Chan-wook Park (Oldboy) turns his macabre sensibilities to vampires, in this quick to DVD film. The start was confusing and nearly incoherent to me, but once it got going, it was a whirlwind. Its mixture of horror and humor felt just about right. Increasingly bizarre, it nearly, but did not, topple over from its own trajectory.
Vampirism is all the rage these days, and everyone wants an edge, a different take on the age-old genre. This one adds something new: A deeply religious priest who contracts the V through a blood transfusion (the AIDS theme), and attempts to ‘do no harm’. Tough when you need blood. Why is it though that men seem to be level-headed vampires with souls, and women invariably get all out of control with blood lust?
Although this perked me up in the last two thirds, still…’twas no Let The Right One In.
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