HEART EYES REVIEW

“It should appeal equally to fans of horror and romance.”

My history with slasher movies, and the issues I have them are probably well-documented by now from earlier reviews. For instance, if I had done a Terrible 25 list last year, Terrifier 3 would have been at the very bottom of that list. I’m just not a fan of gratuitous violence, especially against women and children, and apparently, that violence tends to be the biggest appeal of these movies.

Counter to its marketing, Heart Eyes is not your typical holiday-themed slasher movie, which is fine, because the original My Bloody Valentine has pretty much set the standard there, even if there have been other Valentine’s Day-themed horror films and an okay latter-day remake.

When you look at the previous work of Heart Eyes’ writer/producer Christopher Landon (Happy Death Day, Freaky) and director Josh Ruben (Scare Me, Werewolves Within), you quickly realize you’re dealing with two filmmakers who a.) really know horror and b.) really love comedy and how to combine the two elements, which is rarely an easy task since they’re often warring, tonally.

After the brutal slaying of a couple getting engaged at a vineyard outside Seattle, we’re introduced via news reports to the idea of the Heart Eyes Killer (or H.E.K.) who has been killing couples on Valentie’s Day in different cities over many years. We soon meet Olivia Holt’s Ally, who is at a coffee shop trying to get over a breakup with her friend Monica (Gigi Zumbado), when she ends up in a “meet cute” with Mason Gooding’s rugged Jay. Soon after, they end up having to work together when Ally’s ad campaign for jewelry, and Jay is brought in to save the campaign. Ally agrees to meet Jay for dinner at a fancy restaurant on Valentine’s Day, and they end up the targets of H.E.K. At first, the two detectives on the case, wittily named Hobbs and Shaw and played by Devon Sawa and Jordana Brewster, accuse Jay of being the killer, but when the real H.E.K. shows up at the police station, Ally and Jay need to work together to fend off the vicious killer.

Despite the premise and the marketing, Heart Eyes is very much a horror-comedy with a certain degree of self-awareness about its genre that allows an extra level of humor. That’s not to say that the movie ever skimps on the gore. From the very opening sequence, we get some of the most horrendous murder sequences, though it also spends a lot more time allowing the viewer to get to know the two main characters, as they get to know each other. At a certain point, you’re so adjusted to the lighter tone that when the Heart Eyes Killer shows up again, it truly is jarring.

While Gooding will probably is best known for appearing in the most recent “Scream” movies, I wasn’t at all familiar with Ms. Holt, and she does a fantastic job as one half of the film’s protagonists. (I found out later that she played the superhero Dagger in the “Cloak and Dagger” TV series, which I totally can see.) Jordana Brewster might be best known for the “Fast and Furious” movies – okay, I just realized the extra layer to THAT joke – but she’s playing a very different character, an amorous detective who has eyes for Jay, which brings even more laughs to lighten up the less violent moments. There are other fun performances, but the movie wisely remains focused on Ally and Jay.

One thing I greatly appreciated about Heart Eyes–and it’s something I also liked about Drew Hancock’s Companion – is that it’s literally a movie that can appeal to both genders and actually spark dinner conversations about love and romance. I personally fall somewhere between Ally and Jay on that matter.

Another thing I’ve really loved about Josh Ruben’s previous movies is that the music is always so spot-on, and that’s true with Heart Eyes, where the action gets kicked up a notch by Jay Wadley’s intense score, making it far easier for the film to switch gears without the tonal issues that often plague horror-comedies.

Possibly one of my biggest sticking points with Heart Eyes, though, was the inevitable “Scooby Doo reveal” when we learn who is under H.E.K.’s mask. Of course, I won’t spoil it, but I realized much later there’s at least one major problem that makes it hard to believe who is under the mask. I’ll let you figure that out on your own.

Otherwise, the pairing of Ruben and Landon brilliantly delivers something as funny and scary as Wes Craven’s better “Scream” movies, and Heart Eyes should appeal equally to fans of horror and romance.

Rating: 7.5/10

Heart Eyes opens nationwide on Friday, February 7.