Heart Eyes (2025) Review

If nothing else, Heart Eyes proves that the slasher genre is nothing if not adaptable. Director Josh Ruben and writers Christopher Landon, Michael Kennedy, and Phillip Murphy have taken the traditional rom-com formula and laced it with blood, guts, and knowing winks to both genres, delivering a film that is as charming as it is chaotic. While the horror elements feel more functional than inventive, the film shines as a witty, self-aware send-up of rom-com conventions—right down to its contrived meet-cutes and sweeping, albeit blood-soaked, declarations of love.

At the centre of the carnage are Ally (Olivia Holt) and Jay (Mason Gooding), two advertising professionals pitted against each other in a Valentine’s Day marketing campaign. Holt plays Ally as a cynical career woman recovering from a breakup, while Gooding’s Jay is the affable romantic who challenges her jaded outlook. Their first encounter—sharing an oddly specific coffee order—is a classic rom-com beat, as is their begrudging professional rivalry. But, of course, there’s a twist: a masked serial killer known as the Heart Eyes Killer has returned, targeting couples on Valentine’s Day, and despite their protests that they’re not together, Ally and Jay find themselves in the crosshairs.

This setup allows Ruben and company to have their cake and eat it too, contrasting moments of rom-com fluff with outbursts of brutal violence. The killer’s design—complete with glowing heart-shaped eyes—straddles the line between ridiculous and sinister, and the film leans heavily into the absurdity of its premise. A machete-wielding maniac interrupting a ‘fake dating’ scenario? It’s a premise so obvious it’s surprising no one has done it before.

The performances anchor the film’s tonal balancing act. Holt proves a compelling final girl, playing Ally with just enough vulnerability to make her arc believable, while Gooding delivers a winning turn as the hapless leading man. Their chemistry is effortlessly charming, which is crucial given that their burgeoning romance needs to be convincing enough to justify their place on the killer’s hit list. Supporting players Michaela Watkins, Gigi Zumbado, and a scene-stealing Devon Sawa (as a detective named Shaw, because why not throw in a Fast & Furious reference for good measure?) inject plenty of comic energy, ensuring that the laughs land as frequently as the body blows.

That said, while the film nails the rom-com side of the equation, its slasher elements are less inspired. Heart Eyes certainly doesn’t skimp on the gore – deaths range from impalements to a particularly gruesome fate involving a compression machine – but the film lacks the subversive edge that made Scream or even Happy Death Day so effective. The kills are satisfyingly nasty, but at times ‘lack heart’, existing more as punctuation marks in the romance rather than driving the tension forward. The whodunit aspect is similarly lacklustre; while Scream managed to keep audiences guessing, the eventual reveal here feels convoluted rather than shocking. it’s a twist that exists more for the sake of having one than because it enriches the story.

Despite this, Heart Eyes remains an entertaining genre hybrid. It’s self-aware without being smug, affectionate toward its rom-com and horror influences, and refreshingly free of cynicism. Ruben directs with a sure hand, making sure the film never tips too far into parody, and the script smartly acknowledges the inherent absurdity of its setup without undercutting the stakes. Even when the plot takes some dubious turns, the sheer fun of the execution keeps it from falling apart.

In the grand tradition of horror-comedies, Heart Eyes doesn’t break much ground, but it does remix with style. For every underwhelming slasher trope it falls back on, it redeems itself with a perfectly executed rom-com moment. It delivers enough wit, blood, and chemistry to ensure that cinema-goers will have something bloody to swoon over this Valentine’s Day.

Movie Rating:

Heart Eyes trailer