A Useful Ghost review – exhilarating black comedy summons ghosts of Thai past via a haunted hoover
14 Views · 7/21/2026
Bring home a shiny new vacuum that spits dust back? The repairman says its factory’s haunted—this wild start kicks off a Thai debut film that won a top Cannes prize last year. Blending humor, heart, and supernatural chills, it’s a black comedy ghost story weaving in Thailand’s painful past: 2010 military crackdown, 2006/2014 coups, 1976 Thammasat demos. A queer academic researching Democracy Monument’s frieze follows the hoover to uncover ghosts of workers who died from toxic dust. Equal parts disquieting, erotic, sad, it mixes spiritual Thai and western ghost tales. Would you dare use a haunted hoover?
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