Inspired by writer-director Kyle Hausmann-Stokes’ own experiences in the Army, including combat in Iraq, My Dead Friend Zoe tackles PTSD head-on with humor and empathy. The film – which won the Narrative Spotlight Audience Award at the SXSW Film & TV Festival, where it had its world premiere last year – isn’t perfect, but I found it powerfully moving.
Afghanistan veteran Merit (Martin-Green) might not label what ails her PTSD exactly. While she does attend a support group, it’s only because the court ordered her to after an accident on the job. (In a small part, Morgan Freeman plays the VA group counselor; he, and the group’s other members, are all real-life veterans of the armed forces.) The real problem isn’t one Merit’s about to share with group – namely, that her dead platoonmate Zoe (Morales) now haunts her, hanging around her apartment, cracking jokes, and generally getting in the way of Merit adapting back to civilian life.
Hausmann-Stokes and co-writer AJ Bermudez wisely don’t waste any time on the specifics of Zoe’s spectral presence. Merit sees her, nobody else does, no further explanations tendered. We gather Zoe is both a manifestation of Merit’s survivor’s guilt, and her way of keeping the conversation going with her dear dead friend – and who wouldn’t want that? As best friends go, Zoe seems like a prize package, funny and fearless and devoted. It’s only as Merit’s attention starts to stray that Zoe’s mood and her influence turn more menacing.
Two subplots, involving Merit’s estranged grandfather (Harris) and a potential love interest (Ambudkar), provide a welcome excuse to move the action to a very scenic rural Oregon. Otherwise, they feel sincere but thinly sketched next to the complex, shifting dynamic between Merit and Zoe. Martin-Green carries the film in the unshowy part – she’s basically tasked with playing endless shades of pain and emotional paralysis, which she does beautifully – but the film’s biggest spark of life comes by way of the dead girl. Morales is a stealth stunner, going the distance from comic relief to the film’s emotional crux. The film’s postscript sharing a grim statistic will touch anyone with a heart. In Morales’ rounded performance, we see a human face behind the data point.
This article appears in February 28 • 2025.
