-Justin Nordell
The erotic thriller subgenre, a mainstay of the eighties and nineties, has been on life support for years. Apart from some foreign language gems and a lot of straight-to-streaming mediocrity, there’s been so few films taking advantage of the salacious danger that ruled the box office and award show nominations for nearly two decades. Has the genre been played out and there’s just no new ideas to be had? Leave it to director Rose Glass, whose debut feature Saint Maud (streaming on Prime) changed the game of the religious horror subgenre a few years ago, to breathe new life into the erotic thriller… by taking the genre back to the ’80s with Love Lies Bleeding.
It’s 1989 in Texas and thanks to the hit film Die Hard, everyone in the already gun-crazy state thinks they need to know how to shoot, so they can get their own “yippee ki yay” on. This is great news for a local gun range where business is booming, so nepo employee JJ (a mullet wielding Dave Franco, 21 Jump Street) asks his father in law and owner Lou (Ed Harris, Pollock) if they can hire the new girl in town Jackie (a mesmerizing Katy O’Brien, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania). Little does Lou know, but JJ cheated on his daughter Beth (an against type but always magnetic Jena Malone, Hunger Games: Catching Fire) with Jackie last night, but he’s too preoccupied with his bug collection to notice or care. And it doesn’t really matter because Jackie was just using JJ to get a job anyway.
Settling into town, Jackie takes to the local gym to lift and train. It’s her goal to make it to Vegas for a bodybuilding competition in a few months and she can’t afford to slack even if she can’t afford protein, supplements… or even a place to live yet. Jackie catches the eye of gym employee Lou (yes, also Lou – Kristen Stewart, Spencer), a small town lesbian with a chip on her shoulder who wants an actual gay gal to call hers instead of the straight girls she keeps picking up. Jackie and Lou’s romance is swift and sensual as the two quickly shack up together. Lou helps Jackie train for her competition, both with a free gym membership and with some performance enhancing injections that she has a hook up for at the gym.
Things seem to be going smoothly for our lesbian lovers, even as Lou reveals that Jackie’s boss Lou Sr. is actually her dad and they haven’t spoken in years – something Lou reiterates to the FBI who have been poking their noses around the gym as of late. When a double date with JJ and a black-eyed Beth reveals a little too much about the troubles at both of their homes, things begin to spiral out of control as Jackie finds out exactly what kind of a bad man Lou Sr. is and poor Lou is left holding the bag as bodies begin to start piling up.
Love Lies Bleeding is the best lesbian erotic thriller since Bound, and is one of the most refreshing additions to the genre in general in well over a decade. The cast is game, the shots are exquisite, and the script simply put: effing rules. There are body horror elements and some surreal imagery that frankly are just an added bonus to the incredible character drama that unfolds onscreen. This is a film that takes the meme ‘Be Gay. Do Crime’ to the next level and delivers some fantastic fun along the way. I honestly can’t wait to watch it again and can’t wait for you to watch it for a first time.
Grade: A
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