For the past couple of years, the “Heart Eyes” killer has been stalking couples on Valentine’s Day. Olivia Holt has a Meet-Cute with Mason Gooding at the coffee shop, and wouldn’t you know it? He turns out to be her new co-worker! They decide to go out to dinner to talk over their new advertising campaign and are attacked by the Heart Eyes killer, who mistakes them for a couple. They then have to survive the night while getting to know one another along the way.
Directed by Josh (Werewolves Within) Ruben, Heart Eyes gets a big boost, courtesy of its likable cast. Holt and Gooding have a lot of chemistry together and are especially good while being indignant that the killer is coming after them since they aren’t even romantically attached. Devon Sawa and Jordana Brewster are also amusing as the wisecracking cops on the case.
Ruben kicks things off with a fun stalk and slash scene at a winery. Along the way, he also gives us an entertaining chase on a merry go round where the killer chops off carousel horses’ heads left and right. There’s also a fun scene where the killer wreaks havoc at a drive-in.
It also helps that the film has a biting sense of humor as well as a few hearty laughs. The gore is pretty strong too. We get a machete in the eye, an arrow to the head, a knife to the skull, head squishing, impalement, a machete to the groin, a double mouth stabbing, and a pretty grisly beheading.
The killer himself is a rather cool creation. He kind of looks like David Cronenberg from Nightbreed… except… you know… with heart eyes. Those eyes also have the ability to glow red so the killer can hunt his prey in the dark with built-in infrared goggles.
Like many of these things, it goes on about fifteen minutes too long and has one too many false endings. That’s not nearly enough to take away from the fun. Heart Eyes is unique in that it balances rom-com cliches with gory slasher tropes in clever and funny ways. Because of that, it’s hard not to love it.
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