Park Chan-wook’s Thirst, starring Song Kang-ho, is officially in competition at the 2009 Cannes International Film Festival.

Looking at these production stills, gives me a chill. It will be interesting to see how the film does at Cannes.

The story is about Sang-hyun, a priest who believes that life is precious, volunteers for a secret vaccine development project to help save lives from a deadly virus. But during the experiment, he is infected by the virus and dies. When some unidentified blood is transfused into him, he miraculously comes back to life, but the blood has turned him into a vampire. Sang-hyun is now conflicted between the carnal desire for blood and his faith, which forbids him to kill. But if he cannot survive without feasting on human blood, how can he get it without resorting to murder?

Returning home alive, Sang-hyun meets a childhood friend, Kang-woo, and his wife, Tae-ju, among a crowd of people asking for his blessing. Tae-ju’s mysterious appeal arouses yearnings in Sang-hyun he has never felt before, and she in turn is drawn to Sang-hyun and the desires previously oppressed by her weakly husband and hysterical mother-in-law. Sang-hyun falls in love with Tae-ju, enough to give up everything he is. He eventually throws off his priest’s robes and steps into her world, thirsting for all the sensual pleasures it has to offer.

Sang-hyun and Tae-ju’s love becomes more and more brazen and fearless. When Tae-ju finds out that Sang-hyun is a vampire, she backs away-but not for long. Eventually, Tae-ju seduces Sang-hyun into using his power to kill her husband. Although Sang-hyun wants desperately to avoid committing the sin, he ends up compromising his own principles and accepts Tae-ju’s request to kill Kang-woo…