Love Lies Bleeding — Review

After making waves with her feature debut SAINT MAUD in 2019, Rose Glass further underscores her status as a filmmaker worth watching with LOVE LIES BLEEDING, a dark and intense thriller with a visceral and raw emotional undercurrent. One part sapphic romance and another part roid-rage rush, this grimy and sweaty accidental dive into crime and violence feels like a muscle-bound echo of movies like BLOOD SIMPLE and A SIMPLE PLAN, buoyed by a rather unique alchemy of sex, murder and bodybuilding. Kristen Stewart and Katy O’Brian head up the cast with dazzling performances, each of which marks a career highlight.

Glass opts to take the bad romance trope and ambitiously swerve into the realm of surrealism in the final act, allowing ambiguity to bubble up around the characters. Glass directs with panache and her visuals are striking, but it’s her singular filmmaking voice that forces us to stand up and take notice. LOVE LIES BLEEDING is a bold blend of genres, infused together as the ultimate B-movie by the intoxicating power of blind love—a most lethal narcotic. It's a transcendent piece that rises above typical genre conventions, making for a rich addition to the storied pantheon of queer cinema.