Bakjwi (2009)

Director:

Chan-wook Park

Writers:

Seo-Gyeong Jeong (writer)
Chan-wook Park (writer)

Release Date:

30 April 2009 (South Korea)

Genre:

Drama | Horror

Plot:

A failed medical experiment turns a man of faith into a vampire.

Plot Keywords:

Virus | Priest | Vampire | Medical Experiment | One Word Title

Awards:

3 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Kang-ho Song	...	Priest Sang-hyeon
Ok-vin Kim	...	Tae-joo
Hae-sook Kim	...	Lady Ra
Ha-kyun Shin	...	Kang-woo
In-hwan Park	...	Priest Noh
Dal-su Oh	...	Yeong-doo
Young-chang Song	...	Seung-dae
Mercedes Cabral	...	Evelyn
Eriq Ebouaney	...	Immanuel
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Hee-jin Choi	...	Nurse
Woo-seul-hye Hwang	...	Girl with a whistle
Hwa-ryong Lee	...	Professor Ku
Mi-ran Ra	...	Nurse Yu

Also Known As:

Thirst (International: English title) (UK) (USA)
Evil Live (International: English title) (working title)
Untitled Chan-wook Park Project (International: English title) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for graphic bloody violence, disturbing images, strong sexual content, nudity and language.

Runtime:

133 min | South Korea:145 min (director's cut)

Country:

South Korea

Language:

Korean | English | French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

South Korea:18 | USA:R (certificate #45440) | Australia:MA (2009) | Canada:18A (British Columbia/Ontario) | New Zealand:R18 | Singapore:R21 | Canada:16+ (Quebec) | UK:18 | France:-12 | Ireland:18 | Germany:16 | Hong Kong:III | Finland:K-18

Company:

CJ Entertainment

Movie Connections:

References Sam gang yi (2004)

Soundtrack:

Ich habe genug

Romance, Religion, Madness, and lots of slurping

Not for the squeamish, but the number of twists, inventive uses of situations using vampire mythology, gorgeous visual extremes, together with interesting and quirky characters make this one of the most stunning horror films I've ever seen. It descends into utter madness along with characters, but never seems exploitative or horrific without purpose. There are copious amounts of bloodletting accompanied by some nasty sucking and squishing sounds, but also subtle moments where you laugh out loud. As he tends to do, Chan-wook Park keeps you off center with leaps in time and plot and situation that you have to fill in for yourself forcing your involvement in the story and characters.

And there's a lot of literal leaping. Keeping in the vein of vampire myth (pun intended), they have superhuman strength and can nearly leap tall buildings in a single bound (to coin a phrase). The first time our heroine is carried by the across the tops of buildings by the troubled vampire priest, it has all the magical romance of Lois Lane and Superman - but this romance becomes increasingly disturbing - but driven by a strange and conflicted 'love affair' not by mere horror.

The acting is superb, particularly OK-vin Kim, the gorgeous actress in the female lead role who, at 22, shows a range that is remarkable. The character borders on a kind of black widow film noir type. She careens from innocent to impish to vixen to demon with utter conviction. This is a really smooth and nervy performance.

If you love real art in horror, or are a fan of Oldboy - don't wait for the video, see it immediately.