‘Love Lies Bleeding’ Screens at Sundance to Visceral Reactions: “Blood, Gore, Puking Throughout”

Rose Glass and A24’s “Love Lies Bleeding” had its world premiere last night at the Sundance Film Festival.

The film, co-written by Glass and Weronika Tofilska, was shot in 2022 and had been tipped, by some, for a Cannes 2023 sidebar appearance. That never materialized. The rumor, for months now, was that it was rejected (along with “I Saw the TV Glow”).

Needless to say, the reviews out of Sundance for this one confirm the initial reactions from last spring’s test screenings — forget about subtlety, this is a film that revels in going totally off the rails bonkers. Here’s the original reaction:

Audience was having visceral reactions to the gore, blood and puking throughout. Has a strange ending that will make this a love it or hate it type movie. “Pain & Gain” for indie lesbians. Ed Harris is great and Katy O’Brian as well.

Here’s Variety …

Audience members at the Eccles Theater cheered for several triumphant character moments, laughed at the dark humor and squirmed in their seats during the many ultra-gory scenes.

The film currently has a 78% on Rotten Tomatoes and 72 on Metacritic. I wouldn’t be surprised if those scores go down once the film gets screened outside of Sundance. From day one, this was going to be a very divisive, even, polarizing, film.

Set in the ‘80s, “Love Lies Bleeding” tackles an aspiring bisexual bodybuilder who moves to a small rural Nevada town from Oklahoma and falls madly in love with gym co-worker Lou (Kristen Stewart). In a twist of fate, Lou is also her new boss’ daughter and she ends up introducing her to the world of steroids and a criminal family enterprise.

The film stars Kristen Stewart, Katy O’Brian, Jenna Malone, Ed Harris and Dave Franco. It’s set to be theatrically released on March 8.

Glass’ 2019 debut “Saint Maud” premiered at TIFF, where it gathered very good reviews and put Glass on the map as a filmmaker to watch. A24 produced that one, but it didn’t necessarily make as big of a splash in the US as it did in Glass’ UK home turf.