Bounding Into Halloween Night 19: More Bloodsuckers With Bite In ‘Thirst’ & ‘Fright Night’
The month is almost over, folks! Our road to Halloween is nearing its end, and it’s time to check in with our blood-sucking brothers and sisters for one more bonanza of baneful neck bites. Here are two puncture wounds that are sure to leave a mark, and they most certainly do not sparkle.
Tonight takes us back to the Land of the Morning Calm for a little nocturnal unrest, and then back to the states for a neighborly dispute that turns deadly. The dawn is coming, but there’s just enough time for a couple more drinks before closing the casket. Let’s feed!
Thirst (2009)
First, we thirst for another phat joint by acclaimed director, Park Chan-wook (Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance, Oldboy, Lady Vengeance), and his vampire spin on the 1868 novel Thérèse Raquin by Émile Zola. When the wave of South Korean cinema hit American shores, it created a very exciting time for yankee movie buffs, and it has been a safe haven for those looking to flee from the abyss of mainstream mediocrity.
After being force-fed processed slop for so long, and being told that we like it the whole time, it’s hard to find a South Korean film that’s at least not a little good. Thirst came out at the beginning of Stephanie Meyer’s “Sparklemania” campaign, and showed what a real Gothic romance looks like.
Sang-hyun (superstar Song Kang-ho) is a Catholic priest who has a reputation of being well-liked, and selflessly devoted to others, but he suffers in silence with deep depression. To help combat this, the priest decides to volunteer as a test subject for a secret experimental vaccine against the Emmanuel Virus (or just EV), and help try to eradicate it.
Unfortunately, the vaccine fails and leaves Sang-hyun dying from EV, but he receives a blood transfusion, and makes a miraculous full recovery. As you could imagine, this gets the attention of a lot of people, and the less-than-intelligent ones begin regarding him as a blessed saint who overcame death.
Just when things couldn’t be more annoying, the EV symptoms return, and Sang-hyun finds out that the only thing that keeps it at bay is feeding on human blood. The blood he received during the transfusion was tainted with vampire blood, and now he was cursed to live as a member of the undead for eternity.
He learns to drink in moderation, but obviously not too well because he starts catching the feels for his buddy’s wife Tae-ju (Kim Ok-vin), and she makes it worse by reciprocating – not that anyone could blame her. She’s trapped in domestic hell with her sickly husband, Kang-woo (Shin Ha-kyun), and overbearing mother (Kim Hae-sook).
The two start their ‘DL’ romance, and he eventually moves into her home (and brings his obviously mega-huge pair of balls along with him!), but it doesn’t take long before the comedy turns into a drama. One that leads into Sand-hyun anointing Tae-ju with his sacred blood, and giving her everlasting life.
Now, they can walk the shadows together for all time…or at least until he finds out that she get a little too much enjoyment out of killing people, and he’s presented with even harder choices to make.
This isn’t Park Chan-wook greatest film, but that’s only because he has raised the bar so many times that it has blown out of our atmosphere, and he’s don’t this across several other genres. His movies are either really good, or phenomenal, and this movie is the former. It’s beautifully shot and made by the hands of an expert at the top of his game.
There are no shapeshifting wolves, no piggyback rides through the woods, and sadly there is no Saxophone Guy, but Thirst is still a dark ballad to play in the dark shadows. Its tune can be heard on Prime, but beware the cover charge.
Fright Night (1985)
I don’t know about you, but I can use a laugh after the ending of that last movie. It’s time to once again head back to the year 1985 for a vampire movie that walks just the right line between the light and the dark.
Tom Holland (Child’s Play, Thinner) directed this beloved classic that is undeniably of its period, but still remains timeless. It also features great performances by Chris Sarandon, Amanda Bearse, William Ragsdale, Stephen Geoffreys, and the great Roddy McDowall as fearless vampire killer, Peter Vincent. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome…to Fright Night.
Charlye Brewster (Ragsdale) is your average teen who lives in Suburbia, USA, with his chatterbox mom (Dorothy Fielding). He likes to hang out with his friend Edward “Evil” Thompson (Geoffreys), his girlfriend Amy (Bearse), cruise around in his badly-painted ’66 Mustang, and watch horror movies on television that are hosted by famous slayer of the undead, Peter Vincent. One night, he notices someone moving in next store.
It turns out to be superstud bachelor, Jerry Dandridge (Sarandon), and his “roommate” Billy Cole (Jonathan Stark). Aside from the obvious (Oh, my!), there’s nothing suspicious about the two men living together, but that changes when Brewster notices them carrying a coffin inside of their house. He starts spying on the house, and eventually sees Jerry vamp out on a young girl through the window.
Naturally, Brewster starts to freak out and tries telling his mom, but it gets him nowhere. When that fails, he tells Evil and Amy, but they think he’s lost it. He then calls the cops, and even accompanies them on the house sweep. This ends with nothing and now everyone thinks Brewster isn’t doing “so cool” at all, but Dandridge has finally had enough of this little puke.
He decides to pay Brewster a visit one night, sparking a blood feud that will only end in death. Not knowing where to turn, he seeks the help of Peter Vincent, and tries to put a stop to his Nosferatu neighbor.
There are plenty of moments in this where the humor becomes self-deprecating, but then the movie gets serious, and the sobering suspense is a reminder that this is a horror movie. It’s like a monster that isn’t afraid to have a few laughs before eating you.
Roddy McDowall is always a pleasure to watch, and the same goes for Chris “Humperdinck!” Sarandon’s charming creature of the night. Not to mention, it’s always a trip to see Amanda Bearse before she would go on to become Marcy D’Arcy, and strive for a cleaner, greener Chicago.
Fright Night is available on MAX. Sink your fangs in and get a taste of the trailer:
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