Heart Eyes

Heart-racing and wickedly gruesome, Josh Ruben’s Heart Eyes is a slasher horror that capitalises on the lovestruck day of St Valentine. Starring Olivia Holt, Mason Gooding, Jordana Shaw and Yoson An, the feature is a romantic comedy filled with blood, guts and absolute terror. It follows Ally who is tasked with marketing a new campaign for a jewellery company she works for. Due to a recent break-up and her ever-pessimistic outlook on love, her pitch – which recreates some of the most heartbreaking scenes in romantic tragedies, from Romeo and Juliet to Jack and Rose in Titanic – fails and receives instant backlash. She is deemed by online trolls as insensitive given the return of the Valentine’s Day serial killer, Heart Eyes (HEK for short, as dubbed by the police). Enter Jay Simmons, a famed freelance marketing expert who Ally must work with to salvage her career. But with HEK on the hunt for couples to ravage, Jay and Ally not only have to get along to get their campaign sorted but also to survive the brutal crimes of the infamous serial killer.

The script feasts on tropes and clichés, from meet-cutes and last-minute airport confessions to makeover montages. It’s one of the strengths of Heart Eyes; it never shies away from the cheesy love story aspect of it. On top of exciting jump scares and thrilling chase sequences, the chaotic back and forth between the two characters is what garners the viewers’ investment. There are these quiet moments throughout the film, parts that don’t lose their comedic quality, but still highlight the vulnerabilities and the emotional journeys of both characters. This balancing act of ludicrous horror and earnest storytelling is well-executed and the key to the film’s success. Viewers will find themselves caring for Jay and Ally as individuals, and root for them to survive the Heart Eyes ordeal. Gooding and Holt help in that regard with strong and charismatic performances and a sizzling chemistry to boot.

Production further enhances the motif of the film with its overindulgence of classic love songs and romantic backdrops contrasting viciously with the very audible splatters of blood, the squelching of bodily fluids and the crunching of bones. Ruben plays a lot with the senses in his direction of the film with plenty of scenes in the dark and making use of the silence to increase tension and anxiety. The twist at the end, while not entirely unpredictable, is very clever. There’s a trail of visual clues and pieces of dialogue that lead the viewers to who Heart Eyes is. Still, there remains a satisfying element of surprise within the third act that people will undoubtedly find fascinating.

Heart Eyes is exhilarating and romantic. It’s explicit in its gore, featuring a lot of creative ways to mutilate the body. Still, despite being rated 18+, the film never explores the sexual nature of the two leads’ relationship. Instead, it thrives on the simple and cute moments of mixed-up coffee orders, deep conversations in a car park, and bonding over near-death experiences. Twisted in all the right places, Ruben’s second horror feature marks why he’s one to watch in the future of the genre.

Mae Trumata

Heart Eyes is released nationwide on 14^th February 2025.

Watch the trailer for Heart Eyes here: