And now for something completely different: an absurdist comedy about ghosts inhabiting home appliances that is simultaneously a rousing, radical work of historical excavation. Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke’s film is a wacky, whimsical look at Thai politics, from the distant past to its recent history. The film opens with the purchase of a vacuum cleaner revealed to contain a dead man’s spirit; soon, a repair man is explaining its backstory, which unfolds in flashbacks recalling worker exploitation, subversive ghosts, and a government program devised to investigate citizens’ minds while they sleep.
Ratchapoom seeks sometimes to amuse, sometimes to galvanize, and always to entertain. His film is eclectic enough to merit many comparisons: his choreographed physical humour evokes the spirit of the silent era; bizarre scenes of deadpan humour carry a whiff of sketch comedy; and the allegorical rendering of Thai history recalls that nation’s reigning arthouse auteur, Apichatpong Weerasethakul. From its sardonic opening to its slam-bang conclusion, this is a jaunty, captivating work of cinema.
Davika Hoorne, Witsarut Himmarat, Apasiri Nitibhon, Wanlop Rungkumjad, Wisarut Homhuan
Thailand/France/
Singapore/Germany
2025
In Thai with English subtitles
At International Village & VIFF Cinema
At The Rio
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Credits & Director
Executive Producer
Chayamporn Taeratanachai, Kip Tiaviwat, Annie Yang, Tanat Tananivit, Rachel Y. Wu, Kris Eiamsakulrat, Nopadol Srikieatkajohn
Producer
Cattleya Paosrijaroen, Soros Sukhum
Screenwriter
Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke
Cinematography
Pasit Tandaechanurat
Editor
Chonlasit Upanikit
Production Design
Sim Hao Jie
Original Music
Chaibovon Seelukwa
Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke
Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke is a filmmaker of Teochew-Hainanese descent who was born and raised in Bangkok, where he currently resides. He works as a full-time scriptwriter, writing commercial features and television series while also teaching university film theory and scriptwriting. In 2020, he was selected to participate in Berlinale Talents program. His short film Red Aninsri; Or, Tiptoeing on the Still Trembling Berlin Wall was selected for Locarno in 2020 and won the Junior Jury Award — Leopards of Tomorrow (International Competition). Most recently he has been nurturing a film series investigating the colonial history of Thailand.
Filmography: Red Aninsri; Or, Tiptoeing on the Still Trembling Berlin Wall (2020)
Altered States
See more films in this series
A Useful Ghost
Wacky, whimsical, and always engaging, this tale about Thailand’s bloody modern history starts with a ghost in a vacuum cleaner and ends with a guerilla attack on an orgy. In between there’s romance, deadpan comedy, and subversive historical excavation.
Dracula
A bawdy (and then some) deconstruction of Romania's most potent IP, Radu Jude parodies the use of AI in filmmaking with his trademark acidic humour. It's about six films in one, and there's something to offend everyone.
Image: © Silviu Gheție
Night Stage
Love becomes an act of defiance when a queer actor and a closeted politician discover a mutual fetish for public sex in the streets of Porto Alegre. A steamy, slow-burn erotic thriller with a dreamy neo-noir aesthetic.
OBEX
A computer nerd is transported into a video game fantasy world when his dog is taken by the evil demon Ixaroth. Alberty Birney’s lo-fi adventure combines analog horror with RPG mechanics, rendered with nostalgic black-and-white vaporwave aesthetics.
Deathstalker
As the Dreadite horde cuts a path of destruction across the land, one man weilds the power to rid the world of their evil — Deathstalker, a ruthless and courageous hero. FX wizard Steven Kostanski conjures a bloody, entertaining hack-and-slash adventure.
Death Does Not Exist
A young activist abandons her comrades after a failed mission and takes a spiritual journey into the wilderness, where she’s given a second chance. A breathtaking work of hand-drawn animation and a war cry for political change.
Dead Lover
A foul-smelling gravedigger’s romance ends in tragedy, spurring her to attempt a resurrection through a madcap series of science experiments. Grace Glowicki and Ben Petrie’s film is a zany DIY horror that zaps fresh life into Mary Shelley’s classic.
Honey Bunch
After waking from a coma with memory loss, Diane is taken to an experimental treatment centre in the wilderness by her husband Homer. Disturbing visions accompany her recovery, and as her memories return, Diane discovers dark truths about her marriage.
Foreigner
An Iranian teenager who recently immigrated to Canada is desperate to make friends at her new high school. Pressured to dye her hair blonde, she unleashes a demonic force rooted within her. A humourous coming-of-age horror from Ava Maria Safai.
Our Hero, Balthazar
A wealthy student's performative online videos put him on a collision course with an online troll, who may be planning an act of mass violence. Oscar Boyson's film is a searing examination of youth disaffected by the internet and driven to destruction.
The Plague
At a water polo camp, Ben is plunged into the deep end of toxic peer pressure. Terrified of incurring his campmates’ wrath, he joins them in tormenting a kid whose skin rash has been branded “the plague”. But then he experiences a breakout of his own...