By Lora Kallenberg and Haley Williams
In the last year there has been a substantial increase in the number of queer films released on the big screen, much to our delight. Films like “Saltburn,” “Bottoms,” and “Red White and Royal Blue” are among our favorites, but “Love Lies Bleeding” (2024) had us itching to get to the theater from the moment its release date dropped.
Kristen Stewart stars alongside Katy O’Brian in this raunchy 1980s thriller about gym manager Lou and bodybuilder Jackie. This was pretty much all the detail we needed to be sat at the Manor Theater last Saturday night, prepared to have our minds blown. The plot follows the story of how each girl becomes entwined in the other’s life, Lou’s being steeped in toxic familial trauma and Jackie’s being (quite literally) filled with steroids, prepping for a bodybuilding competition in Las Vegas.
There was so much that we loved about this film, from the all-too-real depictions of toxic lesbian situationships to the chilling subplot about Lou and her father’s mysterious criminal past. There wasn’t much that didn’t keep us on the edge of our seats. What we especially liked was the aspect of surrealism and visual metaphors that helped to emphasize the tension and uneasy tone of the film. Without giving away too much — so this review remains generally spoiler-free — in true A24 fashion, the film had us questioning not only our own sanity, but the sanity of our beloved sapphics on screen. The gore and body horror had us squirming, but not enough to deter us. However, let that be a warning to anyone interested in watching the film who’s not comfortable with that kind of thing. “Love Lies Bleeding” was a legitimately steamy, humid, sticky movie slathered with the blood of many of its characters.
While we could go on and on about how we laughed, cried (almost), and drooled over this film, we also want to point out how “Love Lies Bleeding” stands apart from a lot of popular queer media. It wasn’t a coming out story. It’s something that shouldn’t be so notable, but it’s an unfortunate truth that most queer media follows the struggle of coming out as its main storyline. But as Kristen Stewart has been emphasizing in the film’s press tour, “gays do a whole lot of stuff other than coming out.” The story was not hinged on some divine reason as to why these characters got together. Lou and Jackie get to just be queer while a whole bunch of other crazy crap is happening, and we couldn’t be happier about it.
Our verdict: A solid 
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