THIRST

Heiress Kate (Chantal Contouri), is young and attractive. She enjoys a successful working life and is happy with her handsome boyfriend Derek (Rod Mullinar). What they don't realise while making love one evening, is that they are being spied upon by a member of a secret order known as the Brotherhood.

The Brotherhood is led by a mysterious group of doctors, among which are Gauss (Henry Silva) and Fraser (David Hemmings). Following a couple of weird episodes at home where Kate suffers visions of blood (a carton of milk spills onto her kitchen floor and it turns into blood as her cat laps it up), she's taken in by the doctors and driven to a special farm where she can convalesce.

Once there, Gauss informs Kate that she is an ancestor of Countess Elizabeth Bathory. The visions of blood, she's told, are products of Kate resisting the vampiric instincts inside her.

Kate's dressed in white inmate clothes and placed into the Brotherhood's care home with many others. She learns that the Brotherhood is a worldwide network of modern bloodsuckers intent on keeping their legacy alive. Vampires, Kate asks? Not as such as they're not supernatural, just "superior beings" ... who feed on blood. As she becomes their patient, the doctors of the Brotherhood attempt to develop a thirst for blood in her (serving it to her in coffee mugs, hypnotising her with drugs etc).

But when Kate's mental health deteriorates, the doctors become divided about what's best for her. Fraser is particularly unhappy about how Kate's been treated. He befriends Kate and promises to protect her from any undue harm.

But Kate is distraught when she later finds out where the blood supply for the convalescence farm is coming from and tries to escape. However, it seems the Brotherhood really is everywhere and it's not long before Kate is escorted back by her smiling captors.

Here, Kate witnesses a bizarre communal blood-drinking ceremony which drives her closer to madness. The doctors tell her she should accept this way of life, but Fraser remains protective of her, arguing that in time she will adjust of her own accord.

But will Kate adjust, or continue to resist what the doctors tell her are her natural instincts? Will she escape? Or go insane first, provoked by the increasingly creepy nightmares she faces as she attempts to confront her childhood memories?

In addition to the above, Kate must wonder what Fraser's true intentions are. And, where the heck is Derek? THIRST must have seemed quite modern in its day (1979), what with a commune of stylish, friendly 'vampires' who hold medical degrees and can traverse in broad daylight. But it's extremely old-fashioned when viewed now. Its central conceit also borrows heavily, undeniably, from the 1973 French thriller, SHOCK TREATMENT.

None of this harms the film. On the contrary, the hammy performances of Silva and Contouri are perversely pleasurable to witness. The cheap and unconvincing set-pieces (particularly the nightmare scenes in the latter half) have a low-rent value to them that echoes Mario Bava's SHOCK. It's cheap, but weirdly creepy at times. The FX are very dated indeed, quite primitive in fact. In the couple of scenes where characters' eyes glow red, it's tempting to titter. But there's an undeniable charm to even these crudely executed sequences. The most striking effect in the film is also the most basic: Kate takes a shower and it pours red blood over her. The device was also used in 1980's DEATH SHIP, but has a greater impact here.

Brian May's music is ludicrously excitable, being very reminiscent of the melodramatic scores he penned for the first two MAD MAX films. While they were comic strip-style sci-fi action movies that suited the style, here it feels more than a tad excessive. But, as the film unfolds like a bizarre amalgamation of MARTIN and THE HOWLING, it seems to fit more and more.

By the final third of THIRST, its odd atmosphere and excessive style have overpowered the viewer and what results is an strangely compelling whole.

Often referred to as the best contemporary Australian horror film, THIRST does have its flaws (some lousy supporting acting; an overwrought approach; workmanlike direction from Rod Hardy) but overcomes these to emerge as a thoroughly entertaining piece of nonsense.

THIRST now gets a welcome upgrade to blu-ray thanks to Severin Films, and their very nice dual format Special Edition. Better still, both discs are region free.

The film looks extremely good in 1080p HD, presented uncut and in its original 2.35:1 aspect ratio. To give him his due, Hardy does make full use of the Cinemascope technique and, as such, this aspect ratio is the only way in which to completely appreciate what is often a visual feast. The film is hosted as a healthily sized MPEG4-AVC file.

Colours are strong for the most part but do seem a little bled dry in places. I put this down to the film's lineage rather than any flaw in the restoration, as elsewhere this presentation of THIRST boasts solid blacks, a total absence of compression and a really pleasing amount of crisp detail. The daytime exterior scenes in particular are often startling to behold.

English PCM 2.0 audio is as clean as the print utilised (very), making THIRST a very strong upgrade for the HD market. There's also the curious option of being able to play the film with Spanish 2.0 audio...

The disc opens to an animated main menu page, from which a pop-up scene-selection menu allows access to the film via 12 chapters.

Bonus features begin with an enjoyable and incredibly fact-filled audio commentary track from Hardy and prolific producer Anthony I Ginnane. The cover every aspect of the production, have plenty to say about the performers and speak with a glossy-eyed nostalgia when they were free to experiment and make films as ambitious as this.

Next up is May's aforementioned score in isolation, in a rousing 2.0 mix.

Four TV spots have that authentic 70s sensationalism about them and clock in at a collective time of 76 seconds. Better still is the film's original theatrical trailer, which runs at 97 seconds in length.

The second disc, the DVD, replicates all of the above in standard definition. As mentioned earlier in the review, it's also region free.

If you're a fan of this film, this upgrade should really be a no-brainer. If you're simply curious, give it a go. If you have even the slightest sense of adventure about you, I seriously doubt you'll be disappointed.

By Stuart Willis