Heart Eyes
Rating: 3.5/5
By: Nathaniel Simpson
When you think of slasher films, you most likely would think of the Halloween holiday, watching spooky movies where a masked killer goes on a killing spree against a bunch of cheerleaders. While there are slasher movies taking place during the summer, Christmas, and other times of the year, you would really expect for a masked killer to target couples on the most romantic day of the year, Valentine's Day. That's what makes "Heart Eyes" such an enjoyable breath of fresh air for the horror subgenre, combining rom-com elements with the beauty of the slasher elements fans have come to know and love.
This film follows Ally (Olivia Holt), an ad executive for a jewelry company who has a very cynical view on love. She thinks the holiday and what it's about is quite dumb, and can't wait for the day to be over. However, when she meets and is forced to work with a freelance agent who is helping them get back on the right track named Jay (Mason Gooding), she thinks this day can't get any worse. What she doesn't expect is for the Heart Eyes Killer (who has the moniker HEK for short) has come to Seattle and is butchering couples left and right. Her and Jay are now on the run from the killer, who is seemingly stalking them even though they are not a couple (and makes it well known throughout the whole film).
What I didn't expect from this film is how fun and accessible it is for many audiences. I was expecting a slasher who may take itself too seriously or is a meta comedy for slasher fans, and I was thinking it wasn't going to be very good going into it. Directed by Josh Ruben and written by Phillip Murphy, Christopher Landon, and Michael Kennedy, this movie wanted couples to go and see this for Valentine's Day, and for both parties to enjoy what they saw. For the first half of this movie, it seems like a genuine rom-com who finds itself in a horror movie. HEK is running around and killing all these couples, but we don't really focus on him til about an hour in. Even then, the movie keeps a very nice balance between horror and rom-com that works so well. This movie is not only a meta comedy on how the horror franchise is anymore, but it is honestly such a fun time at the movies.
Holt and Gooding have fantastic chemistry together, and the two are quite fun in a film like this. If you had a similar childhood as I did, you would remember Holt from the Disney Channel shows that started her career, and Gooding has been making a name for himself and escaping the shadow of his father's career. They are a lot of fun here, and I can see them carrying many more films in the future. However, at the same time, I feel like many of the minor characters in this film, played by the likes of Yoson An, Devon Sawa, and Jordan Brewster, to name a few, are not that exciting and don't really hold their own here. I especially want to mention Brewster as her performance and character just doesn't do it for me here, and I find her character very annoying and boring. The movie does a great job at fleshing out its two main characters (perhaps a little too much) and leaves everyone else on the back burner.
One major aspect I really enjoyed in this movie is the Heart Eyes Killer himself, and I think he is a really fun and engaging slasher villain. His design is badass, as are his weapons, and he just has a good arsenal of ways to kill the unsuspecting couples. In fact, there are some kills here that are very unique and fun for slasher fans. However, and I'll touch on this a little more after, we don't get much of him at all. For him being the main draw to this film, he is surprisingly scarce throughout the movie and it leaves the viewer wanting a lot more, and not in a good way.
The movie sort of feels like this throughout the story. There are scenes that don't last nearly long enough, and there are some scenes that seem to drag on forever. It sort of feels like the filmmakers try too hard to balance the romantic-comedy elements with the horror elements that they find themselves struggling to get from point A to point B. It's honestly really sort of disappointing as this movie has such a good concept, and does try its hardest to execute it to the best of their abilities, but the story pacing and storyline simply drag it down every now and then.
I did have a lot of fun with this film, and it was a very big surprise considering what I was expecting when going into this movie. There are some big flaws here throughout the movie that are very hard to overlook, but as a whole, I think this is a great date night movie that couples will enjoy seeing on a date night during the most romantic season of the year.
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