This Sunday, SHRIEK: Women of Horror presents THIRST (BAKJWI), a Korean horror film from Chan-wook Park, the director of OLD BOY!

Some thoughts on the film and spoilers below.

This is a film that opens with the topics of disease, consumption, and compassion. A large man lies in a hospital bed, struggling to breathe, and talks of a time when he gave food to some starving girls despite looking forward all day to eating it himself. From there, the film launches into talk of the relationship between science and religion, and suicide comes up several times in different scenes. Then it gets quickly gets bloody as the main character volunteers for an experiment to cure the mysterious Emmanuel Virus.

Leading actor Kang-ho Song has been in several of Park’s other films, including LADY VENGEANCE and SYMPATHY FOR MR. VENGEANCE (although notably, not OLD BOY), as well as several sci fi thrillers from Joon-ho Bong including THE HOST and SNOWPIERCER.

Coupled with Chan-wook Park’s stunning visuals, THIRST explores more than just themes of temptation and sin, flesh versus spirit. It’s a swirl of themes, and it’s ripe for SHRIEK. Heather will bring her knowledge of K-horror and J-horror to the conversation, grounding the film in greater context. It’s not just another vampire film. It navigates science, consumption, and gender in intriguing ways. The tone ranges from camp to revulsion, similar to Guillermo Del Toro’s CHRONOS. Is it horror, or just a gorey fairy tale? Again, tone will probably be a big part our SHRIEK discussion.

Join us this weekend for THIRST, and come back in a few weeks for our annual holiday party with BETTER WATCH OUT (Dec. 16^th ) and then HEREDITARY on January 20^th!

THIRST (BAKJWI) (2009)

Starring Kang-ho Song as the priest Sang-hyun, Ok-bin Kim as Tae-ju, Hae-sook Kim as Mrs. Ra, and Ha-kyun Shin as Kang-woo.

Directed by Chan-wook Park

Screenplay by Chan-wook Park and Seo-kyeong Jeong (aka Chung Seo-kyung), based on a story by Émile Zola

Subgenres: body horror, vampires, plague, romance

Bechdel Test: Pass (barely)

Nudity: Yes, male and female

Blood & Gore: Plenty

Sexual Assault: Yes

SHRIEK: A Women of Horror Film Class presents THIRST (BAKJWI)

Sunday, November 18, 2018

opening talk & screening 7:00pm

Hosted by Evan J. Peterson and Heather Marie Bartels

Naked City Brewery & Taphouse

8564 Greenwood Ave N.

Seattle 98103

21+

Get tickets. Trailer.

Sponsored by Crypticon Seattle, Emerald City Comic Con, and Scarecrow Video

For the love of horror,

Evan J. Peterson

SHRIEK is a community class merging film with education and offering an accessible forum outside of academia. The goal is to offer low-cost opportunities to learn about film and women’s studies and to inspire more diverse filmmakers, especially women, to get involved as creators in the genre.