After a woman tragically dies from a respiratory disease, she returns to her husband as a ghost possessing a vacuum cleaner. A film by Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke, starring Davika Hoorne, Witsarut Himmarat, Apasiri Nitibhon, Wanlop Rungkumjad, and Wisarut Homhuan.
A USEFUL GHOST
ผีใช้ได้ค่ะ
Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke
The story follows Academic Ladyboy (Wisarut Homhuan) who lives in a city where dust pollution has become a serious problem. Fed up with the constant accumulation of dust in his room, he decides to buy a vacuum cleaner from a nearby store to tackle the mess.
However, things take an unsettling turn at night when the machine begins making disturbing sounds that eerily resemble human coughing and choking. Convinced that his new vacuum is defective, he contacts customer service to request a repair visit.
What happens next catches him completely off guard. Almost immediately after hanging up the phone, his doorbell rings. Standing at his door is Krong (Wanlop Rungkumjud), a repairman who claims to be responding to his service call. The impossibly quick response time strikes Academic Ladyboy as odd, but he decides to let the man inside anyway. When Academic Ladyboy politely asks Krong to remove his shoes before entering, the repairman completely ignores the request and walks straight in with his boots on.
After examining the vacuum and listening to Academic Ladyboy describe the disturbing coughing sounds, Krong suggests that the machine is likely possessed by a spirit. He then shares a haunting backstory about a vengeful ghost, the spirit of a worker who died in a factory.
This restless soul comes back to terrorize the workplace by possessing various electrical appliances and machinery, frightening employees and causing endless problems for the factory owner, Suman (Apasiri Nitibhon). The factory situation escalates so severely that when an inspector discovers the supernatural disturbances, he immediately revokes the facility’s operating license, forcing Suman to shut down operations temporarily. However, Krong suspects that the spirit inhabiting Academic Ladyboy’s vacuum cleaner is a different entity.
After Suman’s daughter-in-law Nat (Davika Hoorne) succumbs to a respiratory disease, her love for her husband March (Witsarut Himmarat) proves stronger than death itself. Her spirit returns to possess the vacuum cleaner, unable to let go of their bond. March is the only person who can still see Nat as she truly was, while everyone else perceives only a possessed appliance.
When family relatives discover March’s unconventional relationship with his deceased wife who has returned as a vacuum cleaner, they pressure Suman to dispose of Nat immediately. Despite their repeated attempts to get rid of the possessed appliance, Nat’s love proves unbreakable, and she refuses to leave March’s side.
Frustrated by their failure to separate the couple, the family takes a more drastic approach. They send March to a medical facility for electroconvulsive therapy, hoping the treatment will erase all memories of Nat from his mind. As the sessions progress, Nat begins to feel herself fading away, growing weaker with each procedure.
Desperate to save both herself and March, Nat uses her supernatural abilities to slip into Suman’s dreams and plead for mercy. In this dream encounter, Suman reveals a family secret that her late husband and his relatives had initially rejected their gay son and despised his foreign husband.
However, when the son’s husband proved his worth by successfully selling their products in his home country, the family gradually accepted him because he had shown his usefulness. Suman explains to Nat that if she truly wants to remain part of the family, she too must prove her value and usefulness to them.
Upon discovering Nat’s ability to enter people’s dreams, Suman sees an opportunity. She asks Nat to use this supernatural power to investigate the factory’s haunting problem, hoping to uncover the truth behind why the vengeful worker’s spirit continues to linger and terrorize the workplace.
Later, word of Nat’s unique ghost-removal abilities soon spreads beyond the family. Corrupt politicians and high-ranking government officials, all haunted by spirits from their past misdeeds, begin seeking out Nat’s services to cleanse themselves of their supernatural tormentors.
Written and directed by Thai filmmaker Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke, A USEFUL GHOST is a boldly ambitious film with its oddly charming narrative and aesthetically pleasing visuals.
The story operates on a fundamental belief about the supernatural world: spirits of the deceased can return to the human realm through two distinct pathways. The first is as vengeful spirits of those who died with unfinished business and still remember exactly who wronged them, driven by anger and the need for retribution. The second pathway is through the power of human memory and love. When the living refuse to let go of the deceased, their emotional connection can anchor the spirit to this world.
I found the first half of the film to be far more intriguing than the second half. While the premise of a spirit refusing to move on due to lingering love feels familiar, the film’s strength lies in its darkly comedic approach. The story-within-a-story structure works effectively, particularly when delivered with the same deadpan style you’d expect from Wes Anderson, understated moments that find absurdity in the supernatural domestic situation.
Despite the predictable trajectory of the love story, the film maintains its charm through these carefully crafted comedic beats. However, the narrative loses considerable momentum once it expands beyond the intimate family dynamic. The introduction of additional characters abd subplots feels forced and somewhat dilutes the story’s focus.
Rather than finding organic ways to weave political commentary into the existing framework, the film awkwardly crams these elements into the plot. This heavy-handed approach to addressing larger social issues creates several pacing problems, causing the story to drag considerably in its second half.
The film would have benefited from maintaining its intimate scope or finding more subtle methods to incorporate its political themes without sacrificing the delicate balance between supernatural romance and dark comedy that made the earlier scenes so engaging.
A USEFUL GHOST (ผีใช้ได้ค่ะ) premiered at La Semaine de la Critique of Festival de Cannes on 17 May 2025, where it won Grand prix de la Semaine de la critique.
Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke is the first Thai director to win the Grand Prix de la Semaine de la Critique at Cannes. He received the award in 2025 for his debut feature film A Useful Ghost (Pee Chai Dai Ka), which was recognized at the 64th edition of the Semaine de la Critique, a section dedicated to first and second films at the Cannes Film Festival.
Semaine de la Critique (Critics’ Week) is a prestigious section of the Cannes Film Festival dedicated to discovering and showcasing new filmmaking talent. Established in 1962 by the French Union of Film Critics, it focuses on first and second feature films from directors around the world, providing a high-profile platform for emerging voices in cinema. Each year, the program presents a carefully selected lineup of seven feature films and ten short films in competition, ensuring that each entry receives significant attention. An international jury of filmmakers, critics, and industry professionals awards several prizes, including the Grand Prize and the French Touch Prize of the Jury, among others. Beyond the festival, Semaine de la Critique supports filmmakers through workshops and educational programs, helping short film directors transition to features and engaging young audiences. Over the years, it has launched the careers of many acclaimed directors and remains one of the most influential platforms for new talent in the film industry.
Following its World Premiere, a boat party was held on the evening of May 18th at Jetée Albert Edouard near IGY Vieux-Port de Cannes, supported by Koh Kae, THACCA, New Narratives, and Singha Beer.
FANTÔME UTILE is scheduled for cinema release in France on 27 August 2025.
A USEFUL GHOST (ผีใช้ได้ค่ะ) is set for theatrical release in Thailand on 28 August 2025.
