Heart Eyes is a 2025 Sony Pictures romantic-comedy/horror film written by Phillip Murphy, Christopher Landon, and Michael Kennedy, directed by Josh Ruben, and starring Olivia Holt and Mason Gooding. I wanted to see this movie on Valentine’s week, but winter weather and additional plans stood in the way of that, but I told myself I wasn’t going to miss seeing this one in theaters regardless. This movie was admittedly quite a lot of fun and not entirely what I expected walking in. The premise follows the story of a masked maniac with glowing red heart eyes on his mask that stalks and kills unsuspecting couples every Valentine’s Day, changing locations yearly. This year he stumbles upon Seattle and gets his sight set on an advertising executive and her mysterious, handsome, and hopelessly romantic colleague after they’re mistaken for a couple on a date on Valentine’s. I didn’t honestly expect the amount of romantic comedy vibes we got in this movie but the vibe and feel of the film was really split in half between that and horror, and honestly, I didn’t mind that. One minute you’d be in a chase scene between a masked killer and a victim ending in a bloody scenario, and the next scene would switch to a meet-cute situation in a coffee shop. It was kind of awesome.
There were some side characters throughout obviously, but the main focus of the movie was on our 2 leads Ally and Jay for a majority of the runtime, and Olivia Holt and Mason Gooding held their own in the respective roles quite well! I feel like balancing a blossoming romance story while a masked killer is stalking you and terrorizing your town, and throwing in some silly little quips for added humor throughout is not the easiest balance to maintain and it was, for the most part, maintained. There were obviously some moments that fell flat or didn’t make me laugh out loud in the humor department, but that’s going to happen regardless when you mix comedy into a film, comedy is subjective so not all humor is going to land for everyone pretty much ever. The romance and the horror were down pat though and the blended mix of the 2 of them made for a fun and fresh kind of film, I honestly can’t think of another straight up rom-com horror film off the top of my head. Lisa Frankenstein last year I guess kind of was, but that love story was a bit more in the fantastical horror zone and less in the traditional romance one. This movie felt kind of like the ultimate compromise date night movie, but in a good way. One of you wants romance, the other wants horror, Heart Eyes says hold my beer. The outfit of the Heart Eyes Killer or HEK as they refer to him a lot throughout the movie is alright, it serves the purpose. A lot of the outfit is drawn to the glowing red Heart Eyes (which obviously makes sense given his name and the Valentine’s Day aspect of the movie) but outside of that his look was pretty bland.
I did enjoy the news headlines throughout the movie and the media referring to him as HEK and covering the murders (a play on the BTK killer alias I’m assuming, kudos). It made the stalking killer feel more like a real serial killer and less like an unstoppable slasher villain. That’s kind of what I expected walking in, more of your traditional slasher movie more or less, but this movie played much more in the realism and was more of a whodunnit mystery story. I enjoyed that, gave Scream like vibes in that aspect, but the killer reveal was probably the weakest part of the story for me. That’s all I’ll say about it because I don’t want to give the reveal away to anyone, but I was just expecting or hoping for a bit more after the anticipation building throughout the movie, I guess. Quick aside, but the soundtrack to this movie was pretty awesome as well. A lot of the classic love ballads throughout the years pop up at some point in the movie, some played for humor and others played for romance, but I enjoyed all of them. Overall though, I think this is a movie that most people can get something out of. If you’re a horror fan, there’s enough horror elements to keep you entertained, and if you’re not really a horror fan then there’s a couple scenes that may make you squeamish, but enough humor and romance throughout to keep you drawn in as well. I say go give it a shot! It’s currently only playing in theaters so if it sounds of interest to you go check it out at a theater near you! Or if you’re willing to wait, I’m sure it’ll be on a streaming service or available to rent soon. Or if you’re really willing to wait, then this would be a perfect kind of movie to watch with your partner next Valentine’s Day as well. Go find yourself some love y’all, just try not to get stalked by a masked killer in the process.
