805: Lez-ssentials Love Lies Bleeding

Welcome back to Lez Hang Out, the podcast that fully supports your decision to get the iconic Kristen Stewart Love Lies Bleeding mullet. 

This week, Leigh (@lshfoster) and Ellie (@elliebrigida) talk about Kristen Stewart’s 2024 sapphic crime-thriller Love Lies Bleeding for this Lez-ssentials episode, a recurring segment on the essential movies and TV shows in the lesbian canon. This movie is a wild ride, and we think it is more enjoyable to go into it with as little information as possible. Be sure to watch the film before listening, as there are many spoilers ahead! However, if you are super squeamish about blood and gore, you may need to sit this one out. The gore is realistic and not at all over the top, but we did find it a bit disturbing and uncomfortable to watch at times.

Love Lies Bleeding introduces us to possibly the (and we say this with the utmost respect) dykiest Kristen Stewart character yet. Lou is a complicated, small-town lesbian working at a gym and sporting the gayest mullet we have ever seen. She has a clingy, obsessive ex-girlfriend named Daisy and a super messy relationship with her family. Refreshingly, Lou’s issues with her family are not because of homophobia. Instead, we learn that her dad is a shady, dangerous man who straight-up kills people, her mom has been “missing” for the past 12 years, and her sister is too brainwashed by her violent, misogynistic husband to be a half-decent sibling. 

When Lou meets Jackie, a bisexual beefcake played by Katie O’Brien, it is like a moth to a flame and their passion quickly ignites into a full-blown toxic, obsessive relationship. They U-Haul after sleeping together one time and then Lou proceeds to get Jackie hooked on steroids to help her bulk up for an important bodybuilding competition. The film does an excellent job showing how the steroids are changing Jackie’s body and personality, shielding none of the horrors of addiction and obsessive love from the viewers. Several realistic sex scenes help to emphasize the problematic relationship dynamics between Lou and Jackie. It's not all violence and sex though, as we were laughing our heads off on multiple occasions from all the campy, queer chaos in a Bodies, Bodies, Bodies type of way.

Even though Lou and Jackie’s relationship is 100% toxic and gets almost everyone in their path killed, we cannot help but be fascinated by these nuanced antiheroes and the movie's exploration of what it means to be a monster.

At the end of the episode, stick around to hear our original song based on Love Lies Bleeding, titled “Destiny”, written by Leigh Holmes Foster and produced by Ellie Brigida. Join us on Patreon at bit.ly/lezpatreon for instant access to mp3 downloads of all our original songs or find us on Bandcamp to purchase songs individually. 

You can support Lez Hang Out while unlocking exclusive perks, including access to our Discord channel, 23 and counting full-length bonus episodes, weekly ad-free episodes, and more by joining us on Patreon. You can also support the podcast by buying our original merch at bit.ly/lezmerch (use code lhospooky for 20% off your purchase through November 1st!).

Give us your answers to our Q & Gay on Twitter @lezhangoutpod and follow along on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook.

You can find your fav tol and smol hosts Ellie & Leigh at @elliebrigida and @lshfoster respectively.

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