Whilst the slasher genre has certainly maintained a steady presence within the horror genre as of late, Heart Eyes very much leans into the sporadically gory, gloriously nonsensical mentality that so many Scream imitators indulged in across the late 90s and early 2000s in the wake of Wes Craven’s original slasher rejuvenating the field.
The opening set-piece brutally offing day player characters. Leads that sprout fellow titles in a bout of genre self awareness. And an overdone killer monologue finale explaining just why he/she/they are behind the film’s murderous spree. Director Josh Ruben (Werewolves Within) and screenwriters Christopher Landon (Happy Death Day), Michael Kennedy (Freaky) and Phillip Murphy (Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard) check all the boxes in a manner that should warm the hearts of slasher enthusiasts across Heart Eyes‘ 97 minutes.
Of course, as much as Heart Eyes plays into a certain formula, it’s also intelligent enough to know that audiences have certain expectations. So, with that, Ruben and co. have laced the film with a romantic comedy sheen, meaning in between the carnage the film’s leads, Olivia Holt and Mason Gooding, are navigating a secondary set of genre tropes, resulting in an outing that is romantic, humorous and horrific at the same time. That being said, Heart Eyes doesn’t always balance its competing temperaments – after the opening kill piece, it very much pivots to being a romantic comedy, before picking the brutality back up – but it’s difficult to really care too much when it’s all so much fun.
After the aforementioned opening sequence, which quite bloodily offs a bridezilla influencer type mere minutes after saying “I do” to her equally insufferable fiancé, we are quickly caught up to speed with the fact that over the last few years across numerous American cities, a killer dubbed Heart Eyes – or HEK for short – has been doing their darndest to make “the most romantic day of the year” anything but by targeting couples and disposing them in particularly macabre manners. This year, it’s Seattle’s turn to feel the sharp end of HEK’s arrow, and, despite the fact that they are very much not a couple, Holt’s recently single Ally and Gooding’s charming Jay are in his sight.
Just why they are mistaken for a couple stems from their original meet cute – they bump literal heads at a coffee shop – before Ally, who fears her job is on the line after pitching a disastrous concept for the jewelry company she works for (Michaela Watkins providing amusing support as her displeased boss), realises that Jay has been brought in to salvage said pitch, and begrudgingly accepts his dinner invitation to workshop. Not having any of his easy charm (as much as she tries to fight it), she ropes Jay in to playing her boyfriend for an awkward run-in with her coupled-up ex, planting a very public kiss on him, which, surprise surprise, is witnessed by a lurking Heart Eyes who assumes they are together and begins to stalk accordingly.
From hereon, Heart Eyes very much plays by the slasher rules – although the aforementioned movie titles being sprouted are all romantic comedies – as Ally and Jay fend for their lives, resulting in a series of chase-and-stalk sequences that often result in the killing of innocent bystanders (there’s one couple fornicating at a drive-in theatre whose demise serves as a neat visual nod to the 2003 Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake) or the authorities that bounce between believing the non-couple and suspecting that they’re behind it; Devon Sawa and Jordana Brewster having a lot of theatrical fun as the amusingly named Detectives Hobbs and Shaw.
Whether you look at Heart Eyes as a romantic comedy with slasher elements, or a slasher flick with a romantic comedy edge, Landon, Kennedy and Murphy deserve points for blending the genres together – even if it doesn’t always flow seamlessly. The opening kill and its second half adhere to the same mentality, with the 30-or-so minutes in between playing out like a straight rom com (complete with new dress shopping montage), and this could catch a few viewers off guard, but if you surrender to it all, you’ll have a particularly enjoyable Valentine’s romp that favours the genres most couples seem to enjoy across the romantic season.
Yes, the reveal – both the “who” and the “why” – may not hit as hard as intended, but it’s evident that the creatives behind Heart Eyes are punching their own cheeks with their tongues during it all, which ultimately makes the campness of it all somewhat charming, an absolutely apt description for what Holt and Gooding inject here, both of whom make up for any of the film’s shortcomings.
THREE AND A HALF STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
Heart Eyes is now screening in Australian theatres.
