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.