‘Dead Lover’ Gets UK Digital and Blu-ray Release Dates

Dead Lover, the offbeat horror-comedy that turned heads on the international festival circuit and introduced cinema audiences to the curious concept of “Stink-O-Vision”, is set to reach a wider audience this summer when it arrives on digital platforms across the UK and Ireland from 22 June.

Released by Lightbulb Film Distribution, the Canadian feature will be available through major services including Sky Store, Amazon, Apple TV, YouTube, BFI Player and Rakuten. A Blu-ray edition is scheduled to follow on 7 September.

Directed, co-written and starring Grace Glowicki, Dead Lover blends romance, horror and absurdist comedy in a story inspired by Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. The film follows a lonely gravedigger whose long-awaited romance ends in tragedy when the man she loves drowns at sea. Refusing to accept the loss, she embarks on a series of increasingly desperate scientific experiments to bring him back, with predictably disastrous consequences.

Glowicki stars alongside co-writer Ben Petrie, with Leah Doz and Lowen Morrow completing the principal cast. Notably, the performers each take on multiple roles throughout the film.

The release follows a successful run on the festival circuit. Dead Lover made its debut in the Midnight section of the 2025 Sundance Film Festival before screening at major events including the International Film Festival Rotterdam, Gothenburg Film Festival, South by Southwest and the Toronto International Film Festival’s Midnight Madness programme.

The film’s theatrical release also generated attention through its “Stink-O-Vision” screenings, an unusual promotional gimmick designed to complement the story’s corpse-scented protagonist. That campaign helped distinguish the film from a crowded independent genre marketplace and contributed to its reputation as one of the more unconventional horror-comedies of recent years.

Critical response has been largely positive. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes currently lists the film with an 87% critics’ score, while publications including Movie Waffler, Reel Reviews and Exquisite Terror praised its originality, humour and willingness to embrace the grotesque.

For Glowicki, Dead Lover represents her second feature as director following 2019’s Tito. Produced on a modest budget and shot on 16mm film in Toronto, the project drew inspiration from sources ranging from classic horror literature and exploitation cinema to the comedy traditions of Monty Python and Saturday Night Live.

Dead Lover now makes the transition to home viewing when it arrives on digital platforms from 22 June, ahead of its Blu-ray release on 7 September. Don’t miss it!

Dead Lover trailer