Graverobbers (1988) User Reviews

A Complete Mess

[claudio_carvalho · 4/10 · 1 January 2014]

The lonely waitress of a diner Nora Mae Edwards (Elizabeth Mannino) has dreadful nightmares and difficulties to sleep. One night, her new client John Henry Cox (David Gregory), who is an undertaker, proposes to marry her immediately after knowing her and Nora accepts. Henry's driver Morley (Kelvin Keraga) drives Nora and Henry to his town, Newbury, and they get married in Henry's funeral home that belongs to his family by Rev. Collins (Kevin Scullin). Henry introduces his friends to Nora, among them the Sheriff Porter (Lawrence Bockius) and Emmaline Strickland (Judith Mayes). When the young and beautiful Cicely Matthews (Kathleen Margo) dies in a car accident, Nora snoops in the mortuary and sees that he husband and friends a necrophiliacs but she is not sure that it was not a daydream. But when Cicely's brother Evan Matthews (Adam Wahl) meets her, he discloses the dreadful secret of Newbury to Nora.

"Dead Mate" is a low-budget horror movie with a story with great potential but a screenplay that is a complete mess. Nora was a prostitute, but accepting to get married with a stranger is moronic. The society is formed by necrophiliacs, but is there a Dr. Frankenstein to bring life to the dead? Otherwise, who is Morley? Nora finds the truth about the dwellers of Newbury and is driving a car, but she heads to Henry's funeral home instead of leaving town. There are many other inconsistencies along the plot that ruin this movie. My vote is four.

Title (Brazil): "Grave Robbers – Ladrões de Sepultura" ("Grave Robbers")

Girls are dying in Newbury,,,and for every dead body there's an happy coroner

[theNomadz · 6/10 · 12 April 2005]

A seedy low grade little gem kinda like twin peaks crossed with necromantic,,also a film really of its time as its got an aids subplot where a coroner who believes the only safe sex is dead sex.

Without wanting to give too much away the basic plot is a woman who's set to get married to a man moves too his small town,,only to find a secret about his family undertakers.

"they do something with the bodies but it ain't embalming" highly recommended to guys who love this kind of cheesy sleaze,also some gore too for gore fans,,a great must see b-movie (I give 6 - a sure fire cult item)

It is the necrophilia that binds us...

[Coventry · 6/10 · 30 June 2010]

Here's another obscure and long-forgotten 80's horror flick (it never ceases to amaze me that I keep on discovering unknown gems from that decade) that certainly might appeal to fans of the genre with an interest in unorthodox and slightly deviant concepts. It looks like another dull and discouraging day for roadside diner waitress Norma Mae. She just declined the advances of a sleazy condom salesman guy when a tall dark stranger by the name of John Henry walks in and promptly asks her to marry him. Completely bedazzled but flattered, Norma Mae accepts the proposal and accompanies him to his hometown of Newville, 100 miles up the expressway. She quickly discovers that nothing is kosher in the little town where her husband works as a funeral director. The entire population shares a sick fetish for dead persons and the elite town members gather in Henry's funeral home for a series of sick and perverted rituals whenever there's a fresh cadaver. When Norma Mae witnesses a twisted ceremony on the corpse of an unfortunate cheerleader who died in a peculiar car accident, she righteously wonders herself why Henry so desperately wanted a new spouse on such a short notice. "Dead Mate" is a low-budgeted and often clumsily handled B-movie, but it nevertheless benefices from a rather macabre ambiance and the controversy around the necrophilia theme. The town members are very well cast and there are numerous delightfully demented dialogs, like "this is the only true form of safe sex. You can't get aids from dead people". The other reviewers are correct in their comparisons of this movie with the modest early 80's classic "Dead & Buried". The film has the same morbid vibes, albeit minus the suspense and shocking aftertaste. "Dead Mate" is by no means a hidden treasure or a must-see, but certainly worth a peek if you like bizarre stuff.

It's safe sex cause we can't get AIDS from dead people

[movieman_kev · 4/10 · 12 May 2008]

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

check the double bill: "Monstrosity" is worse

[silentgmusic · 23 December 2003]

I saw this on a DVD double-bill with Andy Milligan's "Monstrosity". I see where people say "Graverobbers" (a.k.a "Dead Mate") is the worst movie ever. I dunno, I kinda think "Manos: Hands of Fate" is worse, but this merely a matter of semantics; both are awful bad. But, the other film on this DVD, "Monstrosity" is certainly worse than "Graverobbers". Both films were well-pared. Both are tasteless, cheap exploitation films, and surprisingly, "Graverobbers" has the higher production values of the two. The director of "Graverobbers" had once worked with "Monstrosity" creator Andy Milligan. Imagine, both incredibleminds and their films on one disc!

The thing is, as tasteless as "Graverobbers" is, it is still more entertaining (again, semantics) than "Monstrosity". At least I was (sort of) rooting for the heroine in "Graverobbers", and well, the production values in that film were better. "Monstrosity" cannot escape its bargain-basement production values, its hideous, altering tone, and the most grating lead performance (by Haal Borske) in my long term memory.

But, that's not to say "Graverobbers" is any good. It's low-grade direct to video nonsense that is about as useful as J. Lo's nipple-tweeker. Of course, at least that guy has a skill.

The makers of "Graverobbers" display no skill that I can descern. Granted, some parts were funny (a category "Monstrosity" fails in, unintentional laughs aside), but I think even there I give "Graverobbers" too much credit.

Forget any of the praise. Just avoid that double-feature DVD disc, because the side effects of watching both films on the same day will leave you sticking your tongue in a power outlet because you can't take another minute of the pain...

Unless you enjoy the bottom-of-the-barrel bad movies...

Nothing special

[slayrrr666 · 3/10 · 14 May 2009]

"Graverobbers" isn't all that much of a horror film at all.

**SPOILERS**

Meeting together in a diner, Nora Mae Edwards, (Elizabeth Mannino) decides to marry John Henry Cox, (David Gregory) after only a few minutes together and move into a mortuary together. When she arrives there, he introduces her to his family, Sheriff Potter, (Larry Bockius) Emmaline Strickland, (Judith Mayes) Bill Billings, (Kenneth Giek) and Rev. Collins, (Kevin Scullin) who all live in the town of Newbury where they live. When she starts to suspect that something might be wrong when a series of strange accidents plagues the residents of the town, she realizes that he and his friends are reanimating the dead bodies so that they can all engage in safe-sex practices without catching any sort of weird disease from them. Gradually learning that it's only the tip of what's actually going on in the town, she tries whatever she can to stay away from the psychotics and get out of town alive.

The Good News: There wasn't a great deal of good stuff here. One of the better areas in this one is the film's rather intriguing plot and the mystery that's built up around it. It's going to be quite obvious what the film's about to those going into it, but the fact that the film decides to make it a mystery for the characters makes it a lot of fun to watch things play out, and from the random odd-segment here and there to the first resurrection scene and their interactions once the secret has been somewhat revealed, these all make the mystery a little more worthwhile than normal and are quite fun on their own as well. The necrophilia theme also allows for some rather sleazy sequences to pop up, nothing too shocking or revolting but still there's enough of it to be a little unsettling at best. The last rather good part of the film is the finale, which is just over-the-top and completely awesome. Starting with a great foot chase through town where everyone seems to be in on it to the full-on suspenseful trip through the basement that features the literal skeletons-in-the-closet coming to the light-of-day in a fun little chase all the way to the incredibly energetic and exciting car chase, that has a pursuer on motorcycle having his skin whipped off at the speed of travel all the way down to a skeleton no less, ending with a fantastic twist that works well for the film. It's a lot of fun, and all of these issues are the only good things about this one.

The Bad News: There was a couple of big flaws with this one. One of the most serious is that the film can't decide when to be serious or goofy and silly. The initial premise is handled well, as are several other moments, but the majority of the time the film just switches over jarringly trying to make it seem like a light, entertaining romp as if the subject matter were too gruesome to carry on with and, needing only a few cursory moments in which to remind of what the overall film is about, almost all other times there's a sense of the film utilizing an attitude of just sheer camp that conflicts immensely with the rest of the events portrayed. From the attitudes of the townspeople to the comical situations presented and the overall feel coming from the actions, it's just impossible to take what's going on seriously, and instead of creating a fun atmosphere, it conflicts with the film's more serious moments because of the shift in tone so abruptly, which is greatly shown in the funeral scene as that just drags out forever with the pastor reading essentially the same thing over and over, yet the assembled masses treat the situation with great sadness. That's just a single example of this, and it's rampant through the whole film. Of course, another way to deal with this is to be interesting when it's not focused on them, and yet it fails here as well. This is a criminally dull film for the first part, lasting nearly fifty minutes before it even so much as starts putting some kind of momentum towards the pace, and yet it still feels quite slow and boring during these because of that, and the frequent tone changes don't help matters at all. Those two factors contribute heavily to the film, and are the biggest problems to get over with this one.

The Final Verdict: An undoubtedly cheesy 80s horror film, though a shining example of how there can be a bad cheesy movie. Preferably only for those who enjoy hilariously bad movies or just cheesy 80s horror movies no matter the quality, while those who actually have a taste for quality should skip this.

Rated R: Violence, Language, Nudity and themes of necrophilia

It's not a movie-

[nhlgumby · 3/10 · 4 February 2003]

It's a joke. It has to be a joke. Nothing in this "movie" qualifies it to be a serious attempt at film making. The directing is so inept, half the time characters aren't doing anything until after the camera has rolled for a couple of seconds. The acting is as unemotional in some places as a wall of cinder block. The "special" effects include stage hands throwing viles of chemicals onto the floor, or skin peeling off someone on a motorcycle going 35 mph down the road. The story is lamer than a horse missing two legs. There is nothing to save this movie other than a few desperate attempts at decent camera work, but those are so few and far in between, it's not even worth mentioning.

The movie wasn't a test to watch, but it certainly wasn't what I call enjoyable. Watch at your own risk.

Scott's judgment: "Stop - making this movie. In the name of love, stop."

Ex-Prostitute/ Waitress meets Newberry's Deranged Undertaker and it's Townspeople.

[ComediusVox · 6/10 · 6 August 2006]

All I can say about it is that it was a blast to be part of. Damn thing was the filming of the falling from the bell tower scene was actually shot high up in a land-marked historic church tower in Red Hook NY, over 100 years old or so, on a freezing day very early in the morning, my legs knee deep in pigeon poop, chasing Elizabeth (Nora) around the bell. I had to have my legs held by the Asst. Director so as I looked as if I was really pitching from the tower. I was only 2 feet from actually falling out. (Note the twisting leg of the "body" falling...they recycled that dummy a lot in this movie). Anyway, for what its worth, the movie is what it is. I had fun.

Uhhhhhh

[aolsucks-26137 · 2/10 · 21 May 2021]

Ok so this was really bad. The acting is terrible and the plot is so loosely thrown together. The only good person in the cast was the driver guy who always had a hilarious expression on his face. There was a scene all the way near the end where a corpse on a motorcycle starts peeling away while riding. So many questions, tho: Why where the people in the town all zombies all of a sudden at the end? Why did the Nora run back to the funeral home? And most of all - why was this movie even made?? I don't think we'll ever know. But if you enjoy terrible movies, don't mind wasting an hour+ of your life that you'll never get back, and want to get wasted with some like-minded friends and take your chances making a movie night outta this one, then you may just have the right flick in Graverobbers. Do with this information what you will.

Weak attempt at dark humor ..........

[merklekranz · 2/10 · 30 December 2011]

Necrophilia can be the inspiration for some dark humor, a good example being the film "Mortuary Academy". Occasionally "Dead Mate" tries the black comedy route, but most everything about this movie falls flat. It's the old story, mortician meets waitress, proposes in less than three minutes, and they are married that night. Great! Then things climb the weird scale. A pretty girl is run off the road. The body is delivered to the mortuary by two perverted ambulance drivers. The newly wed "gut pumper" then throws a necrophilia party. After this somewhat promising beginning, the film grinds on the viewer, with the bride wandering around town meeting the weird residents, and everything pretty much is downhill from there, including a totally inappropriate slapstick ending. By the way, I have seen high school plays with far better acting. - MERK

Get this out on DVD

[kreeper · 9/10 · 28 December 2006]

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!

A movie where you feel worse for having watched it.

[FieCrier · 1/10 · 27 May 2002]

One of those movies where you feel worse for having watched it. Inexplicably, college buddies of mine rented this and a similarly disgusting worthless movie, Bloodsucking Freaks, from a Wegmans Food Market video store! What those videos were doing there, I can't imagine. My recommendation: stay away from it. It's bad (and not so bad that it's good), and depraved.

Absolutely the Worst

[ninjawolf77 · 6 May 2002]

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.

Strange, sometimes compelling horror flick

[udar55 · 3/10 · 16 October 2012]

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.

Bad taste low budget horror

[Leofwine_draca · 5/10 · 26 September 2017]

GRAVEROBBERS is a very cheesy low budget horror/thriller about a novice young bride who marries a man who turns out to be a necrophiliac. It soon turns out that pretty much the whole town are also involved in the sinister events. Don't go looking for originality here, as the whole story is copied from bits and pieces of previous horrors, including DEAD & BURIED and an older, sleazier film that I don't recall the title of; I just remember that the plot was very similar.

Although the subject matter of this film is in extreme bad taste, the execution is so cheap and cheesy that it doesn't really have much of an impact. All credit to the actors, who put their all into various intense performances and do their best; I also have to say that despite the endless pitfalls, this is more professional and more engaging than a random Troma movie chosen from the era.

The worst movie ever made, the B movie all others are measured to.

[Anavrin · 10/10 · 5 February 1999]

Deadmate, the worst movie ever made, a must see for any movie buff. Follow the exploits of John Henry Cox as he seduces a hot young waitress named nora, and together they move to the charming town of Newberry, New York. Once there the ever aware Nora discovers things are "not well" with Henry. The trail leads to a very undeveloped storyline full of surprises that make no sense, altogether adding to the effect of the absurdity of the movie. It comes highly recommended as a great party movie to watch with loaded friends.

Camp gold!

[tymwine · 9/10 · 13 August 2023]

I'm surprised that this movie isn't better known. It is one of the campiest movies I've ever seen. All the actors and actresses are hams. Everyone over acts in every scene, chefs kiss. Necrophilia, undead people, amazingly gory practical effects. There is a gaslight version of Blue Beard fairy tale happening. The ending is bonkers. If the synopsis above mixed with the knowledge that the acting is hilariously bad, then stay away. This is a new favorite of mine. Come for the gore. Stay because the whole town is in on the conspiracy to keep you there as a permanent undead sex slave. Seek this one out.

An inept necrophilia comedy

[lor_ · 5 May 2023]

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.