It’s always curious to see what a director does next after their debut, especially if it created a certain amount of buzz.

And Rose Glass’ follow-up to acclaimed horror Saint Maud is most definitely a turn in a different direction, although not necessary one for the better.

Working in a gym in a small town is Lou (Kristen Stewart). It’s by no means glamorous, especially as she’s the one that has to unblock the toilets, but she gets by.

Then one day, an impressive specimen of a woman walks in, and starts to work out. Her striking physique catches Lou’s attention, and they soon get talking. Her name is Jackie (Katy O’Brian), and as her body suggests, she likes to body build. So much so that she wants to take part in an up-coming competition in Las Vegas.

Until then however, she gets a job just outside of town, and ends up crashing at Lou’s place, where they get pretty intimate. Then Lou discovers where she’s working, at a shooting range, which causes a little tension, as her estranged dad Lou Sr. (Ed Harris) owns it.

The pair decide to go on a double date, with Lou’s sister Beth (Jena Malone) and her hubby JJ (Dave Franco), but this only highlights the existing bad blood between Lou and JJ, as he has been known to get violent with her sister.

It’s this dysfunctional family dynamic that soon finds Jackie embroiled in, that leads to a set of events that attracts the attention of the police, and the newly hooked up couple in very deep trouble.

So Glass has made that bold step, with only her one indie British film under her belt, to have her second film larger in scope, including having bone fide acting talent such as Harris and Stewart involved.

Unfortunately for the English director, the result is a somewhat disappointing crime noir, peppered with some interesting ideas, albeit many of which that don’t fully work.

It’s a film that badly wants to be David Lynch-esque, with quirky characters interacting in a small town locale. But Rose just doesn’t have that kind of talent yet, to pull that kind of homage off.

The story is embarrassingly flimsy, with many of its characters under-developed, performing more as disappointing caricatures. Take the role of Jackie, for instance, who is by far the most interesting character by a county mile. She has no back story, so entering it as the stranger in town, who dreams of making it big – literally – in the world of bodybuilding. Hers is a story that is more fascinating than what’s delivered here, but it is mostly ignored just to support a dull family drama. You get the impression the director wasn’t quite sure what to do with her, so included a number of sex scenes in an attempt to keep things interesting, but they’re about as sophisticated as a Peter Griffin (Family Guy) lesbian wet dream.

Glass plays around with filters and colours too, to make it appear far edgier than it really is, and no doubt trying to get that hip stamp of approval from its production company A24 involved.

But the reality is, the meat and bones of the narrative has no intensity about it, making it an ultimately dull experience.

It’s also not helped by there being very little in the way of chemistry between Stewart and O’Brian, whose on-screen relationship never really exceeds tepid at best, lacking any kind of sizzle.

Again, possibly to make it more of an A24 flick, Glass dips her toe into some surreal waters right at the end, but at which point, it really is a case of too little too late.

It just feels like the wrong material for Glass’ follow-up, maybe a case of just going too big too quickly out of the gate, finding the director undeniably out of her depth. Of course if you get the opportunity to make a film with the likes of Stewart and Harris, you’re hardly going to turn it down, but Love Lies Bleeding, with its meagre box office takings of just shy of $9 million worldwide, proves that audiences were more than happy to see this one bleed out.

Of course Glass can only learn from this project, and it will hopefully make her a better director, but only time will tell with whatever she follows this one up with.

As far as Love Lies Bleeding is concerned, there’s just not enough there to give it any kind of love at all.