Edward ultimately decided to merge the plotlines of Rahtree Reborn (Buppah Rahtree 3.1) and Rahtree Revenge (Buppah Rahtree 3.2) into a single storyline.
After all, if he were to split them apart and film them separately, the effect would not be very good. The entire plot was originally designed as one continuous sequence, with not even a single day's gap in the events.
If he forcibly divided the story into two different parts, it would instead make everything seem somewhat strange and disjointed. Because of this, Edward made up his mind—he would film it all as one combined story, and while doing so, take the opportunity to make certain improvements, giving the entire narrative a more unique transformation.
With these thoughts in mind, he sat down and began writing the script for the later half of the plot. As for how the script would eventually be filmed, that would be the director's responsibility.
This time, Edward intended only to provide the script; he didn't want to involve himself in anything else. Besides, he also planned to film his own movie first, and as for everything unrelated to that, Edward could not bring himself to care at the moment.
Buppah was a thin and frail little girl. Her hair was always messy, and her eyes carried a deep, permanent fear. Her mother had left when Buppah was five years old and had never returned. Her stepfather was a drunken brute who came home intoxicated every single day.
Whenever he returned, he would punch and kick her without restraint. The neighbors all knew about Buppah's suffering, yet they merely watched coldly from the sidelines. No one was willing to help her.
"Even your own mom doesn't want you. Serves you right!" the neighbor's boy often mocked, sometimes even shoving her, pushing her hard enough to make her fall to the ground. Buppah never dared fight back. She silently picked herself up each time, brushed away the dirt and tears on her face, and forced herself to continue walking home.
Under her stepfather's cruelty and the neighbors' bullying, Buppah's world became unbearably dark. She often hid in corners, fantasizing about escaping everything. At night, she would secretly cry, wishing that her mother would suddenly appear and take her away. But her mother never returned. Finally, one day, Buppah reached her limit.
That day, her stepfather was drunk again. He grabbed Buppah by the hair, dragging her across the floor as he began punching and kicking her. Buppah didn't cry this time. Instead, she stared silently at him; there was no longer fear in her gaze—only a bone-chilling hatred.
"You think you're so powerful?" Buppah whispered, her voice carrying an eerie calmness.
Her stepfather froze for a moment, unable to understand what she meant. Just as he raised his hand to continue beating her, he suddenly felt a sharp, searing pain—Buppah had pulled out a small knife from somewhere and stabbed it deep into his leg. He let out a scream and collapsed.
Buppah stood before him, a cold smile curling at the corner of her lips. She pulled out the knife and stabbed again—this time straight into his throat. Blood sprayed out wildly. Standing amidst the spreading pool of red, Buppah's eyes were empty. She knew she had crossed a line she could never return from.
Afterward, Buppah fled to the Osti Apartment, an old and dilapidated building with stained walls and creaking staircases. She did not know exactly why she came here, but she vaguely remembered that her past life had some sort of connection to this place.
When Edward wrote up to this part, he chose to revise the storyline. Originally, the events were disturbing enough to make one's scalp tingle, but what bothered him most was that the stepfather, such an irredeemably vile character—did not die in the original plot. That made the audience feel furious.
So, Edward altered the script to make sure that the beastly stepfather died a fitting, gruesome death. This also made the later modifications easier to implement.
Another confusing part of the original Rahtree Reborn plot involved the dual-soul issue: the presence of both "Big Buppah" and "Little Buppah." But in truth, they were never two different souls. It was the same soul—Buppah's soul—that had reincarnated into a young girl, resulting in the existence of Little Buppah. And it was Little Buppah who held the dominant personality, not the supposedly "adult" Buppah. Big Buppah was not the controlling force.
Following her memory, Little Buppah pushed open the door to Room 609. The room was dark, with only a dim flickering light. As she walked in, she heard a noise coming from the bathroom. She approached and pushed the door open—inside stood a man holding a knife. He was the landlady's nephew, a thug with a brutish face.
"Get out!" he roared.
Buppah didn't move. Furious, the man lunged forward and wrapped his hands around her throat, slamming her against the wall. Buppah struggled desperately, but his strength was far greater. He grabbed her jaw and snapped it brutally—the chilling "crack" echoed through the room. Her eyes widened in pain, fear, and despair. Her body collapsed, blood pouring from her mouth.
But she did not die.
Her soul drifted out of her broken body, forming a black cloud of hatred and pain. She transformed into a malevolent spirit—and the entire Osti Apartment would become her domain of vengeance.
From that day on, the residents of the Osti Apartment began experiencing eerie paranormal events. Some heard a woman crying in the bathroom at night, followed by sharp scratching noises along the wall.
Some saw Buppah's pale face twisted into a chilling smile in their mirrors. The landlady ran an underground casino; it had once thrived, but recently, strange incidents kept occurring. Some gamblers went insane at the table and slit their own throats with razors. The landlady's nephew was later found dead in the bathroom, choke marks still visible around his neck.
A young worker named Aang had just moved into the apartment. A kind-hearted man, he saw Buppah sitting alone on the staircase one day and couldn't help but approach her.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
Buppah lifted her head. Aang froze. Her eyes… they held a familiar expression—the same gaze as the girl he once liked when he was young.
"You… are you Buppah?" he asked hesitantly.
Buppah didn't reply, but her eyes softened slightly. Aang's heart trembled. Could she really be Buppah?
But Buppah's soul was becoming unstable. Her past-life memories and her present-life hatred constantly intertwined, making her oscillate between clarity and madness. Sometimes, she appeared as the gentle little girl sitting quietly on the stairs. Other times, she became a hatred-filled spirit, attacking any man who approached with a razor in hand.
Aang tried to help her, but Little Buppah's resentment was gradually consuming her very soul. Every night, she would lose consciousness and transform into a murderous, uncontrollable spirit.
"We have to find a way to save her," Aang said to the landlady.
The landlady sneered. "Save her? She's no longer human. She's a ghost!"
Ignoring her, Aang sought out a ghost-catching master. But the first master stood no chance against Buppah—he was killed by her. Even worse, the landlady's nephew died too, his body discovered in the same bathroom, with the same strangling marks. Buppah's vengeance continued. Gamblers continued to die one after another, their corpses found with expressions frozen in horror.
Finally, the terrified landlady knelt and begged for mercy. But Buppah no longer heard anyone. Her soul had been completely swallowed by hatred—she wanted everyone to die with her.
Aang made one last attempt, bringing a second ghost master, yet the outcome was the same. The master failed. Buppah continued haunting the apartment.
The day Little Buppah's corpse was burned, her spirit let out a horrific shriek. Flames consumed her body, but her hatred remained. Eventually, even her soul was burned to nothing, leaving her unable to reincarnate. Aang stood before the ruins of the apartment, holding a small box—Buppah's childhood gift to him.
He opened the box. Inside was an old, yellowed photograph of Buppah smiling brightly. Beside it were the words: "I hope you will always be happy."
Tears streamed down Aang's face. He finally understood—Buppah's hatred had vanished along with her destroyed soul. Taking a deep breath, he closed the box and walked toward the sunlight.
The curse of the Osti Apartment had ended.
But had it truly ended?
At the very end, a corpse that everyone had forgotten about appeared once again at the entrance of the apartment. A group of children saw it. One child—dared by the others—approached to poke it. The moment he got close, the corpse suddenly twitched. The children fled in terror. And with that, the movie ended—symbolizing the conclusion of the Rahtree Reborn series.
In truth, the Buppah Rahtree storyline had many confusing parts, almost all revolving around Buppah's shifting soul forms. First-time viewers would be baffled: why did the female ghost sometimes appear as an adult and sometimes as a little girl?
The key lay in the previous installments. Anyone who watched Buppah Rahtree 1 and 2 would immediately understand what was happening once Buppah appeared. But to those unfamiliar with the earlier films, the narrative felt bewildering.
Little Buppah herself was influenced by her past-life memories, which drew her to the Osti Apartment. Even if she hadn't come here, her life wouldn't have been much better anyway—her stepfather in this life was also a beast.
The first two Buppah Rahtree films were actually quite good. But their quality only extended through the first two installments. The third one was not very good. Buppah was an extremely tragic character. In the first movie, she suffered terribly, then was finally sent for reincarnation.
Yet in the third movie, the reincarnated Buppah was still given an extremely tragic script. In Edward's opinion, there was no need to bring Buppah back at all. They could have simply let her be reborn into a loving family.
The third film could have introduced entirely new characters instead. But perhaps the producers wanted to take advantage of the popularity of Buppah Rahtree 1 and 2, so they forcefully inserted many familiar elements—the Osti Apartment, police officers, ghost masters—all of which felt outdated and cliché. But there was nothing they could do; such things happen.
The story even had strange extensions in real life. Later, someone interviewed people near the actual filming location. The building still stood, but the people living inside were said to be scarier than ghosts.
A blogger once visited at night. Under the dim sky, everything was deathly quiet. The apartment, shrouded in rumor, looked completely out of place compared to the bustling surroundings. The worn walls, illuminated by moonlight, looked even more ancient. The bronze-colored door hinges creaked eerily.
Inside, the hallways were dark and cold winds howled through them, making the broken blinds rattle endlessly. The flickering stairway lights looked as though they could be swallowed by some unknown force at any moment.
Residents walked quietly with hurried steps, never interacting, their faces filled with hardship and uncertainty. Their eyes avoided the indistinct shadows along the walls—shadows that seemed to whisper stories of tragic pasts.
Inside the rooms, old furniture was covered with dust. The air was thick with mildew. In the photo frames, the people seemed to stare blankly, as though about to recount their sorrow. Late at night, drops of water falling from the ceiling shattered the stillness, sending shivers into anyone's heart.
Even so, the residents kept living stubbornly. Their worries were about survival, not ghosts. They gathered around dim candlelight, a bowl of hot food being their only warmth. In that eerie apartment, life and fear coexisted. People no longer cared about haunted rumors; they cared only about whether they could survive.
And so, Thai horror films eventually walked the same ending as most horror genres worldwide—decline. Horror films had fallen out of popularity everywhere. It was difficult to keep making them, and even harder to innovate.
Edward didn't say much about it; he understood this was just the fate of the genre. Almost every path horror movies could take had already been exhausted. It was simply how things were.
Edward personally didn't hold out much hope for a revival. Still, he wasn't going to criticize anyone. He had done what he could. What he shouldn't do, he wouldn't interfere in. He was nearly retired anyway. Maybe someone talented in the Pokémon world would appear in the future and write a phenomenal script that could revive horror movies—but achieving something like that would be extremely difficult.
"Well then, it's time for me to get back to my real work." Edward yawned. He still had his own tasks to handle—such as finally clearing the Kayako dungeon. He hadn't touched that cursed side quest at all.
But Edward felt that conquering Kayako wouldn't be that difficult. Kayako didn't have many traps. The biggest issue was how to avoid troublesome side problems, particularly the situation involving Kayako and Kobayashi.
The bond between Kayako and Kobayashi presented a challenge. Kayako's feelings toward Kobayashi ran very deep. Perhaps he could let Saeki Takeo take that place instead. Edward believed he had a chance. After all, for a veteran who had watched countless romance anime, this sort of situation wasn't even that complicated.
(End of Chapter)