The Civil Dead

The description does not do this movie justice. It makes it bland. The trailer is what made me watch this movie immediately. A guy down on rent meets a friend who turns out to be a ghost. That's THE hook of the movie. That's what got me interested. I actually stopped watching the trailer once the ghost part dropped because I was hooked.

And the rest of the movie explores that. How do they get along? Do they fight? Does the ghost help him? How'd he become a ghost? How does having a ghost buddy complicate your life?

The acting is great. It's funny. It's even sad. Love the camera work, too. The script feels polished. I wound up enjoying this far more than I expected.

I even like the ending (which seems to be very controversial). But I'll say the ending is a bold choice and absolutely memorable. In fact, I even understand the ending and respect the character's decisions decision, given what the movie set up earlier.

Saw this at Florida Film Fest. If you ever get the feeling that many modern movies can be formulaic and uninspired - watch this. Your faith will be renewed.

Also the two main characters (who also wrote it) are funny as hell.

A photographer finds the unwanted attentions of a ghost a bit much to handle.

Engaging buddy movie that has a similar feel to Sideways in its binding together of an odd couple. The principal actors are themselves the creators, so they carry this off perfectly in low-key style, and yet generate a mounting sense of jeopardy.

The cleverest element is in maintaining the ghostliness in the 'real' world, from the moment of the appartition's sly arrival and on through his lack of impact on the world - the stunt in the middle of the highway was particularly impressive.

And yet the ghost does have an impact during his moments of rage, so the ending felt premature: even as my brain was racing ahead to the final showdown, it was all over without uncovering how far each character would go to get his way. And the paedophile reference wasn't followed up - or maybe I missed it.

The performances are excellent, pace is good. LA looks its usual bleached-out self. And the music is pleasant.

Overall: Engaging slackers story slacked off in the end.

As I sat down to watch the 2023 comedy "The Civil Dead", I had never actually heard about it. I happened to stumble upon the movie by random luck, and thus, I opted to sit down and watch it.

However, writers Clay Tatum and Whitmer Thomas didn't exactly churn out some of the greatest material here. Sure, "The Civil Dead" was watchable, but it was a rather monotonous viewing experience. And for a movie, then the script was rather devoid of funny contents. And that made it even more of a drag to sit through, truth be told.

I wasn't familiar with the cast ensemble in the movie, but usually a movie that stars the same people whom writers and directs the movie isn't a particularly good sign.

Sure, "The Civil Dead" was a fair attempt at making a movie, however, writers Clay Tatum and Whitmer Thomas just failed to entertain me with what they concocted here.

This is not a movie that I will ever return to watch a second time, nor is it a movie that I will recommend for comedy fans to rush out and get to watch.

My rating of "The Civil Dead" lands on a three out of ten stars.

This movie was such a breath of fresh air, not just to the comedy genre but to the entire industry as well. What I liked the most about this film was that the director was generous in showing the entire experience of the characters. The production's 70's vibe and feel complemented really well with the theme. One cannot help but admire the friendship that the two characters. It seemed at the beginning that these two would be inseparable towards the end, until an unexpected twist took place. And the attitude of one of the characters served as clue to the occurrence of the said twist. It was entertaining and funny. A must-see for everyone.