For years, people have been clamouring for the return of the erotic thriller and the gods of cinema have finally answered our prayers (despite its notorious cum-bath scene, Saltburn just didn’t hit the spot). The trailer for A24’s Love Lies Bleeding is here, and it has everything you could possibly want from a lesbian bodybuilding romance: there are neon lights, fluorescent spandex, a pounding synth soundtrack, sex, murder, sweat, bulging muscles and more! The film also marks a return for Kristen Stewart’s celebrated “gay little mullet”, which has already achieved cult status in its own right.
Set in the late 1980s and centered on a relationship between a gym employee (played by Kristen Stewart) and a bisexual bodybuilder (played by Katy M O’Brien, known for roles in The Mandalorian and Ant-Man), the film looks like a queer, sexier version of Thelma and Louise, which is an enticing proposition. It’s directed by Rose Glass, whose debut feature – the harrowing religious horror film Saint Maud – was released to widespread acclaim in 2019.
According to A24’s official synopsis, “reclusive gym manager Lou falls hard for Jackie, an ambitious bodybuilder headed through town to Vegas in pursuit of her dream. But their love ignites violence, pulling them deep into the web of Lou’s criminal family.” Following a debut at next year’s Sundance, the film is scheduled to be released on March 8. Fire up the mullets and get your spandex at the ready.
Next year is set to be chock-a-block with fun queer films. Also in March, Ethan Coen’s campy sexploitation film Drive Away Dolls will be released. Starring Margaret Qualley and Geraldine Viswanathan, it follows a “skirt-chasing party girl” and her demure friends on a road trip on which they cruise “every lesbian bar on the eastern seaboard” and encounter, among other things, a women’s soccer team, a severed head in a hatbox and an evil senator. Also coming is Kiersey Clemons and Barbie Ferreira’s The Young King, set amid the drag king scene of 90s Las Vegas.
