A Useful Ghost

A revenge story of ghosts that return in the form of electric devices – a supernatural, social-realist and social-surreal comic political drama. The unpredictability of an electrical device that is meant to be predictable mirrors precisely how these ghosts behave as they throw tantrums, and their return is already “a form of protest”. Yet, when a ghost is rendered “useful”, it becomes a sharp and witty critique of a deeply ingrained capitalist system, coupled with corrupt governance rooted in an autocratic mentality, that devours all good intentions and noble beginnings. Where everything can be commodified, even ghosts, and memories can be erased, what is truly terrifying is not the supernatural, but humanity itself.

As the handsome hoover repairman recounts the origins of these haunted electrical devices – beginning with a factory worker who coughs blood and dies on the job – the story unfolds: the factory owner’s youngest son discovers that the red hoover is possessed by the spirit of his deceased wife, who is later turned into “a useful ghost” by a minister determined to erase memories of the crimes committed by the government in order to eliminate ghosts. Beneath the film’s playful, humorous tone lies a cleverly constructed, matryoshka-doll-like framed narrative and a heartfelt critique of the fundamental logic of how our world operates, a logic further aggravated by the weak spots of human nature. In a nonchalant way, the film engages with familiar tropes – in its distinctive blend of deadpan comedy, queerness, ghost story, romcom, sci-fi, and melodrama so characteristic of Thai cinema – yet it handles them with great finesse and an ever-present readiness to subvert and transgress.

Anything can be mocked here, and all hypocrisy can be exposed. Stone monuments commemorating national heroes and glorious warriors, standing before a construction site for a new commercial complex, collapse – their dust becoming the main source of pollution and the very origin of how the hoover is purchased, haunted, and ultimately “repaired” by the repairman. Later, the bronze statue of the useful ghost, gifted by the minister, topples onto the ghost’s husband during the inauguration ceremony. A Useful Ghost turns everything into a joke, and every joke into a bitter observation of a reality that can hardly be shaken.

By humanising ghosts, the film exposes the lack of humanity in human beings and the injustices of an exploitative system. As the hoover-owner at the beginning of the film says, «It’s the biggest irony. A human–ghost couple reunited by destroying another human–ghost couple. Exorcised the ghost and electrocuted the man.» To which the ghost disguised as the repairman replies, «Isn’t it awful? But it’s just the beginning. There’s more.»