Ah, Valentine’s Day. Candies lining the shelves, little love notes and gifts passed between partners, grand gestures of affection, yadda yadda.
I’ll be frank: with the coming holiday, I felt like an odd one out – I’m the token single of my friend group. With a day when they already made plans with partners quickly approaching, I wasn’t too excited.
Luckily, a film I was interested in came into theaters just in time for me to make a trip for a showing, mainly because it was the first big project for actress Olivia Holt, who your inner child might remember from a stint on Disney Channel, or even that short-lived Cloak and Dagger series on Freeform. I might not be the biggest fan of slasher films, but Josh Rubin’s Heart Eyes was honestly a fun watch.
The movie revolves around Ally (Holt), a down-on-her-luck advertiser for jewelry. After the rejection of her pitch on a line themed after doomed lovers (Romeo and Juliet, Bonnie and Clyde, etc.) and her ennui from her recent breakup, her ex having moved on, she’s not doing too hot.
As a result, her company brings in Jay (Mason Gooding), a charming marketing guru who falls head over heels for our leading lady almost immediately.
Despite the set-up for a potential relationship blossoming between these two unlikely individuals, the situation takes an unexpected turn for the worse when the eponymous Heart Eyes Killer goes out on the prowl.
The philophobic freak begins to slaughter any and all couples in their path as Jay and Ally are forced to fight for their lives while also making sure the line they’ve drawn in the sand about their platonic relationship isn’t crossed. Priorities, much?
Jokes aside, hearing about this movie months ago had me hyped, and seeing it in theaters made my day.
The writing plays a lot more into those cheesy rom-com tropes, which work perfectly when the narrative wants to shift into a slasher film’s traditional bloodbath. Even when you take out the aspects of the cliches, Holt and Gooding’s chemistry works well as a duo of desperate survivalists, and the movie has an almost cheeky feeling to the way they act out the will-they won’t-they of it all, leaving plenty of room to swoon and scream.
Besides those two, the several other couples laid out for the slasher to pick off are all a delight – my personal favorites were detectives Hobbs and Shaw (get it?), the latter of which was played by Jordana Brewster of Fast & Furious fame.
As for the titular villain, the killer’s design is unique but sometimes falls a bit short.
The intimidating leather boots and dingy yellow mask juxtaposed with the glowing red heart eyes make them look like a cross between Jason Voorhees and a Care Bear. That’s not to say his screen presence is lackluster, though. This film doesn’t hold back on carnage, and resourcefulness becomes the greatest weapon of both the killer and his prey.
Heart Eyes fully embraces the best (and bloodiest) parts of both slasher flicks and rom-coms. It’s a self-aware horror film that doesn’t take itself too seriously, and that’s exactly what makes it so enjoyable. Our leads keep the emotional core intact, while the over-the-top kills satisfy any slasher fan’s craving for chaos.
Whether you’re a hopeless romantic, a horror junkie, or just an observer like me, this film makes for a thrilling, entertaining watch — no date required.
