Graverobbers

This is a true candidate for the absolute worst movie ever made - worse even than Manos The Hands of Fate. Everything about this movie is terrible. Absolutely everything. From the dialog including lines like "Stop! In the name of love, Stop!", to the original song "I don't sleep with strangers", sung as if performed by a muppet, to the end credits which roll so painfully slow that one could use them for eye charts (also allowing time for further musical injustices to be performed), there is not a single frame of cinematic value here.

I recommend viewing by true horror and movie buffs, simply as a showcase for how bad bad can get. This truly sets a new standard against which all bad movies may be judged.

My review was written in January 1990 after watching the movie on Prism video cassette.

A horror film about necrophilia, "Dead Mate" tries too hard in its quest for bad taste. It's for the lowest end of the home video spectrum.

Director Straw Weisman's script lets on early its goal of black humor, but it simply isn't funny. Plot line is likewise weak, as dine waitress Elizabeth Mannino improbably accepts a proposal from weird-looking customer David Gregory and is immediately off to marry the weirdo and live with him in the small town of Newbury.

He's a mortician and she's the latest in a string of young wives he's been killing and having sex with, joined by the sickos of the town. A subplot has him using electricity to reanimate the corpses, but this supernatural element is confusingly presented by Weisman.

Pic turns sleazy in an early scene where a voluptuous beauty (Kathleen Margo, who deserves better roles) dies in a car accident and is tghen gang-raped by the amublance attendants. As if this weren't enough, when the townsfolk fondle Margo's corpse atg Gregory's mortuary, one announces "it's safe sex now 'cause we can't get AIDS from dead people". Perhaps the filmmakers are looking to stir up trouble to generate free publicity with such unfunny barbs.

Acting is weak, particularly by lead Mannino who hasn't a clue how to react to noxious plot twists (including an utterly irrelevant revelation late in the film that she's an ex-prostitute). Final plot gimmicks involving incest and "It's only a dream" are pitifully bad.

Main point of interest for genre fans is the extreme gore content provided by special effects man Arnold Gargiulo II.

Hey, Straw, if you read this-get this out on DVD. I love this movie! It is funny and twisted and Necrocomedies are sorely in short supply in this sad world. I have been a big fan since it first appeared in video stores almost 20 years ago. I was casually glancing through the New Releases-not expecting much-when my unbelieving eyes saw this movie. I could not believe it-finally some brave auteur made a heart warming romantic comedy starring a necrophiliac. I salute you. I own a VHS copy of this, but I want a DVD to add to my collection. Have you tried?

You all deserve to treat yourself to the joy that is "Dead Mate". You will thank me!

Nora Mae Edwards (Elizabeth Mannino) is a waitress at a tiny dine who gets swept off her feet by wealthy John Henry Cox (David Gregory). Well, not really. She accepts his marriage proposal after knowing him for all of three minutes ("I've waited for something like this my whole life"). He takes her to his home of New Bury, New York and they get married in the Cox family funeral home (ah, romance!). Of course, things aren't as they seem in this small town and soon Nora Mae finds out the locals are all horny necrophiliacs because, well, they just are. This low budget horror film comes from writer-director Straw Weisman and producer Lew Mishkin (son of William). It is really a mixed bag as the production is pretty horrendous at points (the music changes sound like someone moving the needle to separate tracks on a record and the voice overs are horrendous) and the script is a total nightmare (they couldn't think up a better story than a random guy picking up a waitress; why not have them start as college sweethearts and he is finally taking her home to meet the family?). Yet there is something oddly compelling about the film. Maybe it is the small town or the gore effects. Or maybe its just that I'm not that discerning of a viewer? Only recommended if you have the desire to see a guy riding a motorcycle with his skin peeling off at top speeds.

First off the Summary is a quote taken from the movie itself so no one get offended at me... OK now then,

Nora, a small town waitress, first fends off a traveling condom salesman before agreeing to marry a complete and utter stranger by the name of Henry. Henry also happens to be a funeral director who likes his woman tired in the sack... DEAD tired. She must escape from all this kookiness. This is a bizarre film, filled with bad acting and insane dialog. It had to be trying to be a horror-comedy, but it was neither horrific or comedic. Still somehow I still found it strangely watchable. Kinda had the feel of "Dead & Buried", but not nearly as good as that film. Points deducted for the movie imploding in on itself in it's ending twenty minutes or so.

Eye Candy: Kathleen Margo gets topless

My Grade: D