SXSW: ‘Dead Lover’ Is A Sickeningly Lovable Transmission From Another Cinematic World

Dead Lover is not for everyone. But since when has that been a bad thing? Writer/director/star Grace Glowicki brings audiences a singular whacked-out vision made from a low budget and a wide range of cinematic, stage, and television influences. Glowicki’s Dead Lover just had its regional premiere at the 2025 SXSW Film & Television Festival, leaving as many audiences running for the aisles as those who remained seated in filthy mesmerization. Consider myself in that latter camp.

The first thing that’s likely to jump out about Dead Lover is its scrappiness. The low budget cannot be overstated. Made for less than U.S. $350,000, the film only utilizes two black box sets, dressed and redressed in multiple configurations. Only four performers – Grace Glowicki, Glowicki’s partner Ben Petrie, Lowen Morrow, and Leah Doz are in the film, often playing multiple characters.

Yet, Dead Lover successfully punches far above its weight class. By sharply maximizing the tools available to her, prioritizing a certain expressionism, and letting the theatre of the mind fill in the blanks, Glowicki takes us into a whole other world.

Finding love in a hopeless place turns into something bonkers.

A Gravedigger (Glowicki) who reeks of death can’t seem to find a romantic match. That is, until a bereaved funeral-goer (Ben Petrie), mourning the loss of his sister (Leah Doz), finds her stink intoxicating. The two begin a passionate affair that only comes to an end whenever the unnamed Gravedigger’s lover loses his life at sea.

Not letting the corpse of her beloved go, the Gravedigger goes through a series of experiments to revive him, settling on using the only part of him, a severed finger, stapled to his dead sister to bring him back. There’s one complication: the dead woman’s suitor (Lowen Morrow) wants his own beloved back.

The energy of the mad scientists behind Dead Lover is what keeps it engaging. Grace Glowicki throws herself fully into the very physical comedy of the Gravedigger, forging a gross, off-putting protagonist that one can’t help but keep watching.

The effeminate man she falls in love with is played with an insatiable lust by Ben Petrie, and the two of them are positively feral for one another. Once it comes time for Leah Doz to take over the role in earnest, she brings her own feral slapstick to the role, whereas Lowen Morrow plays the body’s suitor with high camp. All four cycle in and out of various memorable bit parts.

Dead Lover fully reeks of death and passion and everything in between.

Dead Lover‘s look and feel are hard to describe. Culled from a variety of influences, including Giallo, exploitation, Mel Brooks’ comedies, classic horror, and even the British comedy troupe Monty Python, the 16mm look courtesy of cinematographer Rhayne Vermette feels culled from a planet of sickos. It’s pure chaos, meant for a late-night watch, perhaps while a little intoxicated.

An off-kilter score from U.S. Girls strengthens that notion. Dead Lover‘s bonkers nature just keeps on coming, with multiple genre shifts, a pervasive mean spirit, and a complete detachment from regular film pacing that feels meant to weed out the unadventurous.

Based loosely on Mary Shelley’s seminal classic Frankenstein, Dead Lover is a mish-mash of disparate parts. To some, it will look like an abomination. To those with an open mind, it’s a movie of a charm unlike anything else out there. Dead Lover is too much, and that’s precisely the point. It’s a bizarre fusion of genres, low-budget goodness, and multi-role-taking performers with a willingness to go off the rails. Let it wash over you rather than try to fight it. You might just feel a sickening pleasure of your own.

Dead Lover had its Texas Premiere at the 2025 SXSW Film & Television Festival. There are currently no plans for theatrical distribution.