Dead Lover (2024) Review
Dead Lover (2024) Review
A lonely gravedigger, who stinks of corpses, finally meets her dream man – but their romance is cut short when he tragically drowns at sea. Grief-stricken, the gravedigger goes to morbid lengths to resurrect him through madcap scientific experiments, resulting in grave consequences and unlikely love.
Following its World Premiere at Sundance, the film played at SXSW, Night Visions, TIFF, Edinburgh International Film Festival and Soho Horror Festival. Dead Lover is a deliciously dark horror-comedy, for fans of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Death Becomes Her and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.
Directed and co-written by Grace Glowicki, Dead Lover stars Glowicki alongside Ben Petrie, Leah Doz, and Lowen Morrow—each taking on multiple roles. Screenings were presented in “Stink-O-Vision,” complete with scratch-and-sniff cards; for review purposes, mine arrived by post. The card features ten numbered scents, each corresponding to an on-screen prompt that appears in the top-right corner. Of these, Scent Number 2 more than lives up to its label: “Funky.”
It’s increasingly rare for low-budget independent filmmakers to take creative risks, with many opting for the safety of found-footage formats. Gone are the days when limited resources demanded inventive storytelling—making Dead Lover all the more refreshing.
The team fully embraces constraint as a catalyst for creativity, crafting something that feels genuinely original. Even when the film loses a little momentum in its later stages, its ambition and ingenuity allow you to overlook such shortcomings. The result is a pitch-perfect, zany, and absurd reimagining of Frankenstein.
There’s truly nothing else quite like it, which only deepens its appeal. The film remains visually engaging throughout, consistently surprising in its direction despite drawing from a familiar narrative foundation. It never grates; the slapstick lands effectively, and the quartet’s multi-role performances never falter. Shot on 16mm, its minimalist sets evoke the feel of a stage play—though never in a way that feels static or overly theatrical.
Dead Lover has all the makings of a future cult classic and would sit comfortably among the best of the midnight movie tradition.
Dead Lover launched in select UK & Irish screens from Friday, March 20. More shows to be announced.
