The sophomore feature for Grace Glowicki (Booger, Honey Bunch), ‘Dead Lover‘ is finding theaters March 20th via Cartuna x Dweck. A gravedigger who reeks of corpses finally meets her dream man. He drowns. (Dang). She decides reanimation is a reasonable next step. As a huge fan of the cult classic, My Boyfriend’s Back, this seems like something that must be seen. And for some lucky folks, it’ll be something to smell, with Stink-O-Vision at select preview screenings.
Written by Glowicki and Ben Petrie (who stars alongside Leah Doz and Lowen Morrow), the brisk 83-minute horror-comedy takes the Frankenstein tale in genuinely absurd directions. When all that’s recovered from her lover’s drowning is a severed finger still wrapped in his engagement ring, the gravedigger plants it in a flower pot and subjects it to scientific experiments. As you do. Spoiler…the reanimation is …successful, but not exactly as planned. The finger grows to four feet long and develops an independent personality. Eventually she realizes she needs to find a body to serve as the vessel for her lover’s complete resurrection. Where would someone like her get a body? The answer is obvious.
Shot entirely on 16mm film in Toronto, the production draws inspiration from black-box theatre and German expressionist cinema. The sparse visual aesthetic is balanced with practical prosthetics and analog in-camera effects. Music comes from U.S. Girls (Meg Remy) in her first foray into film composing.
If you’re in New York, preview screenings hit Nitehawk Cinema on February 9th.
Prospect Park at 9:15 pm (with Q&A) and Williamsburg at 9:30 pm.
TICKETS
Glowicki’s debut Tito won the Adam Yauch Hornblower Award at SXSW 2019 for being “wholly its own, without regard for norms,” so expectations for Dead Lover are appropriately twisted. The Los Angeles Times notes that Glowicki “is so electric she even zaps herself with lightning,” which feels like both a compliment and a warning label.
Wafting into theaters widely March 20th, including New York’s IFC Center.
