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I have always praised director Yuthlert Sippapak as Thailand's most interesting commercial filmmaker. He knows how to captivate audiences, but does not hesitate to say what he thinks. I love his honesty. He is a master of all genres, from comedy to romance, horror and beyond. Box office receipts for his films have always made his producers smile, yet his works never lack his signature – cameo appearances of famous stars, send-ups of real-life film people as well as his own previous movies, a subtle but sharp wit, and, most importantly, a good mix of genres. The comic parts make you laugh until you drop; the horror parts always have you hiding your eyes in terror. His fifth film Rahtree Returns, the sequel to Flower of the Night (2004), however, maintains only glimpses of these elements, and then I can’t feel that this is only the rest-taking work.
Set in the same Oscar apartment as its precursor, Rahtree Returns follows the afterlives of the two ghosts, Buppha and Akekapon, who still haunt room 609 of the otherwise-deserted apartment block. Chaos returns when the place is selected as a refuge by two groups of losers. A gang of bank robbers foolishly pick it as their hideout, while a young blind woman unable to find money for an eye operation decides to kill herself there. Their fates become intertwined when the stolen money is accidentally left in room 609.
Rahtree Returns tries to demonstrate the same sense of humour and horror, but somehow it just doesn’t work this time. It is not funny and not scary. Gone are the sharp gags previously found in Yuthlert’s work. Gone also is the horror atmosphere found in the first story, as well as Yuthlert’s cinematic experimentation. Throughout the film, there is only one sequence in which he really demonstrates his cinematic vision: in the battle between Buppha and the exorcist, the whole scene is enveloped in red water. At first, it signifies the evil world – or even the dirty world – according to the exorcist who thinks it is the world of women’s menstrual periods. But this evil world can finally get rid of Buppha.
Yuthlert’s casting of the famous 1980s comedy group Den-Der-Du-Dee is a failure. I really don’t know why. This is a group that I used to watch during my coming-of-age. They were polite and did not make cheap jokes about women or transvestites as seen on the present comedy shows. Are they now out of date? I am not sure. I think the script’s lack of sharp gags is the real problem.
The only worthwhile thing to see in Rahtree Returns is the performance of famous director-cum-producer Adirek Wattaleela, better known as Uncle. As a ghost-phobic policemen, Uncle proves himself to be a good comedian with a strong sense of humor, and, most importantly, a good singer. This is the best thing I took from Rahtree Returns.
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