"Thirst" follows a businesswoman, Kate, who is seemingly kidnapped at random by a cult of blood-suckers who believe her to be an ancestry famous blood-bather Elizabeth Bathory. With Kate captive, they attempt to recruit her into their neo-vampire cabal, which harvests blood from live individuals to feed the thirsty.
This little-seen Australian vampire flick is one of the stranger horror offerings produced by the nation, colliding the ancient vampire myth with a new-age industrialized element wherein blood is harvested from living subjects (or rather, prisoners) in a secret group who maintain their own self-sustaining compound. The Elizabeth Bathory connection seems arbitrary to some degree, though it serves as the plot device that gets our protagonist in the clutches of these blood-thirsty monsters.
"Thirst" is a very unconventional vampire film, and much of it plays out with a dreamy, surreal quality as the cult attempts to coerce Kate into joining them. Their use of hallucinogenic drugs and other methods of manipulation to psychologically dislocate her are also utilized to dislocate the viewer, leaving the audience in the half-waking dreamlike state she is experiencing. The lush compound location adds to the sense of otherworldliness here, as do the off-kilter performances and characters. The film ramps up in the last act into more conventional gothic vampire territory, but still keeps a firmly modern twist.
While it may not appease fans of the classic vampire film, "Thirst" functions nicely as a surreal modern approach to an ancient story. The imagery and general sense of strangeness that permeates here is at times intoxicating, and relentlessly weird. Very much worth watching for genre fans who are open to something a bit left-of-center. 7/10.
This little-seen Australian vampire flick is one of the stranger horror offerings produced by the nation, colliding the ancient vampire myth with a new-age industrialized element wherein blood is harvested from living subjects (or rather, prisoners) in a secret group who maintain their own self-sustaining compound. The Elizabeth Bathory connection seems arbitrary to some degree, though it serves as the plot device that gets our protagonist in the clutches of these blood-thirsty monsters.
"Thirst" is a very unconventional vampire film, and much of it plays out with a dreamy, surreal quality as the cult attempts to coerce Kate into joining them. Their use of hallucinogenic drugs and other methods of manipulation to psychologically dislocate her are also utilized to dislocate the viewer, leaving the audience in the half-waking dreamlike state she is experiencing. The lush compound location adds to the sense of otherworldliness here, as do the off-kilter performances and characters. The film ramps up in the last act into more conventional gothic vampire territory, but still keeps a firmly modern twist.
While it may not appease fans of the classic vampire film, "Thirst" functions nicely as a surreal modern approach to an ancient story. The imagery and general sense of strangeness that permeates here is at times intoxicating, and relentlessly weird. Very much worth watching for genre fans who are open to something a bit left-of-center. 7/10.