Cute teenage lesbians get their raging hormones animated into monster form by edgy artists the Quay Brothers in this stylish but low-wattage indie from writer/director Bradley Rust Gray (“The Exploding Girl”). Riley Keough ditches her long blond locks to channel her grandpa Elvis Presley as Jack, a bedroom-eyed, skateboarding tomboy, while Juno Temple’s fashion-forward Brit Diane, staying with her aunt (Cara Seymour) in Manhattan, wobbles around in a nosebleeding daze and a pinafore.
The tentative romance between the two, who meet in a downtown shop and devour one another with their eyes, is intercut with gooey inner-working shots of muscles pulsing and a hair-like substance growing, as well as intermittent glimpses of a nebulous monster. Does Diane know what’s happening? Does Jack? Lost in their own connection, they seem oblivious to all else. Unfortunately, their story is so vague it’s hard for us to figure it out either.
Tonally, the film swings between whispery romance and ominous horror as it explores the dark side of love and lust, including an amusingly gory meditation on the notion that the person you think is your beloved might just rip your heart out.