Tech

A Useful Ghost review: Making out with a vacuum is the tip of the iceberg in this haunted comedy

Published

11 months ago

September 11, 2025

Vicky

Yes, in A Useful Ghost, there's a make-out scene between a man and a vacuum cleaner. Several actually. And none in the way you'd imagine. (Unless… were you immediately imagining nipple play?)

Admittedly, the image of a man cradling a vacuum in the movie's trailer is what put it toward the top of my must-sees out of the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival. I value cinema that shows me something I've never seen before. And I assure you, this wild Thai comedy has a lot of things you've never seen before.

On the surface, it's the tale — well, tales — of ghosts who have possessed vacuum cleaners to reconnect to the people they've left behind. But incredibly, writer/director Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke builds within this undeniably silly premise interwoven stories of love, yearning, and political rebellion.

Incredibly, he does all that in a way that makes just talking about this movie feel like recounting a fever dream. It's little wonder the film won the Critics' Week Grand Prix out of the Cannes Film Festival and has been chosen by Thailand as its submission to the Academy Awards for the international feature film category. It's a marvel.

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A Useful Ghost is a rapturous Russian doll of a story.

Boonbunchachoke births one story from another from another. His film begins with a self-proclaimed "Academic Ladyboy" (Wisarut Homhuan), who buys a new vacuum to bust the dust coming in from a withering stone monument outside a humble apartment. Dust and vacuums will become a recurring element of each subsequent story, representing the persistent affliction of a paved-over past and the societal pressure to sweep it away instead of confronting it.

Buying a vacuum becomes a life-changing affair, because this ladyboy's new device is haunted — or so says the hot repairman named Krong (Wanlop Rungkumjud), who comes to fix it. With a smoldering gaze, he tells a tale of two other haunted vacuums. The first is of a vengeful spirit who afflicted a family-owned vacuum factory. The second is of that factory owner's son March (Wisarut Himmarat), who was so lost in grief over the death of his wife Nat (Davika Hoorne) that she was compelled to return — as a vacuum, painted as red as her dyed hair.

Suman (Apasiri Nitibhon), the factory owner, wasn't fond of Nat while she was alive. She's even less a fan now that Nat's a vacuum, sucking on March's nipples with her bristle attachment. A monk visiting the haunted factory notes that ghosts return because they remember and are remembered. Essentially, as a ghost is forgotten by the living, they fade into nothingness. So, Suman decides to electroshock the memories of Nat right out of March's head.

However, before Nat is fully faded, Suman's family learns that Nat has a unique skill for entering the dreams of the living. There, she can better understand the haunting ghosts of Thailand. And once this "useful ghost" has identified them, these unuseful ghosts can be extinguished by electroshocking their loved ones into forgetting them.

Listening to this story, the Academic Ladyboy is repulsed by Nat's willingness to turn on her own to maintain what she has. From there, Boonbunchachoke digs deeper into political allegory through a plotline involving a politician who wishes Nat to eradicate the ghosts of those killed in a political massacre. And just like that, this silly story has a powerful message that's achingly timely.

Kink and queerness come into play in A Useful Ghost.

In the opening line of Boonbunchachoke's film, he identifies the audience conduit as a LGBTQ+ person, the Academic Ladyboy, defined chiefly by his queerness and his intellectual curiosity. Later, when March's mother is being dressed down by her in-laws over her parenting, they scold her for raising her eldest gay and her second son to make out with a vacuum. This paired with a sprinkling of love scenes between March and vacuum Nat and several gay sex scenes suggests a throughline between these loves, deemed outside the norm of an older, conservative, and ruthless faction.

Queerness itself is celebrated in A Useful Ghost. The Academic Ladyboy is a compassionate listener to Krong's winding tale. Their connection is instant, sizzling, and satisfyingly resolved. Another subplot explores how homophobia in Thailand creates heartache and ghosts with unfinished business. Meanwhile, March's gay brother — though sneered at by his aunts and uncles — is shown only as joyful and loving with his husband and their son, though they discuss moving abroad to Australia.

Nat and March are straight, but once she's embodied in a vacuum, they no longer fall within the acceptable heterocentric norms of his family and a band of monks, who swarm her and call her a "thick cunt" while they attempt to banish her. In this way, Nat becomes subjected to hatred over who she loves because of the body she inhabits. And while this analogy might sound obvious, it plays out subtly because Boonbunchachoke's story is so surprising and strange, you may be focusing more on what the fuck is happening next while you watch, only to reflect on what it all means later. And I can't stop thinking about A Useful Ghost. Its outrageous jokes, earnest romance, and gnarly twists are unforgettable.

This film's collision of queerness, comedy, and politics should draw Boonbunchachoke comparisons to John Waters or Pedro Almodóvar. But the finale, which turns sharper and deliciously menacing, feels more in line with the political satires of Bong Joon Ho. 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.

A Useful Ghost was reviewed out of 2025 Toronto International Film Festival.

Tech

NYT Strands hints, answers for April 24, 2026

Published

3 months ago

April 25, 2026

Vicky

A game being played on a smartphone.

Today's NYT Strands hints are easy if you're rowdy.

Strands, the New York Times' elevated word-search game, requires the player to perform a twist on the classic word search. Words can be made from linked letters — up, down, left, right, or diagonal, but words can also change direction, resulting in quirky shapes and patterns. Every single letter in the grid will be part of an answer. There's always a theme linking every solution, along with the "spangram," a special, word or phrase that sums up that day's theme, and spans the entire grid horizontally or vertically.

By providing an opaque hint and not providing the word list, Strands creates a brain-teasing game that takes a little longer to play than its other games, like Wordle and Connections.

If you're feeling stuck or just don't have 10 or more minutes to figure out today's puzzle, we've got all the NYT Strands hints for today's puzzle you need to progress at your preferred pace.

SEE ALSO:

Wordle today: Answer, hints for April 24, 2026

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NYT Strands hint for today’s theme: Hullabaloo

The words are related to sound.

Today’s NYT Strands theme plainly explained

These words describe ruckus.

NYT Strands spangram hint: Is it vertical or horizontal?

Today's NYT Strands spangram is horizontal.

NYT Strands spangram answer today

Today's spangram is Lets Get Loud.

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NYT Strands word list for April 24

Shout
Holler
Clamor
Lets Get Loud
Bellow
Whoop
Caterwaul

Looking for other daily online games? Mashable's Games page has more hints, and if you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now!

Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.

Not the day you're after? Here's the solution to yesterday's Strands.

Tech

Wordle today: Answer, hints for April 24, 2026

Published

3 months ago

April 25, 2026

Vicky

Wordle game on a smartphone

Today's Wordle answer should be easy to solve if you love a good drink.

If you just want to be told today's word, you can jump to the bottom of this article for today's Wordle solution revealed. But if you'd rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.

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Where did Wordle come from?

Originally created by engineer Josh Wardle as a gift for his partner, Wordle rapidly spread to become an international phenomenon, with thousands of people around the globe playing every day. Alternate Wordle versions created by fans also sprang up, including battle royale Squabble, music identification game Heardle, and variations like Dordle and Quordle that make you guess multiple words at once.

Wordle eventually became so popular that it was purchased by the New York Times, and TikTok creators even livestream themselves playing.

What's the best Wordle starting word?

The best Wordle starting word is the one that speaks to you. But if you prefer to be strategic in your approach, we have a few ideas to help you pick a word that might help you find the solution faster. One tip is to select a word that includes at least two different vowels, plus some common consonants like S, T, R, or N.

What happened to the Wordle archive?

The entire archive of past Wordle puzzles was originally available for anyone to enjoy whenever they felt like it, but it was later taken down, with the website's creator stating it was done at the request of the New York Times. However, the New York Times then rolled out its own Wordle Archive, available only to NYT Games subscribers.

Is Wordle getting harder?

It might feel like Wordle is getting harder, but it actually isn't any more difficult than when it first began. You can turn on Wordle's Hard Mode if you're after more of a challenge, though.

SEE ALSO:

NYT Pips hints, answers for April 24, 2026

Here's a subtle hint for today's Wordle answer:

Intoxicated.

Does today's Wordle answer have a double letter?

There are no recurring letters.

Mashable 101 Fan Fave: Nominate your favorite creators today

Today's Wordle is a 5-letter word that starts with…

Today's Wordle starts with the letter D.

The Wordle answer today is…

Get your last guesses in now, because it's your final chance to solve today's Wordle before we reveal the solution.

Drumroll please!

The solution to today's Wordle is…

DRUNK

Don't feel down if you didn't manage to guess it this time. There will be a new Wordle for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we'll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints. Are you also playing NYT Strands? See hints and answers for today's Strands.

Reporting by Chance Townsend, Caitlin Welsh, Sam Haysom, Amanda Yeo, Shannon Connellan, Cecily Mauran, Mike Pearl, and Adam Rosenberg contributed to this article.

If you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.

Not the day you're after? Here's the solution to yesterday's Wordle.

Tech

FCC challenges gender identity themes on kids TV

Published

3 months ago

April 25, 2026

Vicky

A young girl watches TV with remote in her hand.

The Federal Communications Commission is using the presence of "controversial gender identity issues" in children's television programming as a pretense for questioning how TV ratings are developed and enforced, according to a notice published Wednesday by the federal agency.

The notice generally assesses TV ratings, but specifically points out that these industry guidelines have rated shows featuring "transgender and gender non-binary programming" as appropriate for children. It argues that parents aren't provided this information, "thereby undermining the ability of parents to make informed choices for their families."

In the document, the FCC poses a series of open-ended questions about TV ratings development, including whether the board responsible for the guidelines is "sufficiently balanced" with viewpoints outside of the entertainment industry and if faith-based organizations should be represented in the body.

"What more could the board do to include family-oriented perspectives — which are not well represented in the media industry — in its ratings process?" the notice asks.

SEE ALSO:

What's new to streaming this week? (April 24, 2026)

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr announced the public notice on X, explaining that "parents have raised concerns with the industry's approach." He added that these parents believe "New York & Hollywood programmers" promote objectionable content in kids programming without disclosing that to parents. Carr didn't mention gender identity in his X post.

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TV parents guidelines can include both a rating as well as descriptors for content that includes crude language, sexual situations, and violence.

LGBTQ+ advocates criticized the public notice, arguing that it amounted to discrimination and censorship.

"Trump's FCC is trying to turn transgender people into a warning label," Tyler Hack, executive director of the transgender rights advocacy group Christopher Street Project, said in a statement. "It is dehumanizing, and it is part of a broader political strategy to stigmatize LGBTQ+ people in every corner of public life."

Sarah Kate Ellis, president and CEO of GLAAD, described the notice as government overreach.

"Media companies must be allowed to create and broadcast stories that reflect one-quarter of their audience without interference from a government agency with its own anti-transgender political agenda," Ellis said in a statement.

This isn't the first time Carr has been accused of censorship. Carr has claimed broadcasters air "hoaxes" and "news distortions" that also happen to be unfavorable to President Trump. Carr has suggested the licenses of such broadcasters won't be renewed.

In March, dozens of free speech experts argued in an open letter to Carr that his threats against broadcasters are "unlawful jawboning" and his vague characterization of "fake news" violates the First Amendment. The authors called on Carr to "withdraw" his threats.