B Movies Blog

Hello, Movie Mavens! Welcome back to the B Movies Blog. Today, we’re popping Love Lies Bleeding into the ol’ VCR. 

Okay, y’all, I have a lot to say about this one. There’s a lot I really, really liked and things I really, really didn’t. 

Let’s start with the three things I know to be true: 

1. I am very much attracted to women. 
2. I would love for Katy O’Brian to bench press me. 
3. I still can’t talk about K.Stew’s Rolling Stones cover without getting flustered. 

Moving on. 

I think K.Stew and Katy O’Brian are both wonderful in this. Full stop. 

I also think that despite Jena Malone having limited screen time, she puts on one hell of a performance. The same goes for Anna Baryshnikov. 

I also have to give it up for the cinematography. The way Lou (Kristen Stewart) and Lou Sr.’s (Ed Harris) faces are lit in red during the flashback scenes as well as by the soda machine in the hospital. Like, c’mon. 

I can also get on board with Jackie’s (Katy O’Brian) steroid usage being a metaphor for love. The same goes for Beth’s (Jena Malone) bruises. Her husband, JJ (Dave Franco), is abusive, but the bruises intensify as a way to show Beth’s unfortunate and toxic love for JJ. 

I even love the sound mixing. The sound distorts to mirror Jackie’s mental deterioration. The soundtrack and self-help tapes act as a bit of narration. You name it. 

If they saw me sitting from across the bar, I would break my gd ankle trying to get over to their table 

We find out Lou is short for Louise, alluding to the fact this movie lives in the same neighborhood as Thelma & Louise. I’d be so bold as to say they live next door to each other. 

No, friends, my grievances lie elsewhere…and mainly in the third act. 

And you know what that means. Yes, there will be spoilers. 

I’ll give you a few minutes to skip to the paragraph that starts with I don’t think. 

Ready? Okay. 

Yeah, I got nothing except gay thoughts 

Throughout the film, Jackie seems to bulk up. We get close ups of her veins protruding and notice her strength increasing. 

Finally, when Lou and Lou Sr. enter their final showdown… 

Jackie turns into a 50-foot woman and holds Lou Sr. down so Lou can escape his grasp. 

Now, I take the ending to be metaphorical in that Jackie finally gives Lou the strength she’s always needed. However, let’s walk it back and take it from a literal perspective. 

If Jackie really does become a giant, Amazonian woman, why isn’t she more…horrific? 

There are allusions throughout the film that scream Brian Yuzna. All of the stretching and prominent veins. The vomit scene. So on and so forth. 

If you’re going to allude to body horror, then give us body horror. 

Make Jackie some sort of monster. Give us some sort of weird or gross transformation. Don’t edge us throughout the movie and then simply make her into a giant version of herself. 

Listen, I know I’m a horror fanatic, but I swear this has nothing to do with it. 

It just feels like there was originally supposed to be a different ending, or they originally planned to go in a different direction. I might be totally wrong, but that’s the read I get. 

The gym scene from She’s the Man but sub Channing Tatum with Katy O’Brian 

I don’t think this is a sophomore slump for Rose Glass by any means, but I do think Love Lies Bleeding does fall short of Saint Maud. 

I also do want to address something that gave me the ick. Before I even say this, please know I’m not generalizing. Okay, here goes… 

I got the ick because there were a lot of men in the theater when I went to see Love Lies Bleeding. I’m obviously not here to say men can’t see this movie, and I have plenty of male friends who would go see this movie with good intentions. 

But, I can’t help but think about how fetishized lesbians/same sex female relationships are… 

And this felt like that. 

It reminded me a lot of how Jennifer’s Body was sensationalized, and how Megan Fox was given an incredibly sexist and degrading press tour. 

AGAIN, I’m not here to generalize in the least, but I do think it’s worth mentioning. 

When you get one of those nasty leg cramps in the middle of the night

Before I get into any more trouble, we’ll go ahead and wrap this one up. 

I’d give Love Lies Bleeding a 7/10. It’s a hot and sweaty take on Thelma & Louise, mixed with some (almost) body horror and a dash of true crime. 

I think it has a lot of potential, but it doesn’t quite hit its stride. 

The acting is incredible, and it checks most of the boxes; it just needs some punch ups. 

Pun intended.