🍿93: Love Lies Bleeding

Three fresh trailers (inc. a zombie film like no other), a brand new feature to SP and 2,500 new subscribers!

May 09, 2024

“I’m somebody now, Harry. Everybody likes me. Soon, millions of people will see me and they’ll all like me.”
~ Requiem for a Dream, 2000

The more the merrier…

Since last week’s issue of SP, where we announced 1,200 people had subscribed, another 1,300 people have subscribed. This means that in just one week, Salty Popcorn has 2,500 new readers! So thank you to everyone who’s recently signed up, and to all you long-term readers for your support over the past three years.

If this is your first time reading SP, it’s worth looking at last week’s issue (SP#92) to see what you can expect in the coming weeks and months. You’ve subscribed at a great time as we’ve got a lot of ideas for more content, events and competitions. Plus, Salty Popcorn will be sent out every week (rather than every two weeks) from now on.

To kick off this new age of SP, we’re introducing a brand new feature: Streaming Picks

In this segment (found below the feature review) you’ll find our top picks of the best films to be released on (or soon to be leaving) major streaming platforms. Hopefully, this will save you from painstakingly browsing Netflix and settling for that sitcom you’ve seen a thousand times (we’ve all been there).

Got a better name for the segment? Let us know in the comments. If we take your suggestion, we’ll give you a lifetime subscription to Salty Popcorn Premium, which you’ll want with all the new content we have planned.

What’s Popping

A first-look clip for Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis has dropped. Read more.
Sydney Sweeney to play trailblazing Boxer Christy Martin in David Michôd’s new Biopic. Read more.
Disney will be releasing fewer films and instead “focus on quality” in its bid to take on Netflix. Read more.
And finally, Hollywood sex scenes have fallen by 40% since the dawn of the millennium. Read more.

Coming Soon

Handling The Undead

UK: 31 May // USA: 31 May

From John Ajvide Lindqvist, writer of Let the Right One In, comes a haunting zombie film like no other, starring Renate Reinsve and Anders Danielsen Lie, both from The Worst Person in the World).

Set in Stockholm, in 2002, a storm shatters the living and awakens the dead. All those who have been dead for two months come back to life… this one gave me shivers.

Fancy Dance

UK: 21 June // USA: 21 June

Since her sister's disappearance, Jax (Lily Gladstone) has cared for her niece Roki (Isabel Deroy-Olson) by scraping by on the Seneca-Cayuga reservation in Oklahoma. Meanwhile, she spends every spare minute finding her missing sister while helping Roki prepare for an upcoming powwow.

Firebrand

UK: 14 June // USA: 14 June

In Tudor England, Katherine Parr (Alicia Vikander) reluctantly agrees to become the sixth wife of the tyrannical King Henry VIII (Jude Law). Considered a threat by Henry’s court, they start to cast doubts about her fidelity and turn the increasingly paranoid king against her.

Fact of the Week

Following last week’s small mention of Past Lives, we learnt that director Celine Song wouldn’t let Greta Lee and Teo Yoo touch during the auditions, chemistry reads or rehearsals. It means that when they hug each other on-screen — after their characters haven’t seen each other in 24 years — it’s the first time the actors ever touch.

This is one of those subtle techniques directors use to get the best reaction and performance from their actors, and it’s one of the many beautiful and human intricacies of filmmaking.

Thanks to Mia for submitting this week’s fact by sending a clip from the Frank Film Club podcast. In it, Maisie Williams explains that Song also wouldn’t let Yoo and John Magaro (who plays Lee’s American husband) meet or see each other until they met on camera.

You can watch the full podcast below (or skip ahead) for more details.

Got a fact you’d like to share? Send it in for a shout-out!

Submit Your Fact

Review: Love Lies Bleeding

Star Rating:

3 (out of 5)

Where to Watch:

USA: Only in Cinemas

UK: Only in Cinemas

Runtime:

1hr 44m

Director:

Rose Glass

Blurb:

Lou (Kristen Stewart) is a reclusive gym manager who falls hard for Jackie (Katy M. O’Brian), an ambitious bodybuilder heading to Las Vegas to pursue her dream. Their love soon leads to violence as they get pulled deep into the web of Lou’s family.

The Review:

From British filmmaker Rose Glass (Saint Maud) comes a revenge thriller with gore galore, but a plot about as deep as a papercut. Despite a strong cast and good performances all around, Love Lies Bleeding doesn’t hit as hard as you might expect.

Within days of meeting each other, protagonists Lou (Kristen Stewart) and Jackie (Katy O’Brian) find themselves truly, madly, deeply in love. While there’s good chemistry between them, their relationship evolves at breakneck speed, with no explanation of what draws them together — other than liking the gym. What could be made to feel like a genuine romance (had the film’s timeline spanned weeks rather than days) comes across as nothing more than puppy love. But frankly, they’re too old and hardened for that.

To add insult to injury, the dynamics between all the characters feel off. From Lou Sr. (Ed Harris) who is evil personified, to Beth (Jena Malone) Lou Jr.’s sister with Stockholm syndrome, there’s something vital missing from almost every one of Lou’s relationships. The one exception is Dave Franco’s JJ, a despicable sleaze whose only prevailing characteristic is that he’s a nasty piece of work. Curiously, he ties everything together but fails to detract from fruitless subplots and other character quirks, which provide more distractions than details.

It all moves too fast without establishing the characters or developing any sustenance. The character’s motives are clear, but they’re shallow. Whether it’s money, love or hate, there’s no real insight into what makes any of them tick, and as the film goes on, it becomes harder to care.

Maybe I’ve come to expect too much from A24, or maybe their standards are slipping or, maybe, their hold on creative control is tightening. Whatever the reason, Love Lies Bleeding is missing a crucial ingredient to what could otherwise be a fantastic film. If you can see beyond its flaws, then this film is a stylish and tense body horror with an electric 80s score — but that and a great cast is all it has to offer.

Scroll down to see what’s in the next issue.

If you liked Love Lies Bleeding…

Bones and All

2022 | UK: Prime Video (Free for Subs) // USA: Prime Video (Free for Subs)

Let us start by telling you not to watch Ethan Coen’s farce Drive-Away Dolls (featured in SP#89). Lauded as a comical Thelma and Louise (as opposed to Rose Glass’s more violent take on) it’s weird and yawn-worthy.

Instead, Luca Guadagnino’s Bones and All has a similar vibe to Love Lies Bleeding. It’s a little slower (and 25 minutes longer) but if I had to watch either film again, it would be Bones and All. You can read the full review here in SP#54, but this gruesome romance has a lot of what Love Lies Bleeding is lacking.

Streaming Picks

In need of a gore-free weekend? How about light-hearted, well-meaning comedy instead? Brian and Charles, starring David Earl is an offbeat, feel-good film. It’s preposterous, but it’s sweet, it works and it’s coming to Netflix tomorrow.

We reviewed this a couple of years ago (for SP#43), so we’ll let you click through for more details. In the meantime, here’s the trailer:

Next Week:

La Chimera

UK: 10 May // USA: 29 March | Watch the Trailer

Salty Popcorn