Gooey gory deliciousness, Rose Glass’s Love Lies Bleeding is a concoction of genres and themes into one late-night love odyssey.

In an ugly landscape of rural New Mexico, the workday drags on in the grungy gym for reclusive Lou, counting down until something exciting interrupts her digging vomit out of clogged toilets. Nothing exciting happens in the middle-of-nowhere American town, where testosterone-laced violence surrounds every aspect of Lou. She doesn’t find herself directly impacted but must stay to protect her sister, Beth, who is married to abuser JJ. The violence runs deep into Lou’s family as JJ works at the shooting range for her estranged father, Lou Sr. With long hair and a fetish for bugs, Lou Sr. is grimy hinting at something much darker behind his small business facade.

A muscular drifter enters Lou’s gym immediately sparking waves between the two. Jackie is passing by on her way to Vegas to fulfill her dream of winning a national bodybuilding championship. Jackie’s sculpted arms and confidence catch Lou’s attention plunging them into a whirlwind of love, steroids, and eggs. Jackie moves in and tacks space up in Lou’s life bringing domesticated bliss that might be the solution to both their boredom. The relationship between Lou and Jackie stems from the hopelessness both find in love, finally finding someone who seems like the person to pull them from the perils of their situations. Jackie is the latest addition to Lou’s family web of brutality and seemingly becomes her new addiction.

Glass constructs a plasmic playground of the American Dream drenched in saturation and sweat allowing her characters to hit maximum extremes during their journeys toward desire and love. In this world, anything goes mixing fantasy with realism experimenting within the confines of absurdity that continues to heighten until its final climax. Knowingly playing up all the stereotypes of this small town’s inhabitants allows for these leading ladies to shed the stereotypes projected onto them, the strong female character. From its gut-punching gym introduction and some stellar visual effects on Jackie, the film takes that trope literally to dismantle it by placing them front and center in very male spaces. Glass rejects moral superiority for the physical in how the body houses pleasure and transformation, regurgitating the male aura right back to them in the shape of a woman. It ultimately leads to a fun chain reaction of poorly made decisions and the rush to quickly clean up the mess.

Sensuality is found throughout the car crash-esque thriller that never braces for impact. With the recent outcry about the lack of sex in film, Glass turns up the intensity as every frame of veins, hair, and sweat emulates the pathos of the film. Even the squeamish sounds of crushing bugs get the body squirming and pulsating. Kristen Stewart in an 80s ensemble as the most Kristen Stewart she has ever been with cigarette twirling and stutters is absolutely delectable. Ravenous sex scenes are included to mark the amped-up tension between Jackie and Lou’s desperate need to release, but the entire film oozes erotica in the way these women move their bodies as well as just the overall stylistic choices. It helps a lot that the two leads are openly queer actors, making their love scenes natural and innovative compared to queer love scenes before it. They understand the dynamic between Lou and Jackie as it is beautifully articulated in their sexual choreography. Katy O’Brian as Jackie is a marvel, contorting the body to not show only strength, but modesty. It is the perfect match-up against Stewart’s enabler Lou, who stays reserved but knows how to maneuver.

Very tightly paced scenes push Jackie and Lou into a place of no return bringing the audience along the mix. The all-encompassing vein-popping score and plasmic trance visuals plunge the human mind into the action. Even when the sun is very apparent, a constant nocturnal sense takes up space solidifying this film’s status as a Midnight Madness pick. There is always an allure for films that craft an environment that has high stakes but allow its characters to openly be at risk without sacrificing the fleshy vengeance because they are in the day. Very reminiscent of 2017’s Good Time in the way the anxiety-inducing aura propels you into a sense of calamity as havoc unravels before you. Escaping family trauma with your roided-up lover shouldn’t be this hot and, in her second feature, Rose Glass is a director who understands her vision.

Women doing bad things is a genre that will never die.

Grade: A

Oscar Prospects:
Likely: None
Should be Considered: Best Cinematography, Best Score, Best Visual Effects

Release Date: March 8, 2024
Where to Watch: In Theaters