‘Dead Lover’ Hits UK Cinemas in Stink-O-Vision

After leaving a pungent impression on the festival circuit, Dead Lover is set to drift into select UK and Irish cinemas from 20 March courtesy of Lightbulb Film Distribution, complete with scratch ‘n sniff cards for a full Stink-O-Vision experience.

The Canadian horror-comedy, which premiered in the Midnight strand at Sundance last year, has since travelled through SXSW, Night Visions, the Toronto International Film Festival, Edinburgh International Film Festival and Soho Horror Festival. Now it prepares for a theatrical rollout that leans gleefully into its grotesque romanticism.

Written, directed, produced by and starring Grace Glowicki, Dead Lover is a madcap riff on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, refracted through the lens of DIY theatre, absurdist comedy and midnight movie excess. Glowicki plays a lonely gravedigger whose persistent odour of decay has left her isolated from society. When she finally finds affection with a sensitive poet known only as Lover, her happiness is brutally short-lived after he drowns at sea, leaving behind little more than a severed finger.

Unwilling to surrender her hard-won romance, the gravedigger embarks on a series of increasingly unhinged experiments to resurrect her beloved. The result is a surreal collision of slapstick, body horror and doomed devotion that recalls the anarchic spirit of The Rocky Horror Picture Show and the macabre vanity of Death Becomes Her.

Glowicki co-wrote the script with Ben Petrie, who also stars alongside Leah Doz and Lowen Morrow, with the quartet each taking on multiple roles. Shot on 16mm over just 16 days in Toronto for under $350,000, the production unfolded across two black box stages, redressed repeatedly to create its heightened theatrical world. Cinematographer Rhayne Vermette channelled the saturated look of early colour cinema using improvised lighting setups, while editor Lev Lewis shaped the film following a series of test screenings.

The UK and Irish screenings will be presented in Stink-O-Vision, with audiences receiving scratch cards designed to enhance key olfactory moments. It is a tongue-in-cheek flourish that aligns neatly with the film’s fixation on scent, decay and desire.

Having secured North American distribution through Cartuna x Dweck following its festival run, Dead Lover now eyes cult status on this side of the Atlantic. Lightbulb has confirmed that additional screenings may be added in the coming weeks.

Dead Lover opens in select UK and Irish cinemas from Friday 20 March.

Dead Lover trailer