These are my favorite vampire movies: The Hunger, Only Lovers Left Alive, and Thirst. The third film is distinct from the first two in three ways: It's Asian, it is about illness and not so much immortality, and it is erotic in a very visceral sense. The eroticism in The Hunger and especially in Only Lovers Left Alive is nimbus-like. These vampires are more about the aura than the electrical shock of desire. Indeed, there is no sex for these immortal creatures; they are ultimately about the fatal bite. What is the little death for ordinary humans is the big death for the victims of these monstrous humans. But in Thirst, which is directed by Park Chan-wook, the vampire's eroticism is activated only at the moment flesh connects with flesh and the universal electricity of lust is conducted. The vampire is otherwise mundane and nimbus-less. This form of active and material eroticism is continued in Park's new and very entertaining film, The Handmaiden.

There are, however, no vampires in The Handmaiden—there are just thieves and their prey, the rich. Based on a novel set in the Victorian era by Welsh novelist Sarah Waters, the film's story happens during Japan's occupation of Korea (the 1930s) and concerns a young female thief who is placed in the middle of an elaborate plot to scam a Japanese countess. But the plan is further complicated by the unexpected sexual attraction that grips the young thief, Sook-hee (Kim Tae-ri), and the countess, Lady Hideko (Kim Min-hee), she works for as a handmaiden.

We experience the film's castle, the cluttered bedrooms, the period wardrobe, and the baroque plot developments at a terrific pace. But when the thief and the countess are alone, things slow down and the erotic fills the screen. The first such moment will be permanently imprinted on your mind. It has the countess in a bathtub and the thief with a finger in the countess's mouth (I will not explain how they got into this position). Steam is rising from the tub's hot water, the countess's skin and nipples are red with heat, and the thief's finger is probing the teeth at the back of her open mouth. This is an eroticism not of gas or glow but contact. As the film progresses, the contacts become more and more direct. Park Chan-wook is a poet of the realm of the flesh.