What Happens When Your Dead Friend Becomes a Pest?
This indie film won't leave you spooked
Once in a while, those of us who love small indie films come across a low budget movie that is not what we expected, much to our delight. The Civil Dead is a good example. It’s billed as a ghost story, and while it does feature a ghost (of sorts), this isn’t your typical Halloween horror movie.
You see, The Civil Dead is really a quirky mumble-core like comedy about loneliness, the awkwardness found in many of today’s social relationships, and the elusive nature of friendship.
(Warning: Spoilers Ahead):
At the beginning of the film, Clay (Clay Tatum) is a photographer living in L.A. whose career isn’t going well. In contrast, Clay’s wife, Whitney (Whitney Weir), also a photographer, finds herself in demand from various clients. When Whitney has to go out of town for a job, Clay, who is essentially broke, tries selling some of his books without much luck. Then he comes up with a scam using he and Whitney’s apartment. Clay pretends to be a realtor looking for new tenants in a client’s apartment building. Clay has people fill out forms and is more than happy to take their application fees, knowing he’ll never return any of their money. This ends up making Clay a tidy sum of cash. Now, he can finally relax by spending the evening eating cereal and watching t.v.
While out taking photos the next day, Clay is annoyed when a man walks into his shot and doesn’t leave. It turns out that this man is no stranger, but a friend from Clay’s hometown back east named Whit (Whitmer Thomas). It soon becomes obvious that Clay has been avoiding Whit since the friend moved to Los Angeles some time ago. Although it’s not made clear at first, there are hints that Whit can be needy to the point of being clingy. This becomes obvious when Whit keeps insisting they spend the rest of the day and evening hanging out together.
When Clay reluctantly invites Whit back to Clay’s apartment, Whit eventually confesses that he’s actually dead. In fact, he’s a ghost.
Of course, Clay doesn’t believe him.
But when Clay takes a polaroid of Whit the next morning and sees nothing there once the photo develops, it starts to dawn on him that maybe Whit is telling the truth. This is later confirmed when the two leave the apartment. They run into Clay’s neighbor and it soon becomes obvious that the neighbor can’t see or hear Whit. It turns out that Whit really is a ghost. And for some reason, only Clay can see or hear him.
One of the charms of this low-key indie is the way the rules of Whit’s ghost life are established and maintained throughout the film. For starters, Whit is stuck wearing the same clothes he had on when he died for the rest of eternity. (Note: this is good reminder to always put on clean clothes every morning). Whit is also unable to take off his shoes. Of course, now that he’s dead, Whit can no longer eat or drink anything either. But at least he doesn’t glow in the dark. Even so, Whit also can’t walk through walls, lift objects, or even open doors. In fact, the only way Whit can leave a room or building is if someone leaves a door open for him.
In short, Whit is just there.
Since Clay is the only person who can see Whit, this makes Whit’s neediness and clinging behavior towards Clay even worse than when Whit was alive.
At first, Clay handles the fact that he and Whit are now stuck together like glue pretty well. They bum around town and then make money at a high stakes poker game run by a Hollywood hot shot ( a great performance by Robert Longstreet who you might recognize from Sorry To Bother You). Since Whit can tell Clay what cards every other player at the table is holding during the game, Clay easily wins a fortune.
But once Clay’s wife returns home, things begin to change.
Soon, Clay realizes he can’t have Whit hanging around watching their every move, especially when Clay and his wife are intimate in the bedroom. It’s at this point that both Clay, (and by extension, the viewer), no longer regard Whit as clingy and needy but as a nuisance.
Whit has become that annoying friend who is a pest.
When Clay asks Whit to spend a few days somewhere else, Whit wanders around L.A. and later that night eavesdrops on a couple out on a date. He even follows them inside the girl’s apartment and watches the couple make love. One has to wonder if Whit ever had the chance to experience this in his own life before he died. Once again, as viewers, the way we perceive Whit changes because we begin to feel sorry for him.
In some ways, this sequence made me think of Whit like the angels in Wim Wenders’ Wings of Desire; always walking around and observing the living but never able to actually participate in life themselves.
However, when Whit returns to Clay’s apartment the next day and lurks about outside, Clay has had enough. Things get even worse for Clay once his wife takes out the garbage that evening and Whit sneaks inside their apartment through the open door.
Later, when Clay wakes up in the middle of the night and finds Whit hanging out in living room, Clay is so fed up that he lures Whit outside and finds a way to entrap him inside Clay’s car (remember, Whit can’t open or close doors).
The next morning, Clay wakes up early and makes up a lie to his wife about having just gotten hired to take photos for a movie being filmed outside of town in the mountains. He tells Whitney he’ll need to borrow their car and will be gone for a few days.
Trying to make things right with Whit, who is visibly upset after spending the night in the front seat of a Buick, (“I’m not a dog in a Walmart parking lot!”), Clay says that he’s rented a cabin up in the mountains so they can spend a few days together and bond.
If Whit weren’t so trusting, he might have foreseen that Clay has other plans.
After a few days of partying and enjoying nature, Clay lures Whit up to the cabin’s attic, closes the lid in the ceiling and removes the ladder (not that it matters since Whit can’t open or close the lid by himself).
As Whit screams in horror and begs for Clay to let him out, Clay packs up and drives away. And that’s how the movie ends.
As a viewer, you can’t help feel sad for Whit. And, if you hadn’t yet figured it out, it becomes obvious that inside Clay really isn’t a good person. Yes, Whit was clingy and needy and in many ways a pest, but did he deserve this fate at the end of the film?
On the other hand, if Clay hadn’t found a way to keep Whit away from him, what kind of life would Clay have knowing that Whit is always lurking about? This might have been the only way to end things once and for all.
But what will happen if Whit is ever able to escape his attic prison?
As an indie movie, the film’s simplicity is one of its strengths. Most of the movie features just the two leads, Clay and Whit, who I’ve learned in real life have been friends since childhood. They have great chemistry together and play off each other’s lines well. Both friends collaborated on the script. Clay Tatum directed.
In addition, the movie, which was filmed during the covid pandemic for a modest $30,000.00, has high production values. This is especially true for the film’s cinematography by Joshua Hill, which is excellent. The few actors in the supporting cast all give great performances too. In addition, the songs and score created for the film are also well done and give the movie a jaunty feel.
However, this movie isn’t perfect.
The main problem is film’s running time. At 104 minutes, it’s too long and would play better if it were trimmed down to a brisk 90 minutes. In addition, I think some of the dialogue may have been improvised (one of the aspects of mumblecore) because some of Clay and Whit’s conversations seem to drag on for too long and are somewhat repetitive. Fortunately, these issues are mostly smoothed over by the appeal of the two leads and the engaging way they play off each other so well.
Regardless, The Civil Dead is worth seeing because of its unique take on what it means to be a ghost.
The film’s focus on the characterization of its two main characters and the way their relationship shifts and changes throughout the movie is quite interesting and entertaining too.
Finally, while technically not a horror movie, or even a film that needs to be seen during the Halloween season, viewers who love small indie films will find a lot to enjoy in The Civil Dead whenever they choose to watch this small gem.
(The Civil Dead is currently available on various streaming channels. It’s also available on blu-ray through Utopia Films.)
Terrific article! Can’t wait to see this film.