Bouncing back, Yuthlert takes his funny ghost to Japan

 “Buppha Ratree” was the funny type of horror, about a female ghost making life miserable for the tenants of an old apartment building. Two sequels were made, but neither did nearly as well at the box office, so Yuthlert is having another try, this time with “Buppha Arigato”. It’s due in theatres on May 5.

Yuthlert explains in Hamburger magazine there was a rumour that Somsak “Sia Jiang” Techaratanaprasert of the studio Sahamongkol Film had given up making movies. He went to ask him why. Sia Jiang told him the rumour was a wild exaggeration – he’s only being more careful about which movies he makes. 

So Yuthlert pitched a movie – only to remember that the last four films he made for Sahamongkol were flops, collectively costing Sia Jiang around Bt40 million. Fortunately Sia Jiang is always ready to forgive and forget when a project sounds promising, and this idea – about a Thai dying in Japan and haunting folks there – certainly had potential. 

Yuthlert wanted to call the picture simply “Arigato” (Japanese for “goodbye”), but Sia Jiang suggested there be some link to “Buppha Ratree”, so they settled on “Buppha Arigato”. Fans of the original shouldn’t expect to see Cherman Boonyasak in the title role again, though. This one stars Suppassara “Kao” Thanachart, whom Yuthlert credits with bringing added sex appeal to the role. 

Kao’s co-stars are some of the former child actors from “Fan Chan”, led by Charlie Potjes and Chalermpon “Jack” Thikampornteerawong. It marks the first time they’ve reunited on screen since they were little. Now grown up, they portray friends making a short film while on a trip to Japan. They meet Kao, who’s fled Thailand after killing her boyfriend.

Yuthlert confides that he went through a miserable period after his second child died at birth and could find no inspiration to carry on. He needed a fresh challenge to get his life back on track. The new movie definitely offered challenges, starting with the fact he only had Bt9 million to spend, enough for a local shoot but nowhere near enough for filming in expensive Japan. 

So he scrimped and saved as they went along, innovating in his directing techniques and also pulling double duty as cinematographer. The Japan shoot was limited to 20 days and the crew was skeletal, with just six members, counting Yuthlert.

They got the picture finished, he says, and he feels excitement in his life once more, so, after enduring such an awful personal tragedy, he’s ready to move on. We’ll happily be scared all over again if only for his sake.