Nekoneko’s Movie Litterbox!!

It’s time for another of those crazy Thai films that this lil’ Catgirl can’t seem to leave alone… so let’s review the slapstick weirdness that is “The Ghost and Master Boh” aka “Phee Taa Waan Kab Ajarn Taa Boh” or “ผีตาหวานอาจารย์ตาโบ๋” if you can read Thai….. Hehehehe!!

The synopsis for it reads: “Ajarn Boh (Jaturong Mokjok) is a fake medium who manages to fool the locals with his tricks but is in big trouble with the powerful Au. Meanwhile, Waan (Padchon Kompreawpan) is in love with Wit (Weerayuth Naburana), but Wit doesn’t know Waan is a ghost. Waan was murdered by Au and has returned to seek revenge. Ajarn Boh meets Waan, the first time he has actually seen a real ghost, and teams up with her against Au.”

Hmmmm? Ghosts… fake mediums….. goofy Thai character actors….. potty jokes galore…. sounds like all the prerequisites are there for Thailand’s answer to “Abbot & Costello Meet the Krasue”….

Will it entertain me? Make me giggle uncontrollably till I nearly pee myself? More importantly…. is it worth you all finding your own copy of this? Let’s find out! “Read On”, if you dare!!

This one nearly slipped under my radar, as I’d been under the impression that it was yet another one of those films released in Thailand without english subtitles as of late. If you are a regular here at the ol’ Litterbox, you know that usually only slows me down until I can find some fansubs and work up the ambition to do a little work timing them and correcting them for grammar. Such was the case here…. But then I find out that despite the claims to the contrary….. even on Thai DVD sites that I usually find to be fairly accurate and trustworthy, that this one actually does have english subtitles on it, a nice english friendly Main menu, and was not subbed into Thai as advertised!! Yay!!! I’m used to the utter strangeness and crudity of Thai humor, and love the old “Mr. Vampire” style of slapstick that such horror comedies usually contain, so how could I NOT risk grabbing a copy to see for myself?

This one starts up promisingly. In a sequence shamelessly lifted from another Thai horror/comedy, “The Beheaded” aka “Pee Hua Kurd”, we find a hopeless bunch of underlings involved in a bit of midnight body snatching to collect spell components for a sorcerer brewing love potions. Naturally, they botch the job, and end up dumping the corpse in a river by accident. It’s the body of a poor young girl, raped and murdered, and now it’s not “properly buried” as well…. you just know that’s gonna be trouble, right? Unfortunately, this sequence isn’t a well done as in “The Beheaded”…. which managed to make the whole idea of grave robbing actually funny. Here it just serves to get the plot rolling and set up the doomed love story between Waan and Wit….. Our main story is really about Master Boh…..

Boh is a com man, pure and simple. He reads fortunes… casts “love spells”… and sometimes fakes ghost attacks on the people of the village with the help of his sister and acolytes to trick people into hiring him as an exorcist. It seems to be a pretty sweet deal…. he doesn’t have to work for the Monks renovating the nearby temple, and he lives pretty well off the “gifts” that gullible villagers bring him to curry his favor.

Wit’s friends all work at the temple… and they get suspicious of his beautiful new wife only to discover she’s actually a ghost!! Not just any ghost… the very same begrudged spirit who’s body was stolen at the beginning of the film. Luckily, they have Master Boh!! They convince Boh to sort this out, which he agrees to, never for once believing that there actually is a ghost…. He fails…. but the spirit starts haunting them, trying to convince Boh to help her find her murderers. And as if that isn’t enough to complicate Master Boh’s life…..

By accident…. he actually manages to give away the winning numbers on the Lottery to the villagers who win big from the local bookie. Naturally, this gets Boh and friends into trouble with the Bookie and his thugs. But he’s a powerful shaman… so of course they seek the help of a sorcerer to get even. That sorcerer whistles up the ghost of a local murder victim who’s dad has been stashing his corpse at home rather than burying it. It chases Boh and his friend around until they are forced to seek shelter at the Temple.

Finally…. the ghost of Waan finds out that her killers are none other than the Bookie and his thugs…. she teams up with Boh, and users her ghostly powers along with his con-artist trickery to beat the villains and save the day.

So… was it good and entertaining evening’s DVD time? Well….. sorry to say, this one isn’t as good a picture as “The Beheaded” which I did really like….. it tries hard to be, but it really just isn’t. Master Boh is a neat character…. and in the right movie, I’d probably like him a lot… but here he sort of falls flat. Towards the end, it feels rushed… with an ending that seems badly edited and gives the impression that I was watching a 1hr and 45 minute film cut down to a 1hr and 30 minute feature at the last minute….. It’s safe to say, that although this one got a couple of smiles out of me here and there, my panties remained blissfully dry…… Hehehehe!!

The DVD itself isn’t bad…. it comes with a Trailer, a “Behind the Scenes” documentary, and some posters and stills. The subs are good and separate, although strange at times… In all, Neko-chan gives this one 3 “Meows” out of 5 for trying like a trooper, but just barely crawling outta the grave. Guess I’ll be digging a little harder to find that next big horror/ comedy franchise….

Somehow….. I even found you a Trailer!! Enjoy!