For fans of Ong Bak and Tom Yum Goong / The Protector the new BCI release of Spirited Killer makes for fascinating viewing. Before Jaa exploded on the international scene he was a bit player in Ong Bak stunt choreographer Panna Rittikrai’s stunt team, appearing in a number of small roles for Pechpanna Productions, the extreme low budget action film outfit that featured Rittikrai as a major player both in front of and behind the camera. Over the lifespan of Pechpanna, Rittikrai either starred in or directed nearly forty feature films, over that span training and mentoring the vast majority of major stunt players currently making waves in Thailand’s action film industry. And while it is a fairly middle of the road title in Pechpanna’s catalog – neither one of their best nor one of their worst – Spirited Killer is noteworthy on two levels, featuring both a rare appearance of Rittikrai in a villain role as well as Jaa’s first featured role, with student and mentor facing off for a lengthy string of fights in the film’s mid-section.
Set, as are virtually all Pechpanna films, in Thailand’s remote village country Spirited Killer begins with a group of villagers swindled by a voodoo doctor promising them immortality. But his immortality potion turns out to be poisonous, killing everyone who took it, with the survivors rallying the villagers to capture the evil Dr. Duang. When they find him the villagers beat Duang severely and throw him in the river, leaving him for dead.
Jump forward five years. Two groups of “foreigners” – both groups obviously played by Thais – are coming to this same village to search for ancient artifacts and both are assaulted in the surrounding woods by a strange, unspeaking man – played by Rittikrai - who appears impervious impervious to pain and who slaughters many of them mercilessly and without warning, the survivors arriving in the village and rallying the locals to begin a full scale manhunt.
Spirited Killer bears many of the hallmarks of the old Pechpanna films, shot on a miniscule budget and cast almost entirely with stunt performers the script is an everything including the kitchen sink affair that serves only to move from one fight sequence to the next. You’ve got voodoo, an immortal zombie, a musical number, gutter humor, and a karmic moral to wrap things up. The fights are completely unvarnished and unassisted with any sort of trickery, a straight ahead exhibition of the skills of all involved. Swordplay is the dominant form and, of note to fans, Jaa showcases the wushu style that was his first discipline before developing the muay thai based fight style he is known for now. Budget limitations result in the film being shot dominantly guerilla style in the woods which, in turn, limits the variety of the fight options but there are several excellent sequences. It must be noted, however, that despite their prominence in the marketing materials Rittikrai is present in a purely supporting role here with Jaa limited to only his series of featured fights in the mid part of the film. This is not a headlining film for either of the high profile duo.
The BCI release of the film is strong. The special features – a profile of Rittikrai, an overview of Thai action film, and some promotional pieces on Jaa and muay thai – could very likely have been included on the first disc without any problem and are interesting but not spectacular. The feature itself receives a surprisingly strong presentation. It features both Thai and English soundtracks and is provided in a new anamorphic widescreen transfer. While the source print hasn’t undergone any significant restoration and the original budget on this was such that it was never color corrected, meaning obvious changes in film stock and coloration when the shots switch from camera to camera, the transfer itself is very clean and absolutely worlds better than the ultra low grade pan and scan presentations that these films have received on Thai VCD – the only way any Pechpanna films have been available up until now.