After tackling romantic comedy with “I’m a Cyborg, But That’s OK” (2006), celebrated South Korean auteur Park Chan-wook takes on horror with the stylized vampire flick “Thirst,” which is partly inspired by Émile Zola’s novel, “Thérèse Raquin.” The film won the 2009 Cannes Jury Prize, and is somehow even gorier than Park’s previous gory efforts, despite the vampire protagonist’s reluctance to embrace his newfound violent desires.

Song Kang-ho plays Catholic priest Sang-hyun, a do-gooder who goes abroad to volunteer for a vaccine experiment to eradicate the Emmanuel Virus, which is fatal for men. Sang-hyun breaks out in pustules, loses his fingernails and coughs blood before flatlining in an operating room. A last-minute transfusion brings him back to life—actually, it makes him undead, and the sole survivor of the experiment. His miraculous recovery and subsequent return to South Korea elevates him to celebrity status. Sick and dying people camp outside his living quarters in the hopes of being cured. Meanwhile, he develops a taste for blood, an aversion to sunlight, and begins to covet his childhood friend Kang-woo’s wife, Tae-ju (Kim Ok-vin).

The introduction of Tae-ju causes the film to veer away from straight-up horror fare, with mixed results. Park’s ability to find comedy in the darkest moments helps the pacing (one scene has Sang-hyun hitting his erect penis with a wooden ruler in a misguided attempt to quell his lust), but halfway through, “Thirst” begins to feel like two movies crammed into one. The strength of the film, aside from Park’s surefooted direction, is that as with films such as Tomas Alfredson’s “Let the Right One In” (2008) and Kathryn Bigelow’s “Near Dark” (1987), the vampire mythology in “Thirst” is secondary to the interpersonal relationships. There are no sparkly CGI reveals in a pastoral setting or declarations like “you’re like my own personal brand of heroin.”
The tension that drives the film originates from Sang-hyun’s desire to adhere to a moral code and his fear of becoming a monster. “Thirst” isn’t Park’s best work, but it’s worth watching nonetheless.

4/5 Stars by Doretta Lau.

South Korea. Directed by Park Chan-wook. Starring Song Kang-ho and Kim Ok-vin. Category III, 134 minutes. Opening Nov 5.