Love Lies Bleeding from second time director Rose Glass first played at the Sundance Film Festival this year and was one hot ticket that I could not score as the movie was so popular. It was just released this past week and it is as hot and violent as it is reputed to be. As the title suggests, there is a lot of love based on the steamy sex scenes, many lies are told and there is a whole lot of bleeding. “Love” is a classic B movie sexual thriller where you just know the characters are doomed and bad decisions will be made from the moment you see them. I thought of 1990’s Revenge starring Kevin Costner as I watched it. Kristen Stewart (Twilight Saga, Clouds of Sils Maria, Personal Shopper and Spencer) is in her queerest role yet as Lou who passes her days managing a gym in a small town in the middle of nowhere, New Mexico in 1989. The film begins with Lou cleaning a clogged toilet, telling you this is a dead end existence. One day, Jackie, a young pumped up body builder (who dreams of competing in the women’s World Bodybuilding Championship in Las Vegas) enters Lou’s life and judging by the hot sex scenes that follow, the two hit it off immediately. Jackie is played by Katy O’Brian whose bulging muscles, ripped abs, and raised veins practically pop out of the screen at us. She has managed to land a job at the local gun range that is owned by scumbag number one, Lou’s father (Ed Harris who looks like a decrepit hippie from Tales from the Crypt) and who has become rich by running illegal guns to Mexico. Over the years anyone who dares to stand against him has a way of mysteriously disappearing. Of course, it helps that the local cops take orders from him. Also, the FBI has been sniffing around asking questions of anyone including Lou. We learn that the only reason that Lou has stayed in this unnamed godforsaken town is for her sister, Beth (Jena Malone) who has a family and is married to scumbag number two, JJ (Dave Franco in a mullet) who likes to take out his frustrations on Beth’s face. One more character in the mix is Daisy (Anna Baryshnikov), a young woman who frequents the gym and finds Lou very attractive and forces her attention on Lou. With this mix of characters, criminal behavior, and bad judgment it is only a matter of time before things spiral out of control and the bodies begin to pile up. The feel of the movie is enhanced by the filming of most of it at night, the intense musical score and satanic looking images of Lou, Sr. in red. Add some hallucinatory images that give Jackie a fantasy-like appearance and you have a thrillingly hot and sexual B movie. I am hoping that Love Lies Bleeding has a good run and that Rose Glass has some more plans for such movies in her future. It will also be interesting to see what is next in Kristen Stewart’s career.