LOVE LIES BLEEDING (2024) review

written by: Rose Glass and Weronika Tofilska
produced by: Andrea Cornwell and Oliver Kassman
directed by: Rose Glass
rated: R (for violence and grisly images, sexual content, nudity, language throughout and drug use)
runtime: 104 min.
U.S. release date: March 8, 2024

With her impressive 2020 directorial debut, the psychological horror feature, “Saint Maud,” filmmaker Rose Glass made an indelible mark on viewers. The film garnered a decent amount of praise despite a COVID-19 pandemic release date, which hindered its mass appeal. But, word-of-mouth grew as the film hit various streaming services, where it received a wider audience. “Love Lies Bleeding” is the director’s sophomore effort, which finds her taking a wild shot at the pulp crime neo-noir genre. Glass co-wrote the screenplay with Weronika Tofilska, and the two of them are going bold and brutal in a furious and sensual American tale of obsession, love, and violence.

When Jackie (Katy O’Brian) walks into Crater Gym, located in a small town in New Mexico circa 1989, she receives considerable attention. No one has seen a woman who looks like this mysterious, muscular stranger who exudes confidence and determination. Unsurprisingly, she catches the attention of Lou (Kristen Stewart), who spends all her time there as a gym manager. Up until Jackie walked in, it would seem that no one had caught Lou’s attention there or anywhere else in a town where everyone knew everyone else’s mess. Jackie is a change from Lou’s mundane daily tasks, such as tending to grody gym toilets and ignoring customer requests.

As Jackie and Lou immediately and intimately bond, we learn that Jackie has hitchhiked her way from Oklahoma and is working her way to a bodybuilding competition coming up in Las Vegas. During this time, Lou helps out Jackie’s dream by offering free steroid use. We also learn that Lou has only stayed around to look out for her sister, Beth (Jena Malone), because of her marriage to an abusive weasel named J.J. (Dave Franco rocking a mullet), with whom she has young children. If not for that situation, she would get out of town and from under her estranged father, Lou Sr. (Ed Harris), who owns the gym and a local shooting range where Jackie had just gotten a job. It just so happens that some FBI agents are in town and have taken a particular interest in Lou and her father’s shady business dealings.

Things suddenly get out of hand and out of control when Lou learns how Jackie got her job at the shooting range, and when Beth is hospitalized after a brutal beating from her husband, Lou becomes enraged at both of these things. At the same time, Jackie sets out on her unsolicited path of revenge that will put both of them in a tight spot with Lou Sr. and law enforcement.

“Love Lies Bleeding” has some surprisingly imaginative aspects that accentuate its extremities, delivering a visual representation of physical power. While the script doesn’t delve into the emotional and psychological trauma of the characters, it makes up for it with style and a fantastic star-making turn for Katy O’Brian, who amps up every scene she’s in. As expected, Stewart is great here, and her scenes with O’Brian are electric – not just steamy ones, although they convey a palpable hotness. As Lou, Stewart exudes an appropriate paranoia and distrust of people – likely of her past involvement in her father’s business, which we learn of sporadically in vague and brief red-tinted flashbacks – until she meets the bisexual Jackie and her ripped physique. It may be the first time Lou feels seen, and she’s immensely turned on.

As mentioned, this is a star-making turn for O’Brian, who is tremendous here, demanding our attention for every scene she’s in. She’s turned in some noticeable supporting roles in “The Mandalorian” and “Ant-Man: Quatumania,” but you wouldn’t recognize her from those roles in “Love Lies Bleeding.” An unexpected warmth and vulnerability to O’Brian’s performance grounds her character as Jackie’s arch becomes more intense. By “more intense”, I’m referring to scenes where cinematographer Ben Fordesman’s camera studies Jackie’s neck, shoulders, and arms, when we can see and hear her veins popping and muscles stretching and bulging. It’s a challenge to take our eyes off of O’Brian, not just because of her impressive physique but because of the gradual volatility she brings to the role. I swear, there are moments when I thought, “Now this is She-Hulk!” She is a wholly unpredictable aspect of “Love Lies Bleeding” and, in turn, the most memorable.

Glass and cinematographer Ben Fordesman (who also lensed “Saint Maud”) leans heavily on cinema’s sound and visual potential here. From the start, the camera gazes into a nasty clogged toilet that Lou has to contend with at the gym up to the film’s third act when a 300-foot character looms over everyone. Fordesman consistently produces captivating shots that utilize specific colors (like scarlet red) and often frame shots in either an artful (whether up close or a still scene like someone smoking at a kitchen table) or disturbing manner (when someone is splattered with blood, it’s usually not their own). Fordesman’s camera observes as if something is about to happen and when it does, it usually explodes, the camera can’t look away.

Glass gradually increases tense visuals as the story’s restless and anxious tone unravels. This is often partnered with shocking images of body horror and sudden sloppy violence, all set to Clint Mansell’s unnerving and intoxicating score.

As screenwriters, Glass and Tofilska have a knack for injecting a reasonable degree of authenticity into these characters. Yet, the stellar cast does a killer job of fully realizing what’s on the page. Harris is spot-on as the unnerving Lou Sr. with his wrinkly face, long, greasy hair, and weird affinity for insects. While we never see Lou Sr. commit heinous acts, Harris is so convincing in his casual intensity that it’s laughably uncomfortable.

There are moments in “Love Lies Bleeding” that are laugh-out-loud funny despite (or because of) the absurd nature of it all. Some of those funny moments are provided by Daisy (Anna Baryshnikov), a local who seems to show up and inopportune times whenever Lou is around. Daisy is the kind of character you bump into and immediately internally think of ways to excuse yourself or at least quickly end the conversation. Stewart and Baryshnikov have a great scene where their two characters are seated at a diner booth. Lou (short for Louise) and Daisy have information they withhold from each other, and the two actresses deftly lean into the awkward tension.

Glass’s surreal and exaggerated imagery becomes more ambitious and fascinating as the story takes some bold turns. The whole thing feels like it could exist in the same twisted environment as Tom Ford’s “Nocturnal Animals” (which also starred Malone) or an amalgam of the Coen Brothers’ twisted work and the kind of blunt work David Cronenberg is known for.

What “Love Lies Bleeding” lacks in in-depth characterization, it makes up in its bold approach to this bloody and brawny tale. O’Brian shows considerable range in a role that offers more than just sex appeal and poseable flexes. The sooner you align with how crazy “Love Lies Bleeding” is, the sooner you can get on board and take it in. These damaged, complicated, and despicable characters are hard to refuse. Glass puts them in a taut albeit ludicrous story that gets up close and rarely lets up.

RATING: ***1/2