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Whit & Clay — The Movies That Inspired The Civil Dead

We chatted with our pals Whitmer Thomas & Clay Tatum about the wide berth of inspiration they drew upon for their offbeat indie ghost comedy The Civil Dead which comes out February 3rd via Utopia. The film, which won the audience award at Slamdance last year, tells the story of two bumbling friends reunited under supernatural circumstances. From skate videos to the VHS tapes they had as kids, Ryûsuke Hamaguchi to The Cable Guy. Says Whit, “The best movies are about…

Kevin Phillips — The Movies That Inspired Super Dark Times

Released in 2017, Super Dark Times is a quietly anxious coming-of-age thriller directed by Kevin Phillips, written by Ben Collins and Luke Piotrowski. Revisiting the movie five years after its release, we spoke with Phillips about the films that inspired the nostalgia horror -- from David Lynch to Neon Genesis Evangelion. “A lot of these films are tragic,” says Phillips “I think what’s really lovely about these movies is amidst the tragedy of it all, all of these films are…

W&M Staff Picks - Fall 🍂

It’s 90 degrees in LA and the Ways & Means team has picked their favorite fall movies for the inaugural edition of our Letterboxd "Staff Picks". We’ll try to do this more often. Enjoy!

Liked reviews

maybe the best party film I’ve ever seen
good soundtrack
“I’m Palace Bryant” said to a fuckboy is iconic and so affirming

Bud

Bud

★★★★½

When you have that many emotions in less than 10 minutes, you know it's good.

There’s an existential conflict in making art and performing bifurcated identities in a way that will uniformly satisfy the expectations of others (and also oneself) and somehow they managed to make an extremely entertaining and carnivalesque film about it. Total blast.

Glad I finally found this! Kevin Phillips made one of my all time favorites with Super Dark Times and his slick, eerie direction is on full display here. Really captures that heart-pounding feeling of being home alone as a kid and hearing a noise.

Small Fry

Small Fry

★★★★★

I was just telling a friend last night how I haven’t had a fry from McDonald’s in 10 years.

David

David

★★★★★

Zach Woods directs like he delivers comedy: dry and witty. Perfect. Watched it twice at TIFF.

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

once you drink milk straight there’s no way you’re convincing me that you’re not a killer