Grace Glowicki Unearths Her ‘Dead Lover’ [Sundance 2025 Interview]

Josh Korngut |

Jan 27, 2025

Headshot courtesy of Sundance Film Festival

Grace Glowicki has quietly—yet determinedly—established herself as a rising filmmaker whose work demands to be seen. Her sophomore film, Dead Lover, is a boldly crass collage of Gothic classicism, punk-kid spirit, and vintage filmmaking techniques. I sat down with the filmmaker ahead of the Sundance world premiere of her confrontational and very strange new film.

Because the young are often the vanguard of experimentalism, I wonder: if she were stuck in an elevator with, say, a friend’s parents, how would she explain her distinctively progressive movie, if asked? Glowicki was prepared for it. In her own words, Dead Lover tells the story of “a lonely gravedigger who stinks of corpses finally meeting her dream man, only to lose him when he drowns at sea.” The gravedigger’s grief spirals into a descent filled with scientific experiments to resurrect him, leading to “grave consequences and even love.” This grotesque yet romantic premise underscores the unique tone of this Sundance selection—a macabre yet tender story that’s both bare and innovative.

Shot entirely in-studio in her hometown of Toronto, the director/co-writer/star embraced the simple yet striking aesthetic of black-box theater. Drawing inspiration from German Expressionism and the intimacy of small theater productions, Glowicki set out to craft a minimalist world where spotlit characters demand spaces of otherwise total darkness.

Glowicki’s decision to shoot the film on 16mm Kodak film lends Dead Lover a tangible, vintage quality. The sparse set design, counterbalanced with bursts of vivid color and practical prosthetics, emphasizes the handcrafted nature of the film. This distinctive approach was partly born out of necessity. “Besides budgetary restraints, I wanted to get the kind of attention on an actor you only can get with a spotlight, like in a theatre. It’s the aesthetic of a black-box theatre production but also of German expressionist cinema … where characters are typically spotlit, surrounded by total darkness,” Glowicki explains.

Also Read:
‘Dead Lover’ is the Disruptive, Punk Kid Sibling to Recent Gothic Revivals like ‘Nosferatu’ [Sundance 2025 Review]

At its gooey center, Dead Lover is a queer film. From the casual subversion of gender roles to its normalization of trans visibility through subtle yet important choices, the result is an honest subversion of gender and sex. All bodies are subject to change. When asked about these progressive elements, she says, “For me and the people I work with, it’s just second nature.” And you can tell. It’s not a commentary on queerness. It is queerness.

Glowicki’s film explores the classic dualities, like love and death or beauty and grotesqueness. And she remembers one noteworthy collaborative moment when her co-writer Ben Petrie may have conceived one of the film’s most memorable lines while looking for primal, feral ways to express one’s love. “I think it was my co-writer who tried the line ‘I want to eat your poop like a banana.’ It had to go in the film. We talked for a long time about whether we should use the word plantain or banana. But we settled on banana because it sounds funny. The way he says it.” And sound funny it does. It’s also followed quickly by the film’s delicately poetic motif of You are not a metaphor for beauty. You are beauty. This fast oscillation between nasty and pristine highlights a thoughtful application of transgressive duality.

Music also plays a pivotal role in Dead Lover. Glowicki cites the score of The Bride of Frankenstein by Franz Waxman as a key influence, and I’ve been listening to it on repeat while working on this interview. It’s a selection suite curated by Filmscore Fantastic. For fans of vintage music and Gothic atmosphere, I suggest clicking on the image above. Additionally, an original score from Meghan Remy, the force behind U.S. Girls, brought a unique layer to her film. “I really love Meg,” Glowicki says. “She was so supportive of the project, and her music added so much.”

While this is her first feature film to premiere at the festival, Glowicki is no stranger to Sundance, having participated in several other fest-selected titles in various creative roles over the years. Reflecting on the experience, she tells me, “To see this work included and accepted by such an incredible community has taught me that I may have something of value to offer.”

Dead Lover might not scream conventional horror, but that won’t stop someone like Jason Blum from being impressed and offering Glowicki carte blanch access to a menu of profitable horror IPs. When asked what remake or sequel she’d pick, her response couldn’t be more appropriate. “I don’t know if it counts, but I think I’d have to say Frankenhooker,” she tells me. And the idea of Glowicki reimagining that specific cult classic feels perfectly aligned, to say the least. Not to mention, bringing horny bodies back from the dead is already on her resume.