In a recent interview with Indiewire, the British director and screenwriter Rose Glass said: “Just speaking for myself, anyone who tries to kid themselves that sex and violence aren’t some of cinema’s most important cornerstones is wrong. There is something exciting about living vicariously through these sorts of stories, which speaks to something more primal or shameful in all of us.” 

Sex and violence are the cornerstones of Glass’s Love Lies Bleeding, the much-awaited follow-up to her BAFTA-nominated debut feature, Saint Maud (2019). A gun-toting neo-noir set in the worlds of professional bodybuilding and crime, Love Lies Bleeding is a transgressive queer love story-thriller set in small-town Americana. The always great Kristin Stewart is reserved gym manager Lou, who falls hard for the new girl in town, Jackie (Katy O’Brien), a bodybuilder with her sights on winning the state championships who starts working at Lou’s criminal father’s gun range (a fantastic Ed Harris as the bug-loving—and chomping—Lou Sr., a kingpin with a “skullet” hairdo of the actor’s own design). As Lou and Jackie’s relationship intensifies, they are pulled into the murky and violent goings-on of Lou’s family with some shocking, brutal, and gruesome results.

Glass has always been a visual director, and Love Lies Bleeding uses its late 80s setting to utilise neon colours, mullet haircuts, bad teeth, shades of red, and a pulsing electronic soundtrack complimented by Clint Mansell’s thumping score. Gritty and sleazy, with elements of She-Hulk and a cautionary tale of Roid Rage, Love Lies Bleeding is a darkly comic and propulsive thrill ride.

*A version of this review first appeared on ichoosebirmingham.com May 2 2024.