Finally a movie for the heart and the blood that pumps through it.
It’s just a fact of cinema that some genres have formulas. It doesn’t necessarily follow that something formulaic is inherently bad, though. The formulae exist for a very good reason – they’re popular and successful. What Heart Eyes does though is something quite remarkable. It takes not one, but two of the tried and tested genre formulae and fuses them alchemically together into an entirely improbable experience. Wielding the slasher tropes and romcom hallmarks like a finely balanced blade, it eviscerates any expectations to deliver something that’s as charming as it is drenched in blood.
At the heart of it all is Ally McCabe (Olivia Holt), a graphic designer stuck in a rut – creatively and romantically, – her latest project, crafting a campaign for a luxury jewellery brand, channelling her own relationship cynicism into commercial kryptonite after her “doomed romance” adverts coincide with the return of an annual murder spree by the “Heart Eyes Killer”. Her precarious professional position forces her into close quarters with Jay Simmons (Mason Gooding), a charismatic freelance copywriter whose flirtation is as sharp as his wordplay. While sparks fly and banter crackles, Ally refuses to be drawn in to romance – until that is she fakes a kiss to get back at her ex. A kiss that happens to be observed by the Heart Eyes Killer who immediately puts Ally and Jay at the top of his Valentine’s Day chopping list.
The Heart Eyes Killer is a slasher villain cut from classic cloth: theatrical, inventive, and disturbingly playful, as evidenced by one of the most satisfying slasher openings of recent years as a clout-chasing couple’s overly curated proposal shoot gets a few unexpected cuts. Their modus operandi – stalking and dispatching loved-up couples in increasingly elaborate ways – feels like something straight out of the Scream playbook, yet the film never loses sight of the frenemies to lovers romantic comedy at its core. The trick here is that Ally and Jay aren’t just running for their lives – they’re falling for each other in the process. The near-misses and desperate escapes become their meet-cutes, their whispered hiding-spot conversations laced with a mix of terror and undeniable chemistry.
Ruben’s direction is key to making it all work. The shifts between romance and horror feel effortless, the film knowing exactly when to let a tender moment breathe and when to rip it away with a well-timed scare. The screenplay – penned by Phillip Murphy, Christopher Landon, and Michael Kennedy – leans into the absurdity just enough, never undercutting the stakes but allowing for moments of biting humour amid the carnage.
Holt and Gooding carry the film with ease, their performances walking the line between genre archetypes and something more grounded. Jordana Brewster and Devon Sawa round out the cast as a pair of mismatched detectives on the killer’s trail, adding another layer of tension (and just the right amount of knowing wink to the audience), even if their presence does somewhat tip into the Columbo approach to casting.
Heart Eyes succeeds because it understands the core appeal of both genres and refuses to let one overpower the other. It’s a slasher that makes you swoon and a rom-com that keeps you on edge. Instead of being a mere genre mashup, it’s a film that genuinely belongs to both worlds – right up to its final, wet and whacky denouement.
