The Civil Dead
Directed by Clay Tatum
Written by Clay Tatum and Whitmer Thomas
Starring: Clay Tatum, Whitmer Thomas, Whitney Weir, Budd Diaz, and Robert Longstreet
Runtime: 1 hour 44 minutes
Unrated
In select Alamo Drafthouse theaters with live Q&A starting February 3rd

by Olivia Hunter Willke, Staff Writer

Any casual viewer of 21st century indie cinema knows the trope of an aimless white man in his 30s. But this time, that man has a ghost friend! Clay Tatum and Whitmer Thomas create a pleasantly spooky deviation from worn territory in The Civil Dead. Clay (Tatum) is a struggling photographer who lives with his wife, Whitney (Whitney Weir), in Los Angeles. When she goes out of town for a couple days, he vows to get some work done. On an outing to take photos of a discarded mattress with graffiti reading "5G killed my dog," he runs into a clingy old high school friend, Whitmer (Thomas). But when the time comes to part ways, Whit reveals that he believes himself to be a ghost.

In spite of its trite first-time indie quirks, the offbeat, lovable cadence endears. It harkens to a time not too long ago when indies were sincere with a bit of a bite instead of ironic to a fault. Tatum and Thomas have a distinct comedic rapport. The dialogue and their inflections often left me in stitches. The Civil Dead truly shines when it basks in its awkwardness. A fascinating sequence finds Whit wandering on his own, determined to give Clay some much-needed space, when he happens upon a couple (Christian Lee Hutson and Teresa Lee) wrapping up a first date and decides to follow them home. Whit’s slumped shoulders and darting eyes hold all the self-consciousness he had when he was living, even more so now that he has no one to receive feedback from, left alone with his own thoughts and actions. Tatum plays inconvenienced to a T. Despite discovering he has the gift of seeing dead people, Clay wants nothing to do with the one person (or ghost, rather) that has appeared before him. The idiosyncratic storytelling (chapter title cards that aren't necessary, etc.) is welcome even if it doesn't quite work entirely.

Independent filmmakers these days rarely have opportunities to get projects produced, much less experiment with what works and what doesn't. There's a charm in watching an artist learn through creating and doing. The Civil Dead is a hell of a strong, realized first feature effort. I can't wait to see what else Tatum and Thomas create and do in the very near future.