Haunted by her dead Army friend Zoe, a female vet faces the past and her estranged Vietnam vet grandfather at their family’s lake house in My Dead Friend Zoe. The feature debut of Kyle Hausmann-Stokes, now on Blu-ray, was produced by Legion M and Radiant Media Studios. It also counts Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce among its executive producers.

My Dead Friend Zoe held its world premiere during SXSW in 2024, where it won an Audience Award for the Narrative Spotlight section. To say that Legion M knows how to pick them is not an understatement.

Merit Charles (Sonequa Martin-Green), a U.S. Army Afghanistan veteran, is at odds with her family while grappling with the lingering trauma of losing her best friend and fellow soldier, Zoe Ramirez (Natalie Morales). Her VA counselor Dr. Cole (Morgan Freeman) urges her to open up, while her mother Kris (Gloria Reuben) offers tough love and Alex (Utkarsh Ambudkar) brings an unexpected romantic spark. Still, Merit retreats into her insular bond with the memory of Zoe, using humor and deflection to keep her pain at bay.

When her estranged grandfather, Vietnam veteran Dale Charles (Ed Harris), begins to decline at the family’s lake house, Merit is forced to confront both her grief and her past. My Dead Friend Zoe balances dark comedy and emotional honesty in a story about a complicated friendship, family, and the long road toward healing and processing grief.

Director and co-writer Kyle Hausmann-Stokes, a former U.S. Army infantry paratrooper who served in the 509th Airborne Infantry, was inspired to write My Dead Friend Zoe after two platoonmates—Luis Ramirez-Jimenez and Boris Ventura—committed suicide. It goes without saying that writing can be the best form of catharsis, especially when working through grief. The film notes that more than 127,000 American veterans have died by suicide in the two decades since 9/11—18 times more than American troops killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Seven in ten veteran suicides are by gun.

The rate of veteran suicide began to decrease in 2019, thanks to purpose-driven veterans’ organizations, better mental health access, and smarter policies. Organizations providing help to American veterans include the Bob Woodruff Foundation, The Mission Continues, and Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund.

Hausmann-Stokes’s own story is compelling in and of itself. A battalion commander had seen his films and recommended that he go to the best film school rather than continue being deployed during a stop-loss. But as things turned out, the Army recalled him back into service, forcing the filmmaker to put his USC education on hold and deploy to Iraq. He left the military in 2008. In writing the script with A.J. Bermudez, Hausmann-Stokes incorporates so much of himself into the character of Merit. Obviously, Merit is woman, but this doesn’t change the ultimate goal of My Dead Friend Zoe, which is to tell veteran stories and confront the importance of opening up about mental health.

I have to admire how My Dead Friend Zoe includes actual veterans as the group therapy participants. Overall, close to 90% of the cast are real veterans. I’m curious whether the dark comedy-drama had room for improv, allowing them to share their own stories rather than rely solely on scripted dialogue. If it was completely improvised and then edited together in post, that’s all the better for what the film is trying to achieve. The fact that Morgan Freeman served in the Air Force makes it all the more meaningful.

Kris and Alex serve as the film’s bridge to civilian life, showing how non-veterans fit into one’s world after military service. As for Dr. Cole, he’s a Vietnam War veteran and a composite of two real Vietnam veterans. He does for Merit what a VA counselor once did for Hausmann-Stokes in real life.

My Dead Friend Zoe is more than a buddy film—it tells a compelling story and serves as a reminder that veterans do not need to face their battles alone. Much like Roofman, the film underscores that America must do better for its veterans, especially in helping them reacclimate to society after service. Hausmann-Stokes might no longer be deployed, but he’s still serving his country—this time, through storytelling about the American veteran experience. Thank you for your service!

Bonus Features

• Deleted Scenes
• A Veteran’s Story: The Journey Of MDFZ

DIRECTOR: Kyle Hausmann-Stokes
SCREENWRITERS: Kyle Hausmann-Stokes & A.J. Bermudez
CAST: Sonequa Martin-Green, Natalie Morales, Gloria Reuben, Utkarsh Ambudkar, with Ed Harris and Morgan Freeman

Briarcliff Entertainment released My Dead Friend Zoe in theaters on February 28, 2025. Grade: 4.5/5

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