Heart Eyes
Hey, everyone, and welcome. Today, we will be talking about the movie Heart Eyes. Fun Fact: The movie showing at the drive-in is His Girl Friday from 1940, starring Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell. The film came out in 2025 and stars Olivia Holt, Mason Gooding, and Gigi Zumbado and was directed by Josh Ruben. So, without further ado, let's get right into it.
Heart Eyes takes place on Valentine's Day, which should be a day for love, but it has become a day of fear as a killer strikes every Valentine's Day in different cities. Ally is jaded due to a recent break up but meets a guy she bonds with named Jay. They go on a date, and she kisses him to make her ex-boyfriend jealous. This kiss attracts Heart Eyes, which makes them the killer's next target, and they have to figure out how to survive.
Heart Eyes is a slasher-horror-comedy. It has similar vibes to My Bloody Valentine, Scream, or You're Next.
Heart Eyes caught my eye because it looked like such a gory fun time. Slasher movies fall in the horror genre, but for me, they aren't that scary because, usually, it's a human, and I feel like I can survive, but sometimes they make it more fun by mixing in comedic elements, and there are some where there is someone who is a damsel in distress, and it irritates me. This movie did a great thing that I don't know if I have seen before in a horror movie, which is making this slasher movie have this blossoming romance in it, so it's mostly horror, but there is a romantic comedy element mixed in as well.
Olivia Holt was great as Ally, this girl who is so over love and wants nothing to do with it which is of course not an option on valentines day. I love how her hate of love seeps into her work when she is tasked with making a commercial with couples in love and makes one of the most depressing anti-love commercials. She did a good job showing how freaked out you would be in this situation but then realizing that running is getting exhausting, so it's time to finish it by fighting back. Olivia and Mason had good chemistry when it came to the comedic parts, but also the romance in the midst of danger. I love how when they are running from the killer the first time, he thinks she left him, which she did, but it was for a good reason so he wouldn't get killed. I'm glad that after all the mentions of her metal straw, she was able to use that to her advantage in the final fight.
Also, I just have to note that her boss was hilarious in every scene she was in. She did a great job delivering this snarky, sarcastic commentary.
Mason Gooding was a good person to cast as Jay, who you could believe is a love interest but also believe he could fight back. He is in the more recent scream movies, so it's not surprising to see him in a role where he's running from a killer, but it's still entertaining. I love how Ally and him have a meet-cute, and she embarrasses herself, and later, he comes in to save her company from the ad that Ally created. Even though Ally wasn't looking for love, he showed her not to give up on it completely, and they worked well together.
When I saw Detective Hobbs and Shaw, I thought they looked familiar. Shaw is Jordana Brewster, and I was thinking and realized she was in the Fast and the Furious films, and that's why she looked familiar. Then there is hobbs played by Devon Sawa and i’m kind of shocked that i didn’t recognize him because there are a some horror films that influenced my current love for horror and I will say that Final Destination is for sure one of them and not to mention that he played Stan in the Eminem music video of the same name which could be a name but in this instance is a mixture of Stalker and Fan and gave birth to a slang term. I honestly thought they were the killers because they would have a reason to always be around, but also, it seemed too simple, and I was right because one was the killer, and the other was not, and he ended up dead.
This movie was filled with some great comedic moments, but they didn't overdo it. I was glad they found a good balance between the slasher story, the love story, and the comedy. In the first scene where they're attacked, I was so distracted with her helping him that it made me forget that the killer was just watching and made me jump when they were in her closet. The balance of these aspects had me interested in the romance, who the killer was, and what Ally's best friend would say that would have me laughing.
Multiple Killers was a cool little twist at the end, but the only thing is that only one of the killers was someone you'd even care about. I think with slashers like this, you are guessing who it could be, and it's kind of fun to be thinking about it, but it's a letdown when it's some random person you never heard of or a person you met once. I think giving the killers more time to interact with the characters would have been more interesting so we could actually feel a connection to the killers and care a bit more as to why they decided to do this.
I think my favorite part of this movie was having this serial killer centered around this holiday and how one fake kiss put two people in the crosshairs of this killer. The movie takes this holiday that is known for love and happiness and makes people see it as scary to be a couple. It is interesting to see. I think the premise itself makes you think the killer may be a single person who hates love and throws you off the scent of the actual killer and how it is actually a group of people.
Heart Eyes is a fun slasher that will have you laughing and jumping. The cast was great, and while it stumbles with the killer reveal, it still is an interesting take on a holiday-themed slasher. This is a great movie for you, I guess, if you are single and are sad about being alone or if you're a couple and you are trying to find a balance between a love story and a horror movie.
