meddlecore Kate was born a vampire. Though, she grew up completely unaware of this, as she was raised human.But her whole world changes, when, one day, she is kidnapped by a weird cult, and told that she is the last remaining relative of the Baronness of their people- a race of superhumans who nourish themselves with the essence of humans...blood! "The Brotherhood", as they call themselves, harvest that which they require from "donors" (aptly nicknamed "blood cows") who are held captive, and kept sedated, on a farm, where they are milked like cattle. Sometimes to death.The blood- after being tested for impurities- is packaged, shipped, and sold around the world to others of their kind.However, they are unable to win Kate over, simply, with the allure of their lifestyle. So they are forced to resort to manipulation tactics- in order to initiate her into the ways of the vampire.Basically, they want to break her, and force her to accept her vampire heritage...so she can be married off to some loser vampire from one of the other old lineages.To achieve this, one of the doctor-vampires has designed a brainwashing technique- to infiltrate her thoughts and memories- and push her in a malevolent direction...Eventually, she gives in and succumbs to her indoctrination. But the board isn't convinced her conditioning has fully set in.Only when the only person she cares about in the entire world is threatened, does she truly submit to her psychological tormenter (as was foreshadowed by the earlier scene).He convinces himself he does it for her...but he was only ever in it for himself...This is a pretty cool "Ozploitation" horror and first feature from Melbourne, Australia's Rod Hardy (who also directed a few X-Files episodes). It's a psychological horror at heart, but a modern vampire flick on the surface. And it's a bit of a trip. It definitely f*cks with you at points (like when she keeps waking up in succession) to keep you on your toes. And it always has you thinking.It's hard to say whether this is more a vampire film, or more of a film about brainwashing (if I HAD to choose, I would opt for the latter). So I'll just say it's a pretty damn original combination of the two.To finish, I'd like to acknowledge the performance by Chantal Contouri, who plays Kate. She does a helluva job. Reminded me of Shelley Duvall's performance in The Shining. The acting is pretty solid across the board, though, too.All around, this is a pretty cool film about vampires trying to break other vampires (who weren't brought up to be vampires) by brainwashing them...so...not really your typical vampire flick.Comes Recommended.7 out of 10.

jadavix The horror genre always seems particularly apt to produce full length movies out of material that is really only suitable for half hour, or if we're being generous, one hour long episodes. What we end up with are movies as tedious as "Thirst", something that begins to recall the dreamlike vampire garbage of Jean Rollin not due to style but somnambulance. The constant repetition of shots of blood being drawn from people and people being led around to have blood drawn from them almost puts you to sleep - not exactly a virtue in a horror film.There are a few more lively moments, such as b-movie king Henry Silva dying from a fall from a helicopter onto power lines, but that is far, far too little, far, far too late. The shots of people actually drinking blood are nowhere near as shocking as the movie seems to think. We know it's about vampires - that's established during the opening moments. What's shocking is that it takes so long for the movie to depict that, as if we hadn't caught on by then."Inn of the Damned" was also a blown up episode, but at least it was a great episode. Nothing happens in "Thirst" for over an hour of its runtime. It's ending is also trite and predictable, and basically nothing the movie hasn't already shown us or told us. Yeah, so the girl trying to get away is now a vampire too. Is that supposed to be surprising? It is obvious right from the beginning that they are trying to turn her into one. And David Hemmings - who cares? He rushes through this movie like an uncomfortable, ageing Rik Mayall (RIP), but without his sense of purpose. He looks inconvenienced about being a part of this debacle.I felt his pain.Even today there does seem something original and frightening about the concept of vampires owning and running a hospital like facility for their prey. It's just a shame that this movie does absolutely nothing interesting with the idea.

matrix29 Generally the movie is slow, but memorable.I remember watching this when I was a teenager. It was shown on Channel 50's "Creature Feature" sometime in the mid-80's. The plot is as mentioned in the other comments here, but I remember most the vampire Candid Camera moment when the main actress is undergoing forced "vampirization" therapy which consists of a the fake vampire cult sneaking human blood into everything. Initially shocking, when carried to multiple instances it all becomes hilarious.The scenes that stick in my mind.The lady goes to the fridge, opens up a milk carton, drinks from it and (SURPRISE!) you see blood streaming down from the edges of her mouth. She reacts as if nearly vomiting and the shock diminishes as these instances are repeated like a series of bloody pranks.It seems like she cannot eat or drink anything without it having blood previously injected into it.She goes on a picnic with her cute mustached boyfriend, bites into a deep fried chicken leg and golly gee, it also is squirting out blood like some weird prank.The one uplifting star of wannabe "Vampire Candid Camera" is that there is a fellow that I mistook for Patrick Macnee (one of the stars of the 1966 British TV series "The Avengers"), but he only plays a minor role.

ptb-8 This murky oddity is great fun and well made on eerie locations in Victoria Australia at a real scary place that actually exists called MontSalvat 'castle' by 70s drive in auteur Antony Ginnane. He also made a very strong Carrie like thriller called Patrick. Other Aussie thrillers of the time include Summerfield and The Chain Reaction.THIRST should be a cult film but lacks the 35mm availability for cinemas to make it exactly that. Like Rocky Horror, Legend Of Hell House or Phantom Of The Paradise, all part of a mad parochial horror cycle of the 70s. Find it and have a great time. You will love the, er, milking scenes.........Antony..your films are languishing! get em out there again!