By Alexis Rosa
A Valentine’s Day-themed horror movie? Sign me right up. ‘Heart Eyes’ satisfied everything I am looking for in a dark comedy. ‘Heart Eyes’ was released on February 7th, 2025, just in time for Valentine’s Day which would be a week after. A perfect date for you and your sweetie. It was released by Sony Pictures Releasing in North America and by Republic Pictures internationally.
The movie’s runtime is an hour and thirty-seven minutes, which is the perfect amount of time for a movie like this. The movie is described as two things – a dark comedy, and a slasher horror. It has an ‘R’ rating.
It was directed by Josh Ruben who is described as an award-winning actor, writer, and director on IMDB. It was written by Phillip Murphy, Christopher Landon, and Michael Kennedy, all of whom have credit for writing many horror films, they also produced it. It starred Olivia Holt as Ally McCabe and Mason Gooding as Jay Simmonds.
Both are in their late twenties; they have been on the scene for a while but are honing in on their craft with this movie. As of right now ‘Heart Eyes’ hasn’t won any awards or been nominated for any. It just came out this year in February so there could still be a good chance we will see it being nominated for an award. It was such a different kind of horror movie that it would deserve it if it did get nominated for anything.
The summary for ‘Heart Eyes’ on IMDB is ‘For the past several years, the “Heart Eyes Killer” has wreaked havoc on Valentine’s Day by stalking and murdering romantic couples. This Valentine’s Day, no couple is safe”. After watching the trailer before seeing the movie I went into the theaters expecting just a typical slasher film with a lot of blood and the classic who’s done it plot with a splash of a joke occasionally.
I was so wrong about this in the best way. This movie turned into a slasher, a romance, a comedy, and a parody of the slasher genre. It was refreshing and done cleverly. When you can think out of the box and do something different like this, you catch my attention. Especially in this day in age where it seems like endless sequels and similar feeling movies.
The jokes in the movies all hit their marks and I could easily see the tropes of slashers/rom-coms they were making fun of. The dialogue in this movie was one of my favorite parts. This had a lot to do with the amazing chemistry between the actors Olivia and Mason. They shined in their scenes together and their scenes apart, which I think is so important when there are two main characters.
They both were funny with their deliveries when they needed to be, which made the jokes hit their marks so well. You could tell both actors just went for it and produced something worth watching. I was satisfied with the actual story too. It held your attention and didn’t lag at all. The character development was typical but was still there (something bad movies lack). You are still following the basic who’s done it plot throughout the movie, but I was completely wrong in who I thought was behind it which is another satisfying thing since it kept me on my toes during the movie.
My boyfriend, 27, said “one of the funniest movies I’ve seen in a while in all honesty”. We both laughed out loud many times. The combination of comedy and horror was done so well. He thought the acting and plot were two strong things about this movie. He also was shocked this movie turned into the complete opposite of what he thought it was going to be. That’s what made this such a unique movie experience for us. We would watch it again, which is always a huge factor for us if we liked a movie or not. The only thing he has to say negatively is he needed a stronger ending, which I have to say I agree.
It was a satisfying ending but could have wrapped up some things better. I do think it could lead to a sequel though. The worldwide gross as of right now is $30,050,656 with a meta score of 61 from critics. Don’t base this off if the movie is worth watching or not though. Good, classic horror movies don’t even get their props. I feel like sometimes as well people don’t appreciate a different kind of movie like this because they don’t fully understand it.
I think these numbers are good for a movie like this. The movie has made its money back which is always successful in my book. If you are looking for something mindless, fun, and different then go see this movie. It also could turn into a new Valentine’s Day tradition for you and a loved one! Sony released “Heart Eyes” in theaters on Feb. 7 2025, and is currently only available in theaters. It has not been released for streaming or digital viewing yet.
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