Director Josh Ruben (Werewolves Within) delivers a fun satire of the romantic comedy genre’s tropes while serving up an homage to some of horror’s best slasher films.
Horror slashers have been making something of a comeback the past several years after being absent from big screens largely since their 1980’s heyday. From the resurgence of franchises like Scream, to films like Happy Death Day, Freaky, Totally Killer, Thanksgiving, Terrifier and more, fans have been hungry for quippy movies driven by set-piece kills. The architects of many of these new-age slashers, Spyglass, along with director Josh Ruben and writer Michael TJ Kennedy , have delivered HEART EYES, hitting theaters February 7th, which is to horror what Valentine’s Day what 2023’s THANKSGIVING is to Thanksgiving. HEART EYES is horror rom/com that pierces the heart of rom/com genre and leaves a river of gore behind.
HEART EYES follows Olivia Holt (Totally Killer) an advertising creative who has delivered a lackluster Valentine’s ad campaign for her boss (played to hilarious effect by SNL alumni Michaela Watkins) due to a recent break-up. She commiserates with her BFF played by Gigi Zumbado, with whom she had just experienced a meet-cute with Mason’s Gooding character, a freelance ad director who has been brought aboard to course-correct her campaign. Gooding and Holt’s characters decide to team-up to salvage her campaign over dinner where they run into Holt’s ex, who, unbeknownst to them, has been targeted to death by the Heart Eyes Killer.
Oh,yes, in the world where these characters live, there’s a well-known serial killer called the Heart Eyes Killer, or, HEK, who targets and murders couples and those in love yearly all over the country and this year he’s chosen to target Seattle where our characters live. Due to a very public kiss between the two, Heart Eyes has decided they will make a target out of our not a couple couple and at this point the movie becomes a very entertaining synergy between a slasher film and a send-up of romantic comedy tropes.
Director Ruben has a good track record with slasher who-done-its based solely on the engaging chemistry between Sam Richardson and Milana Vayntrab in 2021’s Werewolves Within and that film’s unexpected titular werewolf. Much like that film and Spyglass’ major franchise, Scream, HEART EYES plays a lot with the idea of who the Heart Eyes Killer may be and if he might be one of our leads or if they might be some other character in the cast, of which there are many potential suspects. There’s Jordana Brewster and Devon Sawa, who plays police officers hunting down the killer. The two have friends who may be potential targets as well as stock characters in romantic comedies. That’s a big part of why the movie works as both a romantic comedy and a slasher flicks. The conventions in both films; the will they/won’t they interplay coupled with the trope of the unattainable final girl’s hand work remarkably well in tandem. Especially when one might be trying to get into the other’s pants while the other might want a trophy for the kill. Gooding and Holt have a great on-screen chemistry as a couple and a combative comedic chemistry that hearken back to vaudeville couples like Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. That makes the film fun and their chemistry coupled with the film’s elaborate set-piece kills make this a horror film you should check out on the big screen if you love comedy/horror done well.
Heart Eyes hits theaters on February 7th
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HEART EYES **** OF 5 *
A unique, original sendup of both slashers and horror comedies with plenty of gore and laughs to please fans of both genres.