Thirst
Focus Features | Release Date: July 31, 2009 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
73
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 21 Critic Reviews
Positive:
17
Mixed:
4
Negative:
0
Watch Now
Stream On
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
SalonAndrew O'Hehir
A brilliant and gruesome work of cinematic invention as well as a passionate and painful human love story. Read full review
100
TimeRichard Corliss
Blending plot elements of "Double Indemnity" and "Natural Born Killers" with the ripe sensuality of Francis Coppola's take on "Dracula," the film should make audiences sit up in startled pleasure, as if they'd just received the most luscious neck-bite. Read full review
91
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
A gaudy, daring, operatic, and bloody funny provocation of a melodrama from Park Chan-wook. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
Be warned: Thirst is one of those pictures that tacks on another chapter just when you think it’s wrapping up. Read full review
80
Film ThreatNick Antosca
A terrific film. Loosely based on Emile Zola's novel "Therese Raquin." Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesBetsy Sharkey
Are you hungering for that rare vampire movie with serious intellectual heft, ravishing undead, biting passion and a healthy splash of irony as well as iron in all that spilled red blood? Wait no longer, Korean auteur Park Chan-wook's Thirst should satisfy. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
Thirst never picks up the momentum of Park’s best-known work. But its turgid pace creates a queasy fascination all its own, drawing viewers into an ever-darkening locus of sin and obsession where even the wish for redemption comes at a terrible cost. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Jennie Punter
The summer's most lip-smacking movie treat. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Movies exist to cloak our desires in disguises we can accept, and there is an undeniable appeal to Thirst. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy Burr
Thirst is deliriously bonkers and keeps getting more so; you watch it holding your breath, waiting to see where Park will zigzag next. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterMaggie Lee
Stunning production quality and the story's extremity should arouse interest beyond the specialty Asian market. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)David Edelstein
The movie's evolution from somber spiritual torment to icky body horror to fetishistic sex to wild lyricism (vampires pogoing off buildings) to Grand Guignol splatter is exhilarating. Read full review
70
Village VoiceJim Ridley
The most intriguing aspect of Thirst is the steady erosion of Sang-hyeon's ethics, slackened from "do not" to "do not kill" to "do not kill the undeserving" by the lure of those O+ cocktails. Read full review
70
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
Unfortunately, it is also less than the sum of its parts -- overly long, lacking in narrative momentum and too often choosing sensation over coherence. Read full review
67
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
What the film is saying, so far as I can tell, is that, if cut, you will bleed. And bleed. As the vampire's kindred Seven Deadly Sinner, wild-haired Kim Ok-vin looks like she's having a high old time. Read full review
63
USA TodayClaudia Puig
Forget "Twilight." Fans of vampire movies are not likely to see anything more graphic, extreme or twisted than Thirst. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerTirdad Derakhshani
Do you dig the current vampire craze? Do you love "Twilight" so much you'd die for it? Then skip South Korean writer-director Park Chan-wook's violent, bloody Thirst, a genre-bending - if not genre-destroying - foray into the vampire myth. Read full review
60
Washington PostJan Stuart
Thirst is good, insolent fun for about two-thirds of the way, before it stumbles and drowns in a pool of its own excess. Still, you can't help but admire a horror movie that prompts us to wonder how vampires with a surplus of blood got by before the advent of Tupperware. Read full review
50
VarietyDerek Elley
An overlong stygian comedy that badly needs a transfusion of genuine inspiration. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleWalter Addiego
I'll stick out my neck and say that Park Chan Wook's wildly gruesome Thirst is the most whacked-out version of an Emile Zola novel ever to reach the screen. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
Taken as a whole, Thirst meanders too far from the crossroads of life and death; it gets outright dull in spots, although they are few and far between. Read full review
More From This Movie

73 Critic Reviews

7.6 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 72 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL