so i never did get around to my vampire post part 2: undead boogaloo. mostly because i got burned out on the vampire movies, and decided not to watch a bunch i likely wouldn't be crazy about.
i did however manage to catch this movie by one of my favourite directors, mr. chan-wook park.
so as the trailer explains this movie is about priest that gets infected with one disease and then with vampirism, which somehow saves him from the first horrible disease. the symptoms of the horrible disease (blisters, loss of fingernails, vomiting blood) all come back if he hasn't fed however, so his faith be damned, he needs to feed. he starts out by feeding on a patient in a coma.
there's this odd bit though, after he gets infected and "saved" it cuts to months later and he's back in korea and everyone thinks he's a miracle man. he stays bandaged for quite awhile but eventually reveals himself to be healed, and then one night after meeting the female lead, and smelling her blood, his vampire powers suddenly wake up and he can sense and hear everything around him, from the mites on his skin to one of his fellow priests masturbating. he soon passes out and wakes up in the morning when the sun burns his skin, so rightly so, he hides in the closet.
it's a bit confusing why it took so long, the wikipedia article, (which is just bad) says he died then and there, but that's not true, he died back in africa, his heart stopped, but he continued on praying and the blisters healed up. i guess it's the lust then, both of blood, and of this woman that woke up the vampire in him.
and there we get to the heart of this story, the love affair between the priest and bored neglected housewife. his inexperience lead to some of the most awkward and hilarious sex scenes that exist on film, the end of the trailer where she's sucking his fingers, and him on her toes, it's sexual, odd, funny, and just awesome. so we find out about this woman, her parents abandoned her and a woman took her in, and eventually married the girl off to her son. she had been raising the two of them together, so yes, awkward. the guy is a geek and completely reliant on his mother and his wife, and his mother is just a controlling bitch. so the girl was rightfully going crazy, and would leave at nights, just trying to run away. one night while she's gone she meets the priest after he discovers what he truly is. the affair springs from there and eventually they plot to kill the husband.
after that they're both haunted, in a series of hilarious and disturbing scenes. the mother is so grief stricken she suffers a stroke, leaving her in the care of these two. their relationship grows strained from both of these things and climax when the priest looses his temper and kills her. he decides to turn her into a vampire to save her, and she becomes this sexy, evil, and murdering monster. she was more the shy, reserved, murdering monster before. hijinks ensue.
this movie deals with so much, lust, faith, guilt, self mutilation... it's beautifuly shot, it's gory, and hilarious. it's also worth noting that the vampires don't grow fangs, they become immortal sure, and get burned by sunlight yes, even some fancy enhanced senses, with strength, agility, and such. but they don't sprout fangs. i think it's interesting the only reason they needed to keep up on the blood was to keep back the other disease, well except for the female of course, she found killing and drinking fresh blood thrilling and exciting "it's not a sin when a lion kills a gazelle is it?" she was an atheist so didn't fear hell like the priest. vampirism just made her true nature more apparent, the priest likely wasn't her first affair, and she cheated on him as well once the sex got awkward with guilt. she lied, dreamt of killing, and was generally unpleasant. with her life though, that's not really unexpected. the priest was an orphan as well, looking for acceptance, looking always to help. funny how that all works out.
i really liked the end of this movie, with both the priest destroying his reputation and taking them both out. it was fairly haunting, and a great end for this odd story of lust.
while i still enjoy let the right one in more, this is still a great vampire movie, definitely one of my new favourites.
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