Release Date – 14th February 2025, Cert – 18, Run-time – 1 hour 37 minutes, Director – Josh Ruben
When mistaken for a couple, colleagues Ally (Olivia Holt) and Jay (Mason Gooding) spend Valentine’s Day night being chased by seasonal serial-killer the Heart Eyes Killer.
Heart Eyes wears its Scream influences prominently throughout its run-time. How intentional this is is a different matter. At times this seasonal slasher seems to borrow more than be inspired from the self-aware franchise, particularly the recent requel instalments as a mystery as to who the Heart Eyes Killer is somewhat plays out in the background of the main killing spree at hand.
The targets of the serial-killer, who targets couples in a different US city each year, are colleagues Ally (Olivia Holt) and Jay (Mason Gooding). When Jay is brought in to work on Ally’s ad campaign for a jewellery brand, to lean it away from a focus on famous couples who died together, they meet for dinner on Valentine’s Day. However, when running into her ex and his new girlfriend in the street Ally kisses Jay to prove that she too has moved on. Something seen by the killer who, mistaking them for a couple, begins to stalk the pair who only met for the first time that morning.
Through this central relationship the horrors contrasts with rom-com stylings which falter due to a lack of chemistry between the two leads. While Holt gives a solid performance as the character we follow for most of the film, Gooding often feels on a different plain leading to a clash between the two rather than the feeling of a growing bond. What doesn’t help in this situation is that the film is also only sporadically funny. There are some good chuckles here and there, but there are also a similar amount which fail to take off.
Even the horror sequences where the masked killer, with glowing, heart-shaped eyes, chases after Ally and Jay in various settings, don’t always have a kick to them. In early instances there feels to be a lack of tension, leading to a bland overall feeling to the horror-tinted scenes. As things move on there’s a slightly more entertaining side to events, especially as they become somewhat more relaxed and begin to bring the humour and horror closer together without them clashing. Yet, perhaps the biggest effect is that of the kills themselves. Gnarly and crimson from the beginning they begin to feel like less of a string of exploitation-style kills and detail with little to link them to actually having more of an effect on the film as a whole.
There are undoubtedly a number of key bumps and clashes throughout Heart Eyes which stopped me from fully gelling and engaging with it. However, there are enough likable moments, and spills, here and there throughout the luckily compact and well-contained 96-minute run-time, to keep it moving towards the end. While its groove to some extent may be largely based in the recent Scream films, albeit providing some safety and easy movement for some of the events, there’s enough within the semi-tongue-in-cheek Valentine’s Day angle and the successful comedic beats to see the film through.
Due to a lack of chemistry between the two leads and patchy laughs the rom-com elements of Heart Eyes falter, leading to that weight just about being held up by some successful chuckles, likable horror sequences involving the masked killer and the double-sided effect of the heavy Scream influences.
Just A Little Bit Random 