top of page

Feature Film
Directed by Joe DeBoer & Kyle McConaghy
Written by Joe DeBoer & Kyle McConaghy
Produced by Brett Arndt & Zachary Weil
Cinematography by Kyle McConaghy
Production Design by Payton Jane

World premeire at SXSW 2024

Canadian premeire at TIFF 2024 

“with a set that looks pulled straight from the ’80s. But this isn’t the neon-drenched ’80s that filmmakers often fetishize, but an era filled with neutral tones, drab interiors and carpets that look saturated with cigarette smoke.” 

 

“ ‘The big thing was finding locations that felt right, props that we knew were authentic to the era,’ McConaghy said. ‘It was a mantra we had for all the departments. If we’re choosing between two phones or two sweaters, definitely go for the more atypical one, the stranger option. Collaborating with our production designer and costume designer, we weren’t trying to make a revisionist ’80s, but a version that feels new to us.’ ” 

Variety, William Earl

“It’s obvious the directors did their homework when setting the film in its early 80’s period. The occupation of our protagonist isn’t simply the only thing that’s period centric, the whole film feels like it was a lost film, now just seeing the light of day. Dead Mail appears to be shot on film and the look here feels like the old industrial films of the period.”

 

“... that coupled with a rather keen eye for production design and costuming really make you believe this was an artifact misplaced from that time. Dead Mail is a rather impressive period piece in both tone and execution. It gets pretty much everything right from the anatomy models that were seemingly everywhere, to the tone of the performances and even the abrasiveness of the lighting. Instead of falling prey to nostalgia or using it as a crutch, or a novelty – Dead Mail goes full-on period in a way that raises the bar for everyone attempting to channel the 80s from here on out.”

Cinapse, Dan Tabor

The visual aesthetic of Dead Mail is definitely worthy of praise. Dead Mail is set during the 80s, and looks like it was made in the decade too. There is a grainy texture to the image that immediately positions its viability of having been made forty years ago. The costume and production design also does fantastic work to replicate the bygone era. Their work is more organic than just throwing in key 80s iconography into frame. They instead focus on how ordinary people lived back then, generating more authenticity points for Dead Mail.”

 

The Hollywood News, Kat Hughes

all images subject to copyright

©2023 by Payton Jane Designs LLC

Los Angeles, California

bottom of page