Perhaps you, like me, finished watching Love Lies Bleeding last weekend and immediately thought: Wow, I can’t wait to see that again. I literally cannot stop thinking or talking about this film. It’s the spiritual successor to Bound in my opinion, and I do not say that lightly!!!!! Yes, I am prone to impulsivity and hyperbole, but this is easily already one of my favorite movies of all time. Until I see it again, I will feel slightly bereft and adrift. But in the meantime, I wanted to put together a list of similarly gritty and gory action/thriller films that feature queer women. To be honest, there aren’t as many as I wish there were! But here are some gems to check out if you like your queer art to be a little rough and tumble.
Bound
I mean, obviously. Though different in style and scope, I really do see an artistic throughline between Lily and Lana Wachowski’s Bound (soon to enter the Criterion Collection!) and Love Lies Bleeding. While Love Lies Bleeding breaks realism from time to time and Bound does not, it’s similarly a sexy and violent neo-noir film. It’s of course impossible to predict a film’s legacy when it’s so new, but I hope to still be writing and talking about Love Lies Bleeding for many years to come, just like how Bound has stood the test of time. Also, much like Jackie and Lou are toxic4toxic, so are Corky and Violet in my professional opinion.
Born in Flames
This 1983 experimental, radical, feminist film from Lizzie Borden is richly complex in its portrayal of sexism, violence, racism, and homophobia. It’s a tremendous work of art that is very politically and culturally relevant all these decades later.
Atomic Blonde
Now, the writing in Atomic Blonde is far from the brilliant quality of the writing in Love Lies Bleeding. This is a very convoluted action film. But if you ignore the plot and just focus on the action and sex, it’s very entertaining! It includes an all-time favorite fight scene moment for me.
Monster
Christina Ricci with Charlize Theron, Monster, 2003
Support women’s wrongs by watching this 2003 film in which Charlize Theron plays Aileen Wuornos and Christina Ricci plays her lover Selby. Murder and violence abound, and Theron won Best Actress for her performance. What does it mean that two Charlize Theron movies are on this list? Surely something!
Black Swan
A gorgeous, gorgeous film about a ballerina on the edge, Black Swan is a psychosexual thriller that injects grit and grime to its very specific world of ballet. It’s grotesque and real about bodies in a way that’s absolutely similar to Love Lies Bleeding.
Knife + Heart
Knife + Heart is a great but also very disturbing queer horror film from 2019, set in the gay porn world of 1979 Paris. It’s razor sharp in its explorations of art-making, sex, and violence.
Titane
“Flesh is just another binary,” Drew Burnett Gregory writes in her excellent review of this excellent film. Titane indeed eradicates boundaries of many kinds and contains several similar themes to Love Lies Bleeding even as it’s more experimental in its execution and exploration of them.
What Keeps You Alive
A classic cabin-in-the-woods setup drives this psychological horror film about a woman and her wife, who is harboring dangerous secrets and plotting something horrific. Betrayal! Murder! This film isn’t as good as Love Lies Bleeding, but it’s got those things going for it at least.
Bad Things
Bad Things offers a tribute to and reimagining of The Shining but with lesbians, and I think that’s beautiful. It deservedly has a top 10 spot in Autostraddle’s Scariest Queer Movie Moments list!
Multiple Maniacs
John Waters’ filthy masterpiece Multiple Maniacs, with its cavalcade of perversions, is full of grit and grime. It’s my personal favorite Waters film!
Ride or Die
Based on a popular manga, Ride or Die is a long ass and straight up bananas (complimentary) lesbian murder movie. Does an abusive man get killed? CHECK!
The Novice
Set in the intense world of competitive collegiate rowing, The Novice is a psychological sports drama that feels relentless in its portrayal of training to win.
Thelma
Thelma is a much quieter, low-simmering thriller than Love Lies Bleeding, but its portrayal of obsessive desire is unnerving and will get under your skin.
Mulholland Drive
I mean, obviously! Mulholland Drive is David Lynch’s gayest and finest. Strange and surreal, it’s also strikingly grounded.
How To Blow Up a Pipeline
This film — my favorite queer Christmas movie — has both sweet sincerity to it and explosive rage. It’s tightly executed and features a great ensemble cast.
Set It Off
The greatest heist movie to ever do it! And not just because it’s gay! It’s also good.
Mommy Is Coming
Cheryl Dunye’s most underrated film in my opinion, Mommy Is Coming is a filthy work of art. Its sweaty sex scenes are permanently seared in my brain! Dunye co-wrote it with lesbian novelist Sarah Schulman. “It’s not sex-positve; it’s sex-investigative,” I wrote in my review.
Perpetrator
Jennifer Reeder’s latest, Perpetrator is an incredible entry into the queer horror canon. It echoes some of the themes and motifs of Reeder’s Knives and Skin but with more grit, less glitter.
The Hunger
Wildly sexy, The Hunger is theeeee quintessential queer vampire erotic horror film!
Good Manners
If we’re throwing vampire movies out there, let’s round it out with a werewolf movie, too. Good Manners is easily my favorite film about queer motherhood. And it’s full of body horror!
Have fun getting gritty, grimy, sweaty, and bloody with these decidedly not feel-good queer movies. I’m off to see Love Lies Bleeding again!!!!!!!!
also Butterfly Kiss with Amanda Plummer and Saskia Reeves
There’s a nod to Mulholland Drive in Love Lies Bleeding. They named the diner Winkie’s.