Warning: Spoiler Alert

How It Looks and Feels

Heart Eyes is a 2025 American film that blends horror and comedy. It is directed by Josh Ruben (Werewolves Within), and written by Phillip Murphy, Christopher Landon and Michael Kennedy. The film stars Olivia Holt (Cruel Summer) and Mason Gooding (Ballers). They play coworkers who are mistaken as a couple by a serial killer who hunts couples on Valentine’s Day. Gigi Zumbado (The Rookie), Michaela Watkins (Wanderlust), Devon Sawa (Final Destination), and Jordana Brewster (Fast and Furious) also star.

Movie Background

Heart Eyes is a “slasher-romcom” mashup released on February 7, 2025. It is designed to bridge two often conflicting film genres. The heartfelt romantic comedy and the brutal holiday slasher.

Solving the Date Night Dilemma: Blending Horror and Comedy

Director Josh Ruben noted that couples often struggle to agree on movies. One partner may prefer horror while the other prefers romance. He designed the film to “save date night” by satisfying both audiences—offering genuine romantic chemistry alongside graphic, inventive kills. In my opinion, this was a smart approach to creating something genuinely different.

Playing With Genre Expectations

The filmmakers wanted to subvert the “meet-cute” trope. They aimed to create what I’d describe as “Sleepless in Seattle with a Scream twist.

The Setup

The Heart Eyes Killer strikes Seattle every February 14th, targeting happy couples. Coworkers Ally and Jay must survive the night while dealing with their own “will-they-won’t-they” tension. The villain wears a signature emoji-inspired mask with glowing red heart eyes. The visual choice I found both ridiculous and strangely effective.

Josh Ruben’s direction takes a “full-throttle” approach to both genres. Treating the romance and horror with equal sincerity rather than playing it for parody.

Balancing Two Worlds

Ruben used Nora Ephron (Sleepless in Seattle) as his model for romance. Wes Craven (Scream) as his model for horror. I appreciated that he insisted on keeping the tones separate. He never plays terror and comedy in the same beat, this would have diluted both.

Making the Romance Feel Real

Ruben’s core decision to cast leads who could sell a genuine rom-com “meet-cute” was crucial. In my view, if the romance had felt fake, I wouldn’t have cared whether they survived the night.

Visual Style and Gore

Drawing on his background in short-form comedy (College Humor). Ruben used precise camera blocking for humor. Like having a detective “stewing” in the corner of a frame after an interrogation. I loved these small visual gags. He also pushed for inventive, macabre kills (including using a camera lens as a weapon). This showed he wasn’t shortchanging the horror fans.

Cinematographer Stephen Murphy created a “neon-drenched” pop-art look. This had distinct visual approaches. For the Romance: Warm, dreamy lighting with pastel palettes that made the leads look like classic movie stars. For the Horror: Moody, high-contrast lighting with dark cyan tones and heavy blue moonlight. The Heart Eyes Killer mask featured a cracked flesh texture, establishing an unsettling presence that felt visceral and disturbingly intimate. Silver rimmed eyes were designed to catch light menacingly, enhancing threat and realism while avoiding anything overtly artificial in appearance.

Despite being a studio film, the movie leaned heavily on practical makeup and gore effects, which I found refreshing.

What the Movie Is Really About

Beyond the surface-level thrills, Heart Eyes explores the intersection of romantic idealism and violent reality through its genre-blending format.

Heart Eyes Deeper Themes

Performative Romance: The killer specifically targets couples who engage in public displays of affection. In my view, this critiques the superficial, Instagram-ready version of love that dominates modern dating culture.

Cynicism versus vulnerability frame Ally, a cynical realist, embodying guarded skepticism toward Valentine’s Day and emotional connection for many people. Jay, a romantic optimist, counters her perspective, representing hope, openness, and the desire to believe in love despite cultural pressure.

I appreciated how the film flipped traditional roles, portraying Ally as the more capable protector throughout the story overall consistently. Jay often required rescue, creating a welcome subversion of tired genre conventions and challenging expectations about strength and vulnerability dynamics.

Like Scream before it, the movie embraces self aware satire, allowing characters to openly acknowledge familiar rom com clichés throughout. Characters also reference slasher conventions, calling out the meet cute and final girl trope with playful genre savvy humor intentionally.

Where It Succeeds

The Chemistry Is Everything. The central romance is the film’s strongest element. Olivia Holt and Mason Gooding’s phenomenal chemistry made me genuinely care about their survival. Without their connection, the entire premise would have collapsed.

Nailing the Tonal Balance

Josh Ruben threaded the needle beautifully, creating something sweet enough to balance out the brutal gore. I found myself genuinely moved during romantic moments, then shocked by creative kills minutes later. In my opinion, this tonal versatility is what makes the film work as the ultimate “date night” movie.

The Romance Hits Harder Than Expected

Surprisingly, I thought it worked better as a romantic comedy than a horror movie.

Why the Love Story Works

Authentic Connection: Holt and Gooding’s performances had genuine spark that kept me invested. Their “will-they-won’t-they” dynamic felt earned rather than forced.

The Cast Brings It

The performances are one of the film’s strongest assets. Particularly the chemistry between the leads that makes this genre mashup actually work.

The Lead Duo Olivia Holt (Ally): In my opinion, Holt was the best part of the film. She carried much of its emotional weight, shifting seamlessly from witty banter to high-stakes survival. Her portrayal of the cynical, pragmatic protagonist felt grounded and relatable.

Mason Gooding (Jay): I found Gooding dynamically charismatic as the “big ol’ softy” who’s still physically capable when danger strikes. This felt like a step up from his previous horror roles, showing real range.

Their Chemistry: The palpable chemistry between Holt and Gooding is why the movie succeeds as a rom-com. Even when the plot faltered, their believable relationship kept me rooting for them.

As detectives Hobbs and Shaw, Devon Sawa and Jordana Brewster fully embraced the film’s self aware humor throughout. They delivered some of the funniest yet most cartoonish moments, amplifying absurdity while perfectly matching the movie’s playful tone.

Gigi Zumbado: I thought Zumbado was a revelation with impeccable comedic timing and pitch-perfect delivery of rom-com dialogue.

Michaela Watkins: Her fun comic turn as Ally’s boss added to the film’s satirical take on corporate culture.

The Horror Elements: Fun But Flawed

As a horror fan, I found the film delivered expected thrills, though with some significant weaknesses.

The Heart Eyes Killer stands out as an iconic villain with a memorable mask that instantly signals twisted romantic menace. Creative kills repurpose romantic objects as weapons, including roses, champagne bottles, and heart shaped boxes for darkly playful impact effect.

Josh Ruben nails the glossy 90s rom-com vibe, full of charm, quirky romance, and that unmistakable high-budget cinematic sparkle. The visual style is immaculate.

What Disappointed Me

The film’s ambitions sometimes exceeded its execution. The mystery element is weak and predictable, robbing the climax of real surprise. The tonal shifts in the film are mostly effective, yet sometimes jarring, pulling viewers abruptly from romance into sudden violence. Most frustratingly, despite its clever commentary on genre conventions, the film falls back on familiar tropes, undermining its intended subversion.

Predictable Mystery: The whodunit element felt weak. As a mystery, it’s quite predictable. I figured out who the killer was by the end of the first act. This made the final reveal feel like a formality.

Tonal Whiplash: At times, long stretches of romantic comedy made the horror tension drag. The transitions between genres occasionally felt jarring rather than seamless. The jump from sweet romantic banter to graphic dismemberment was sometimes too abrupt. This prevented me from fully settling into either mood.

Final Verdict

In my opinion, Heart Eyes is destined to become a modern cult classic for Valentine’s Day. It’s best enjoyed if you don’t take your horror too seriously. Or if you appreciate the meta humor found in films like Happy Death Day or Freaky. I can see this becoming a staple for date night streaming on Netflix. It successfully offers something for everyone—even if it doesn’t fully satisfy either crowd. It’s messy, self-aware, and surprisingly sweet, which feels appropriate for a movie about love and murder.