Filmmaker Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke has crafted a supernatural film that doesn’t just tug at the heartstrings, it suggests grief doesn’t always need to be sucked up. A Useful Ghost (ผีใช้ได้ค่ะ) weaves several tales together to create the ultimate Ghost Month film. Originally debuting in August 2025 for Southeast Asian audiences, it’s now making a well-deserved splash across the international festival circuit.
The film introduces a series of suffocating situations. There is Tok (Krittin Thongmai), who dies at work from chest congestion. Elsewhere, an unnamed academic (Wisarut Homhuan) insists it isn’t dust but industrial pollution choking him. He buys a vacuum cleaner that promptly malfunctions. When Krong (Wanlop Rungkumjad) arrives to fix it, he has no idea he’s about to be seduced.
This segment offers a subtle nod to the social standing of transgender individuals in Thailand. While not entirely isolated, they aren’t fully recognized either. That context informs why a particular spirit chooses to manifest and assist this person’s plight. In this world, ghosts don’t rattle chains, they possess appliances.
Now for the hook. Spirits seem to have a fondness for dust-busters. Just when you thought the dancing toaster in Ghostbusters was the peak of haunted kitchenware, it turns out Hoovers and refrigerators can be possessed too. What the machine sucks up can also be expelled, leading to gut-busting hilarity. The film stays in a PG-13 territory by keeping the wilder implications off-camera. There’s only one moment which seems raunchy, but it was needed. The comedic timing never loses suction.
The emotional core centers on March (Witsarut Himmarat), grieving the death of his wife Nat (Davika Hoorne). Hints she was pregnant at the time deepen the loss. His parents struggle to lift his spirits, yet a certain animated cleaning appliance manages to do just that. This leads to inspired absurdity, including giving a whole new, smut-free meaning to the term blow job.
The film offers a grounded look at Thai spirituality. Ghosts are everywhere, some helpful, others vengeful. The people live with it and are not fearful. Also, Nat only becomes visible when that dirt in people’s eyes are wiped away. It’s a potent metaphor. Life must be viewed with clarity, not through a haze of industry and moral grime.
Deadpan performances elevate the film from satire to parable. March’s parents, initially horrified by the animated suction box, come to see that remembrance gives the dead life. The subtext is lovely. A manifestation of a spectre shows why some moments of history refuses to disappear. That statement made by one of the elders March’s mom associates with perfectly hits home.
The third act darkens when Vacuum Nat is recruited to help a high-ranking official clean up his mess. While Dr. Paul (Gandhi Wasuvitchayagit) appears helpful, one wonders what dust bunnies lurk in his closet. Workplace inequity surfaces, and the vengeful side of the spirit world begins to stir. In what’s perfect to describe the loss of spirit in the body in how this work shows how clinically detached people become. Whether it’s because the world around them is crumbling to dust or something else, A Useful Ghost, is strangely heartfelt. It’s perfect for not only Ghost Month but also Valentine’s Day.
Not everything needs to be Evil Dead, though the nod is unmistakable.
5 Stars out of 5
A Useful Ghost Trailer
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