8 Sapphic outlaw movies get you in the mood for 'Love Lies Bleeding'
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New Line Cinema; A24; Summit Entertainment
The upcoming lesbian thriller Love Lies Bleeding premieres in just two days, and we're thrilled because we've been DYING to see Kristen Stewart and Katy O'Brian play lesbians who descend into violence as they get wrapped up in the criminal underworld!
The film, set in 1989, follows the story of Lou (Stewart), a reclusive gym manager who falls for a bodybuilder named Jackie (O’Brian). Soon, their love “leads to violence as they get pulled deep into the web of Lou’s criminal family,” the official synopsis reads.
We love movies like this that feature complicated female characters who don’t act the way society has deemed appropriate. Normal crime thrillers can be boring, but throw in women behaving badly — especially if those women are lovers — and we are IN! Plus, butch Kristen Stewart is one of our new favorite things.
Basically, we love the kind of movie where the TLDR is: Be Gay. Do crime.
So, while you wait for the premiere of Love Lies Bleeding, here are eight lesbian crime movies to scratch that same Sapphic criminal itch.
Love Lies Bleeding hits theaters on March 8, 2024.
Love Lies Bleeding
Kristen Stewart and Katy O'Brian are playing lesbian lovers in a bloody crime movie. 'Nuff said.
Bound
This mob-revenge movie has all of the crime, vengeance, and hot sex scenes between Jennifer Tilly and Gina Gershon that we could ever ask for in a lesbian thriller. There is a reason Bound sparked a queer awakening in so many ’90s teens!
Where to watch: Paramount+
I Care a Lot
We love movies about women behaving badly, so a film where Rosamund Pike plays a lesbian grifter who is constantly outsmarting men is right up our alley.
Where to watch: Netflix
Set it Off
In this heist movie starring Vivica A. Fox and Jada Pinkett Smith, Queen Latifah play a butch lesbian bank robber. Need we say more? We didn’t think so.
Where to watch: rent on VOD
Monster
In Monster, Charlize Theron plays real-life serial killer Aileen Wuornos, and Christina Ricci plays her love interest, Selby Wall. It's gritty and bloody and gives you a fuller picture of why Wuornos became violent. If that's not enough to grab your attention, Theron won an Oscar for Best Actress for the role, and it was directed by Patty Jenkins, who went on to helm the two Wonder Woman movies.
Where to watch: Freevee
Eileen
Eileen stars Thomasin McKenzie and Anne Hathaway in a dark and twisted film about what happens when the boundaries of friendship become dangerously blurred.
Where to watch: Rent of VOD
Carol
While this Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara joint isn’t really a thrilling crime story, it is about lesbians in the 1950s — essentially outlaws stuck in the wrong decade — who could be considered to be on the run from Carol’s husband Harge.
Where to watch: Netflix
Thelma and Louise
While not textually queer, we’re still counting it because both Thelma and Louise leave behind unfulfilling relationships with men and commit to each other. Then there’s that farewell kiss that Susan Sarandon improvised! Plus, Sarandon said later that she thought her character would be a lesbian if the film had ended differently.
Butterfly Kiss
Butterfly Kiss is a twisted ‘90s thriller about an unhinged drifter, played by the talented Amanda Plummer, who travels around northern Britain killing men and women while searching for her former lover. Think Thelma and Louise meets the depravity of Natural Born Killers or Monster.
Where to watch: Rent on VOD
