It’s a slow burn: tense and shocking. “Love Lies Bleeding” is my most anticipated movie of 2024 and is directed by Rose Glass who also produced “Saint Maud,” which was one of my favorite horror films of a release-saturated 2019. 

The film follows a gym manager named Lou (played by Kristen Stewart) and a bodybuilder named Jackie (played by Katy O’Brian). Jackie is hitchhiking to Vegas to pursue her dreams of taking part in a competition. Kristen Stewart’s performance is possibly her greatest ever, and it felt as if this role was made for her. The same is true for Katy O’Brian. Their characters feel real: their diversion of a free-spirited, ambitious Jackie and an introverted and stagnant living Lou. 

It subverts expectations with its mafioso-revenge directed plot, walking the tightrope of intimacy and a hair-raisingly lurid thriller. It’s a 1980s neo-noir inspired fever dream. It’s rare these days to let a movie allow you to feel emotions beyond sadness or even joy, but this film had me at the edge of my seat, biting my nails, throughout its entire runtime. Its adrenaline-pumping plot is vibrant. 

Each twist in the 104-minute runtime felt cathartic, and the longing, heat and destruction the characters feel is something that digs entirely into your skin. The visual direction of “Love Lies Bleeding” is characterized by its vivid neon lights and gritty atmosphere.

This film is for those in search of  “Thelma and Louise” (1991) if it was directed by David Cronenberg. It will not disappoint.