Heart Eyes (2025)

Score: 4.5 / 5

Holiday horror is having an unexpected resurgence in the last few years, and I'm totally here for it! As far as St. Valentine's Day fare, Into the Dark has covered the day celebrating romantic love, the too-late but entertainingly diverting Valentine (2001) exists if only as a temporally displaced exercise in pre-Scream slashery, and most notably the 1981 Canadian romp My Bloody Valentine and its 3D 2009 remake have carved their way into the festive niche of a gory subgenre. Following the trend of revitalized attention on the classic slasher format in new and creative ways, Heart Eyes dropped in time for V-Day this winter and came to slay.

Advertising agent Ally (Olivia Holt, Cloak & Dagger, Totally Killer) pitches her campaign for jewelry products, using the concept of famed doomed lovers. She's still a bit distraught over her recent breakup, but the pitch doesn't go well due to its timing. A serial killer known as "Heart Eyes" has been slaughtering lovebirds on Valentine's Day in various cities for the last few years, and customers surely won't buy jewelry tinged with the specter of more death. Her company, desperate for a fresh idea, unexpectedly hires a hot new consultant. Emphasis on the "hot." His name is Jay (Mason Gooding, Fall, Scream 5 and 6), and he oozes more charm than one human should ever possess despite his demanding job and packed itinerary. He suggests the most contrary approach, sending the company into a tizzy over the pending capitalistic frenzy.

Jay clearly has eyes for the irritated and dejected Ally, though in her attempt to reclaim some dignity in the face of her ex and his new date, she grabs Jay and lays a big whiz-popper* on him in public. While their promising and admittedly appealing date is ultimately cut short -- literally -- by the Heart Eyes killer, it's clear they're going to work together to survive in part because of their earned, sweet chemistry. Even though they keep reminding us that they are, in fact, not together.

The oddball couple fits the generic bill, to be sure, providing any viewer with ample ground to identify with them. Screenwriting can be tricky when navigating between archetypal or stock characters in such a polarizing subject area, but this writing team (including Christopher Landon!) elicits empathy along with good humor in poking fun at the holiday conventions. They do it with a knife, of course, but that's why it also feels aesthetically heightened beyond simple mockery or spoofing of rom-com "isms." Other characters pop in and out with delightful and imaginative offerings to suggest other kinds of love and the ways people change (or don't) as a result of their romantic relationships. 

I haven't had this much fun in the cinema in a long time. Horror fans needing nasty jump scares and foreboding plotting can reliably count on this flick to deliver the goods. Romance fans looking for a dark twist on otherwise accessible humor are in for a treat. And pop film buffs into excellent production design and thematic atmosphere have plenty to soak up. Both fans and cynics of the lovey-dovey holiday will find boons in this wholly unexpected and delightful exercise in tonal balance. Plus, it gives us a distinctive new killer who is brutally terrifying and bears a memorable mask, one reliant on inspiration from classic slashers even as it overtly flips the meaning of the heart-eyed emoji on its head.

*I hereby posit this word choice as an appropriate and necessary synonym for "kiss," with no need for comment.