Bakjwi (2009)

User Rating:

7.6/10   

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

Colour:

Colour

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

Company:

CJ Entertainment

Movie Connections:

References Sam gang yi (2004)

Soundtrack:

Ich habe genug

Different kind of Beast

No pun intended. I'm not going to spoil anything about the story, but it's safe to assume that you already know, what kind of character the main actor portrays. And of course being a priest while being "naughty" exaggerates all that. Plus this is the most erotic movie from Park Chan Wook yet.

If you have seen Wook's previous works/movies you know he is very visual (in a good way) and it shows again here. While it strays away from the vengeance theme of his prior movies on the surface, it still has quite some heat hidden underneath. And when that boils, quite a few bad things start to happen. But through all that dark, there also moments of light (fun) to be had too. A very stylistic and though provoking movie, that lives outside the mainstream and does a very good job ...