From the late 70’s, Thirst is one of the more original/ distinctive takes on vampiric cinema. The contemporary set Australian film adds elements of kidnap thriller, drama, and sci-fi into its genre mix. It regards one of the descendants Elizabeth Bathory- been abducted by a high-tech blood sucking cult. Here, from Powerhouse- either as a UHD or Blu-ray- is a new release of the film. Taking in a new  4K scan, and an archive/ few new extras.

Thirst is from the year 1979- it was directed by Melbourne-born Rob Hardy. He’s most known as a TV director, having sixty-four TV credits and four feature credits to his name. His other three feature-length films include Robinson Crusoe (1997), which sees Pierce Brosnan playing the shipwrecked title character, action thriller Route 52 (2002), and romantic drama December Boys (2007). Thirst was his first feature, and it’s a decent debut, blending its different genre strands in a compelling & rewarding manner.

The one-hour thirty-five-minute film opens with pre-credits that nod back to classic gothic vampire fare, as we see a woman slowly coming around- as the camera pans back, we see she’s in a coffin in a dusty and cobwebbed room.  

As we get into the film, we get introduced to the woman from the pre-credits in a contemporary/ non-gothic setting. Her name is Kate Davis (Chantal Contouri), and she lives in a large house with a housekeeper. She has a moustache architect boyfriend, Derek(Rod Mullinar), and to begin with, it seems she is having a fairly good life, getting ready for a four-week holiday.

But it becomes clear she is been observed in the house, and fairly soon she is drugged and abducted, taken out into the countryside to a large house/ estate which has a vibe of the village in The Prisoner. She is told she is a descendant of Elizabeth Bathory,  and is a superhuman who should drink blood.

The estate is somewhat of a human dairy, where selected candidates are brought to have their blood sucked out by machine. So the breed of superhumans/ cult can get clean, drugless, and untainted blood.

Understandable Katie is rather shocked/ non too keen on been a blood sucker- so she pushes against those who run the facility. But she is been continually ‘programming’- i.e. drugged and manipulated in a dream state/ other reality.

Heading up the cult, we have a group of  ‘doctors’/ bureaucrats. These include- Dr Fraser( David Hemmings), who keeps insisting his colleagues should go more slowly/ take it easier on Kate. And the slightly more shifty/sinister Dr. Gauss(Henry Silva)

The film pulls its thriller, horror, and sci-fi elements together well. As we get some nice tense & taut scenes, mixed with what is real/ unreal manipulation, with a few moments of gory horror, and red glowing eyes/ fangs out eeriness & action.

Moving on to this new release, we get a new 4 K scan of the film. This is nice and crisp, with great picture definition and clarity throughout, so another classy job from Powerhouse.

On the extras side, we get a large selection of things, though these are mainly archive extras. We get two new extras on the disc- Seeing Reality (3.56) audio interview with stuntman Grant Page regarding the helicopter stunt in the film- it’s played over said scene/ still footage. We find out the stunt was all done for real, and he briefly talks about how they did the stunt. First Blood (17.56) This is an interview with academic and Australian cinema specialist Stephen Morgan. He moves from talking about the film to touching on its production, crew, and cast. We find out the film didn’t do well in either the Australian cinema or with the critics. He also talks about the history of Vampires in Australian cinema. So both of these extras are worth a play.

On the archive side, we have the following: A 2003  audio commentary with director Rod Hardy and producer Antony I Ginnane. Thirst, a Contemporary Blend (13.53): a 2004 interview with producer Ginnane. A selection of interviews from the 2008 doc ‘Not Quite Hollywood’- taking in Rob Hardy(13.52), Antony I Ginnane( 15.17), Rod Mullinar( 6.21), and cinematographer Vincent Monton(4.54). 1976 interview David Hemmings( 15.56). 1979 interview with Chantal Contouri(23.48). Film Buffs Forecast: Rod Hardy(154 mins) an in-depth 2019 podcast regarding the director.

The finished release comes with an eighty-page book featuring a new essay by Diane A Rodgers, exclusive extracts from producer Antony I Ginnane’s unpublished memoirs, archival interviews with actors Chantal Contouri, David Hemmings and Henry Silva, and film credits.

With this release of Thirst, Powerhouse has brought back in print another fascinating & original Australian genre film. With the labels' typical attention to giving viewers a great new print, and a wonderful selection of extras.