By Jack Ransom - February 19, 2025
A stabbing blend of romcom cheese and schlocky slasher brutality. For the past several years, the "Heart Eyes Killer" has wreaked havoc on Valentine's Day by stalking and murdering romantic couples. This Valentine's Day, no couple is safe.
Well this seemingly came out of nowhere! A holiday themed horror throwback to the late-90’s/early-00’s (think Scream, I Know What You Did Last Summer & Urban Legend etc.) and another to add to specifically the Valentine’s box of chocolate selection (alongside both My Bloody Valentine’s and the often overlooked Valentine from 2001). Heart Eyes may not rewrite the rule book but it does deliver a bloody fun time with its tongue firmly in its cheek.
The pre-title card dispatching of a corny, schmaltzy and snooty couple’s proposal via crossbows and head crushes sets the tone gloriously before we pick up with neurotic and freshly single Ally (Olivia Holt) who finds herself both in a romantic and career slump before she finds herself intertwined with the charming Jay (Mason Gooding) - despite their sweet bravado and flirtatious chemistry they aren’t a couple… which unfortunately the titular killer does not believe.
Tonally it leans on the meta side of fun: with the over-the-top newsreel montage at the start, winking nods and heavy references to other flicks (from His Girl Friday to a myriad of romcoms being barraged in a quip in the final third). The central relationship takes over from the splatter throughout a substantial amount of runtime and whilst it is undeniably cliched it is sweet and the mystery itself is unbelievably inspired from those earlier aforementioned flicks, but it gets the job done.
Stylistically it’s slick, savage, glossy and grimy for thrills and switches between vibrant, warm and almost sitcom/advert-esque for the light-hearted elements. There are a myriad of great shots and unique stylistic implementations (a brief glimpse into Heart Eyes vision being notable) and several moments of applause worthy guts and brutality scattered throughout (particularly brilliant finale moments and a couple finishing sooner than expected…).
Olivia Holt and Mason Gooding have good chemistry and are easy to root for both from a survival standpoint and the ‘will they won’t they’ of their relationship. 90/00’s genre faces Jordana Brewster and Devon Sawa are an entertaining Detective duo called (and I’m not joking), Hobbs & Shaw. Gigi Zumbado and Michaela Watkins bring the laughs as Ally’s best friend and boss respectively.
Heart Eyes is a thoroughly entertaining throwback slasher that will please gorehounds and lovebirds alike. It’s well shot, tightly paced, funny and thrilling with superb practical effect work. That being said it does tread familiar ground both with its characters and plot beats
Out now in cinemas
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