A new horror film, 'Heart Eyes', blends gore, laughs, and romance for a Valentine's Day slasher that's both entertaining and ambitious. While the lead performances could be stronger, the film's clever twist on the genre, over-the-top kills, and strong supporting cast make it a worthwhile watch.
Out February 7th, is a new horror film that blends the gore fans crave with lots of clever laughs and a touch of romance. The combination doesn’t always work, but it works more often than not, resulting in a film that’s at times awkward but is always funny and enjoyable. The film centers around Ally and Jay, who meet at a party and quickly develop a flirty but unattainable romance. It’s just not going to happen.
But, when Ally kisses Jay to make her ex jealous, that catches the eye of the Heart Eyes killer and things get very bad very quickly. The Heart Eyes killer the film is named after is a masked slasher (with hearts for eyes, duh) who specializes in killing couples on Valentine’s Day. That alone is a clever, specific twist on the typical horror tropes. But what makes the film even better is that the events we’re seeing aren’t the first time Heart Eyes has struck. Heart Eyes has killed dozens of people over the past two years in seemingly random cities, so as Valentine’s Day approaches, everyone is waiting to find out where the murderer is going to pop up next. We know, of course, it’s Seattle where Ally and Jay are, but that’s only revealed after the hilarious, gory kills of the film’s opening.Dropping us in the middle of this mythology adds all sorts of fun possibilities and expectations. Without an elaborate origin or big setup, we just buy into the simple idea and bask in the ready-made tension. Plus, that everyone is extremely aware of Heart Eyes is a perfect excuse for all the... The movie knows it’s silly for these two to fall for each other so fast. It knows it’s dumb for this killer to keep focusing on them when so many other couples are around. And it continues to put the characters in situations that all but beg audiences to scream at the screen out of sheer obviousness and stupidity, which is exactly the point. There are multiple red herrings that work incredibly well and the kills get increasingly gory and brutal. Much grosser than one would expect in a film with so many laughs and romance. That tonal balance is delicate but it works for most of the film, especially when things are centered on—or featuring—Heart Eyes. Any time the killer is on screen, or just off it, the movie clicks. Where the film drags though are in the more serious scenes, such as when Ally and Jay discuss their feelings or pasts. These are important to round out the characters and raise the stakes but they hurt the film’s pacing considerably and are never as interesting or entertaining as the goofy horror stuff. It also doesn’t help that neither Holt nor Gooding are particularly great in the movie. Gooding is charming and has some solid comedic timing but neither he nor the more muted Holt ever really win us over with their performances. Everything about their relationship, from the annoying meet-cute to the confusing working relationship, always feels forced. We never really believe that these two could fall for each other in this way and it’s only after we’ve watched them survive multiple attacks from Heart Eyes that we, eventually, are beaten into submission to buy it. The supporting cast, however, did end up winning us over. It’s consistently funny, has some solid misdirects, and lots of gross horror elements. It’s not perfect but it’s ambitious and sometimes that’s enough. In a world where we’re desperately in need of new horror icons, we’d gladly line up to see more movies with
HORROR COMEDY VALENTINE's DAY SLASHER HEART EYES FILM REVIEW
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