A Useful Ghost

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A Useful Ghost

2025

2h 10m

Comedy

Drama

Fantasy

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Popcornmeter

92%

Tomatometer

24 Reviews

Popcornmeter

Fewer than 50 Ratings

March is mourning his wife Nat who has recently passed away due to dust pollution. He discovers her spirit has returned by possessing a vacuum cleaner. Disturbed by a ghost that appeared after a worker's death shut down their factory, his family reject their unconventional human-ghost relationship. Trying to convince them of their love, Nat offers to cleanse the factory. To become a useful ghost, she must first get rid of the useless ones.

Kristy Puchko

Mashable

With A Useful Ghost, Boonbunchachoke delivers a a delirious vision, a hilarious and thought-provoking comedy that demands to be seen and adored. It's just phenomenal.

Sep 16, 2025

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Leslie Felperin

The Hollywood Reporter

Unlike the logic-defying supernatural phenomena that drive its plot forward, Thai feature A Useful Ghost (Phi Chidi Kha) should not work, with its jarring shifts in tone and cray-cray mix of genres -- and yet it does.

May 21, 2025

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Catherine Bray

Variety

This all works because there’s something oddly refined about the vacuum cleaner’s performance, despite the inherently comic premise.

May 21, 2025

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Joshua Polanski

Beam from the Booth (Substack)

Nat’s possession of a vacuum—a symbol of “traditional” domestic gender roles—projects her caregiving intentions, although [Ratchapoom] Boonbunchachoke chooses to simply replicate rather than interrogate these roles.

Sep 17, 2025

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Tina Kakadelis

Film Obsessive

It is love that powers her, and it is love that powers A Useful Ghost, a stunning fusion of genres that will help us discover where our future leads.

Sep 16, 2025

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Stephen A. Russell

Orion's Shoulder (Substack)

This queerly beloved, incurably horny ghost story ... sparks both surprisingly astute commentary on those sucked up and spat out by the capitalist machine, and the brutality of Thailand’s buried political history. All without losing sight of goofy gags.

Sep 8, 2025

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Audience Member

เป็นหนังที่ดูเกี่ยวกับความรักและความเชื่อเหนือธรรมชาติ แต่จริงๆ มันเป็นการจิกกัดสังคม ทั้งเรื่องการเมือง แรงงาน และคน ในสังคม โดยมีเครื่องดูดฝุ่นที่มีสิงอยู่ พาไปยังเรื่องเหตุการณ์ต่าง ๆ ที่เกิดขึ้น ตลกร้ายสุด ๆ การดำเนินเรื่องค่อนข้างนิ่ง ๆ ช้า ๆ ทำให้คนเบื่อได้ เป็นที่เฉพาะกลุ่ม ฉันชอบเนื้อหา การเปิดเรื่อง การเล่าเรื่องผ่านเรื่องเล่า แต่ในเรื่องเล่ามันมีบางช่วงที่ไม่จำเป็นเท่าไหร่

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

08/30/25

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Dave J

I’m 73 and this was the worst movie I have ever seen. Shockingly unentertaining. After hour and 40 minutes and nearly falling asleep twice, we just couldn’t take it anymore. Some people had already walked out and we decided to follow. So bad all we could do was laugh once outside. Mind numbingly boring, poorly scripted, confusing, a $12 wardrobe budget, and acting like they were selected from random people with no desire to try.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

08/29/25

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Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke

Director

Davika Hoorne

Nat

Witsarut Himmarat

March

Apasiri Nitibhon

Suman

Wanlop Rungkumjad

Krong

Wisarut Homhuan

Academic Ladyboy

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Synopsis

March is mourning his wife Nat who has recently passed away due to dust pollution. He discovers her spirit has returned by possessing a vacuum cleaner. Disturbed by a ghost that appeared after a worker's death shut down their factory, his family reject their unconventional human-ghost relationship. Trying to convince them of their love, Nat offers to cleanse the factory. To become a useful ghost, she must first get rid of the useless ones.

Director: Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke
Producer: Cattleya Paosrijeroen, Soros Sukhum
Screenwriter: Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke
Production Co: 185 Films, Haut les Mains Productions, Momo Film Co
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
Original Language: Thai
Runtime: 2h 10m