. Ravage my body sworn to chastity leave me with no pride & have me live in shame. Let no one pray for me. But only the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me.

Park Chan-wook's gloriously perverse vampire flick Thirst is turning 10 next year if you can believe that. It was my 6th favorite scary movie of 2009, although I feel in retrospect that I might've under-valued it? Still, looking at that list of Horror Movies that came out in 2009 - Drag Me to Hell, Jennifer's Body, Orphan, The House of the Devil, and motherfucking Martyrs among many others - it strikes me that 2009 was truly an astonishing year for scares. 

Anyway several of Park's movies remain tough to scrounge up in quality editions here in the US - you can't even find I'm a Cyborg But That's OK in a US format - but we've got good news on that front, as Kino's just announced (thx Mac) that Thirst is getting upgraded to blu-ray for us here in the States sometime "soon," is all they say; I'll make sure to keep my eyes out for more info. Add that to the blu-ray boxed-set of Park's "Vengeance Trilogy" that I'm just right now seeing exists and you'll be halfway to having a good start on one of the world's greatest working directors. (Now excuse me while I go stream The Handmaiden for the one thousandth time.)

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