A Useful Ghost (2025)
Genre: Drama / Fantasy
Duration: 130 minuten
Alternative titles: Pee Chai Dai Ka / ผีใช้ได้ค่ะ
Country:
Thailand
Directed by: Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke
Stars: Witsarut Himmarat and Davika Hoorne
IMDb score:
6,7 (1.649)
Releasedate: 27 August 2025
A Useful Ghost plot
"Love sucks."
Nat has recently passed away and returns to the land of the living as a ghost. She has a vacuum cleaner with which she tries to keep the house dust-free because of her husband's allergies. She also wants to protect her family from spiteful spirits that also haunt the place.
Actors and actresses
Nat
March
Suman
Krong
Academic Ladyboy
Dr. Paul
Dr. Paul's Wife
Mos
Ted
Reviews & comments
Mr_Marty
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- 257 messages
- 214 votes
This is a bit of a hard film to explain, as it's both incredibly original and chock-full of ideas. But it's certainly very good and funny. It won the Grand Prix in the Semaine de la Critique program for first and second films at Cannes, and Thailand's Oscar submission. Fortunately, for once, this is a film where the trailer gives a good impression of the film's tone of voice, so definitely watch it. If you weren't completely in stitches, this isn't the film for you.
It's about possessed vacuum cleaners (and other household appliances), love that transcends death, ghosts from the past that the Thai authorities try to erase, progress at the expense of the working class, and gay rights. Typical for a debut film, though, is that *slightly* overambitious approach. But Boonbunchachoke goes a long way, and the somewhat overstuffed nature of it is also part of the film's charm. And despite the film being quite gay—we only know Wisarut Homhuan's character as an "academic ladyboy," which ranks high in the list of best character names ever—the main ghost, Nat, is played by the ravishing Belgian-Thai Davika Hoorne. She, however, mostly haunts the room in a very stately fashion, wearing a designer dress, which also feels rather gay.
At one point, I felt the film's momentum slowed a bit, but it's more that the film gradually shifts from a comedy to a serious political film with satirical elements. Someone on Letterboxd perfectly described it as "a joke that slowly turns into an accusation."
Translated from Dutch · View original
mrklm
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- 12367 messages
- 10458 votes
A vacuum cleaner factory is terrorized weekly by the ghost of an employee [Krittin Thongmai] who died in a workplace accident. Owner Suman [Apasiri Nitibhon] uses every means to drive the ghost away. Then it turns out her son's [Wisarut Himmarat] new vacuum cleaner has been taken over by the ghost of his deceased wife [Davike Hoorne]. It starts as a lighthearted romantic drama with hilarious visual effects. After an hour, it takes a dark turn and eventually becomes downright grim and gloomy. Boonbunchachoke didn't know whether he was making a romantic comedy or a black-comedy satire. He really should have thought about that a bit more carefully, because the second half is now barely coherent.
Translated from Dutch · View original
De filosoof
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- 2573 messages
- 1762 votes
That the memory of deceased people keeps those people alive in a certain sense is a well-known fact that forms, for example, the basis of the Mexican Day of the Dead and that we also see reflected in many horror films. This film adopts that concept—the deceased can return as (good or bad) spirits and even as real people if they are sufficiently remembered and/or they themselves still remember the world—but turns it into an absurdist rather than a horror film, which, however, also acquires a charged political dimension in its second half: politics, in the name of progress—which stirs up much dust in its restructuring of society—wants to eliminate the ghosts of the past, which is, however, a crime against that history or the deceased. The film's idea is thus quite nice, but the film is slow and, apart from the film's single concept, lacks sufficient substance to captivate as a feature film, causing boredom to prevail.
Translated from Dutch · View original
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