Thirst Poster Original Daybill 1979 Chantal Contouri Vampires
Australian Country of origin Daybill poster.Thirst is a 1979 Australian horror film directed by Rod Hardy and starring Chantal Contouri, Max Phipps and British actor David Hemmings. It has been described as a blend of vampire and science fiction genres, influenced by the 1973 film Soylent Green as well as drawing on the vampire folklore of Elizabeth Báthory – one of several vampire films in the 1970s to do so. This film is notable for its shower scene in blood. The sequence, which overlays Marnie (1964) with the shower scene from Psycho (1960), was dominant in the film's promotional materials, featuring prominently on the film's original theatrical poster (seen in this poster) as well as video covers. Alfred Hitchcock made Psycho (1960) in black-and-white, so he didn't have to show blood. Later, when Hitchcock made Marnie (1964), he placed red filters over some scenes to evoke Marnie's fear of that colour. This film is notable in its deliberate juxtaposition of these two Hitchcockian techniques. Critically the film was highly regarded by influential American film critic Leonard Maltin, who gave it three stars out of four. This film is considered an "Ozploitation" (Australian exploitation) picture.
