Dead Lover Review: Grace Glowicki’s Frankenstein Riff is Beguiling In Its Rebellion

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With two new versions of Frankenstein released in just five months, Grace Glowicki’s film stands out. Dead Lover, which premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival and screened at SXSW and TIFF, offers a uniquely compelling take on the classic Mary Shelley story. It’s a film that is both horrifying and strangely beautiful, deeply romantic, and unsettling – solidifying Glowicki’s place as a major talent in Canadian cinema.

Calling Dead Lover unusual would be an understatement—it’s truly original. Visually, it’s reminiscent of Kenneth Anger films like Eaux d’Artifice and Rabbit’s Moon, with a vibrant, textured style, but it’s intentionally rough around the edges, like the work of Guy Maddin or the quirky humor of Sarah Squirm. The film blends these influences into something completely unique. Director Glowicki draws on her theater background and uses artifice to explore themes of creation and reanimation, bringing a refreshing and unsettling energy to the indie horror landscape. In a world of increasingly similar movies, her distinct voice is a welcome addition.

Her performance as the Gravedigger in the film reflects the same fresh, unconventional energy. It deliberately challenges typical expectations. She plays the role with bold, unrestrained energy – it’s big, raw, and even a little reckless. The performances in Dead Lover, complete with outlandish wigs and questionable accents, are consistently striking and unusual. It’s like crashing a formal gathering in disheveled clothes and with a carefree attitude – the film feels vibrantly alive.

The film isn’t about the gravedigger’s husband – and she certainly wasn’t born that way. This gravedigger is a woman deeply affected by her work with death and decay, and it shows. She’s always covered in dirt and is largely avoided by others. All she wants is someone to love her, but her efforts to find a partner are always rejected. It’s simply difficult for people to be around her, let alone get close enough for a relationship.

One day, while digging a grave, she unexpectedly sees a man (Ben Petrie, who also helped write the story and acted with her in last year’s Honey Bunch). He’s a poet, and he’s giving a speech about his sister (Leah Doz), sadly explaining how she taught him that love is the most important thing in life, but now he feels unable to pursue it without her. Shortly after, the Gravedigger saves him from a (rather silly) large stuffed animal pretending to be a wild beast, and they quickly hit it off. He’s captivated by her unique scent, while others might find it off-putting.

They quickly become deeply connected, sharing a passionate and playful intimacy and making plans for their future. But one day, the Gravedigger wakes to find his lover gone. A letter explains that he’s traveled far away to get tested for infertility. After almost seven months, he returns, but tragically dies during the voyage. All that’s left is his hand, still wearing the ring on his finger.

After a moment of grief, the Gravedigger remembers her promise of eternal love and starts a bizarre series of experiments, similar to those in the movie Frankenhooker. She uses a glowing lizard in an attempt to bring her beloved back to life. While she partially succeeds, the result is a single, enormous, and disturbing finger that can only communicate by pointing and squeaking. Desperate for a more complete form, she begins searching for a body to attach it to, which sets off a chain of terrible events for her and everyone in town.

Despite some unsettling moments, Dead Lover is fundamentally a love story, and Glowicki deserves praise for making us care about this tragic couple. Beyond that, the film explores fascinating themes of gender and sexuality, both in its style and in how it portrays love, challenging traditional boundaries of who loves whom, regardless of appearance.

This film doesn’t take itself too seriously, but it’s not simply sloppy. Director Glowicki and her team intentionally challenge and break traditional filmmaking rules – much like Mary Shelley did with Frankenstein. Both the scientific and Hollywood communities tend to protect established ideas, but Glowicki – acting as ‘The Gravedigger’ – actively rejects them, and that’s a good thing. She’s interested in dismantling those old rules, not respecting them.

Dead Lover releases theatrically on March 20th, 2026.

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2026-03-19 21:23