Heart Eyes

A militant-singleton serial killer, whose MO is to target couples on Valentine’s Day, makes the mistake of picking on a pair of work colleagues (who are just friends, no honestly, definitely not going to fall in love by the end, no way) in this farcically fun mixture of horror and romcom.

Director Josh Ruben (in collaboration with co-writer / co-producer Christopher Landon, who has considerable form with this kind of thing) has closely studied Wes Craven’s approach to his Scream movies, balancing the self-aware dark humour with some satisfyingly gruesome violence, and using both to generate proper suspense before each splattersome payoff leaves drops of corn syrup on the lens.

Between the heavy-breathing POV shots through the killer’s cordiform, vision-impairing mask and the vicious irony with which the film depicts his initial sickly, over-entitled victims, it can be difficult not to side with the baddie. This mean-spirited glee extends to some funny throwaway gags too, such as the heroine’s hilariously ill-judged TV advert for a jewellery brand that manacles love and death together until her appalled boss do them part.

Witty needle drops and an infusion of pinks and reds into the colour scheme add to the seasonal fun, while acting as a perfect counterpoint to the sarcastic dialogue and streak of anti-romcom misanthropy. But the movie nudges its performative insistence on its own heartlessness towards us in such a way that it keeps us in on the joke, rather than insulting our intelligence by expecting us to actually believe in it.

Olivia Holt (sassy, vexed) and Mason Gooding (debonair, non-dickish) make an engaging central couple, handling the comedy, romance and terrified screams with aplomb, and taking full advantage of these three different Bunsen burners over which their chemistry might bubble. As with the film’s many other time-knackered genre tropes, their meet-cute plays with our expectations while still indulging them.

Meanwhile the supporting cast (including Devon Sawa and Jordana Brewster, who spent some of their early careers in the horror playpen) are allowed to grant their characters some colour and personality, thus lining up possible suspects in the whodunnit, but also deliberately breaking the cardinal rule of slasher movies that we shouldn’t care too much about them.

Organised into a clever and rigorously constructed script, Heart Eyes takes a good idea and plays it out with horror that’s actually nasty and comedy that’s actually funny. That’s so rare coming from a Hollywood studio these days, it’s enough to make you believe that romance isn’t dead after all.

-Stew Mott-