Rahtree: Flower of the Night (2003)

Buppah Rahtree is a loner female student at a Bangkok university who becomes the object of a wager by a group of male students to see if she can be bedded. Ake, the son of a wealthy family,... See full synopsis »

Director:

Yuthlert Sippapak

Writer:

Yuthlert Sippapak (screenplay)

Stars:

Laila Boonyasak, Krit Sripoomseth, Chompunoot Piyapane

3 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Laila Boonyasak	...	Buppah Rahtree (as Chermarn Boonyasak)
Krit Sripoomseth	...	Ake (Akekapol Damrongsap) (as Kris Srepoomseth)
Chompunoot Piyapane	...	Muay (as Chompoonuch Piyapanee)
Sirisin Siripornsmathikul	...	Jessie
Ampon Rattanawong	...	Maew / Father, the first shaman
Somjai Sukjai
Sayan Meungjarern	...	Dave
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Mr. Nicolas
Somlek Sakdikul	...	Master Kong, the second shaman (as Somchai Sakdikul)
Siriporn Samatikul

Storyline

Buppah Rahtree is a loner female student at a Bangkok university who becomes the object of a wager by a group of male students to see if she can be bedded. Ake, the son of a wealthy family, takes the bet and courts young Buppah. She resists him at first, but one day sees him feeding pigeons in a park and talks to him. After she expresses her desire to fly away, they go on a ride in Ake's convertible. They continue to have a relationship, which culminates in a three-day weekend at Bang Saen, during which Ake has sex with her; he stays in bed with her the whole time. Ake shows videotapes of their sex to his friends, and for his efforts wins a bottle of Johnnie Walker, which he reflects to himself seems like a trivial prize for messing up another person's life. Ake breaks off all contact with Buppah.

After her stepfather gives her a car ride, he takes her to a short-time hotel and sexually assaults her. She stabs him with a fountain pen he gaver her as a present and runs home to her ...

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Plot Keywords:

character name as title | thailand | part of trilogy | first of trilogy | two word title | 

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Taglines:

A new kind of terror takes root... [uk]

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Horror | Thriller

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Did You Know?

Trivia

At the 2004 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), director Yuthlert Sippapak denied critics' claims that the female coroner in this film was a reference to renown forensic pathologist Dr. Pornthip Rojanasunan.

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Connections

References 8 Mile (2002)

User Reviews

Fun yet somewhat flawed ghost/comedy

When their relationship is over, a lonely woman wanting to be with the father of her baby turns to a decrepit apartment complex for solace only to die and subsequently haunt the building and the tenants waiting for him to return, forcing them to appease the ghost until then.

This was quite the fun if somewhat troubling effort. One of the main positives here is the fact that there's a rather intriguing and enjoyable premise to be found here that comes off as far more engaging than expected. From the beginning's stifled romance and the issues they have to overcome as well as the seeming reasons for them to get together which fuels her despair and loneliness even further, the initial set-up here is quite well-handled and makes for a really interesting way to get to the apartment and begin haunting it. Once she gets there, it gets quite fun with the initial discovery of the bodies in the room and the ineffectual manner of the police to remove them from the scene not only being quite chilling but generates some nice laughs as well, and with her haunting the kooky residents in the complex there's a lot to like here. The attacks are both genuinely funny to see play out yet rather chilling in concept, from scaring out the exorcist there cleansing the room to getting the jump on the paranormal investigators in the room and chasing them out, attacking the wife-beater and the others who come into the building, these give this one quite a lot to really like and give this one some chilling moments. Her freak-out that forces them to call him back is a wild, chaotic set-piece as well, and there's plenty to like about the finale where the failed exorcism attempt and their appeasement efforts to bring them back together while his outside efforts are the cause of the wild finale which gives this the kind of exciting and funny finish needed here. This is all the better given that these are done with the creepy-looking ghost and filled with some solid make-up effects alongside the laughs. These here give this one quite a lot to really enjoy, but it does have some flaws. One of the films' biggest issues is the seemingly glaring tone inconsistencies that occur throughout here, which oftentimes renders what happened quite jarring and problematic. The main issue here is the first half which is where their actual romance is going on, being so tender and innocent when compared to the more earnest attempts at scares and thrills or even the comedy that occurs in here in tone and execution that it feels so different enough to have been spliced in from another film altogether. It's done in such a relaxed, documentary-like style as compared to the frenzied, chaotic nature latter on making it too laid-back and dragging to start the movie off on. That also extends somewhat to a lot of the comedy, which is brought up in them meeting her for the first time but is continued on even further in the film with the tenants and their lives together which is sometimes funny yet not often enough to really land as the multitude of culturally-specific jokes and physical comedy doesn't come off as funny often enough when compared to the more genuinely approach to it's horror-based scenes. They make it a little longer than it needs to be, and while these are what really hurt it's not enough to outweigh the more impressive positives here.

Rated Unrated/: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language and a mild sex scene.

Details

Country:

Thailand

Language:

Thai

Release Date:

14 November 2003 (Thailand)

Also Known As:

Rahtree: Flower of the Night

Filming Locations:

Thailand

Box Office

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$940,174

Company Credits

Production Co:

Mahagan Films Co. Ltd., Mangpong Public Co. Ltd., Nakomthai Picture Co. Ltd.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

109 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1