Heart Eyes (2025) features a mix of romantic comedy and slasher horror while bloodily satirizing love in a sharp-angled, candy-colored blending of genres. It is directed by Josh Ruben, whose previous work flirted with genre bending in Scare Me and Werewolves Within. Heart Eyes leans into its ridiculous premise: a depraved serial killer known as the “Heart Eyes Killer” preys on couples on Valentine’s Day. Two unsuspecting coworkers mistakenly portrayed as a couple are thrust into a twisted survival game.
With a tone that intends to mock love’s holiday, the film premiered in early February 2025—for hearts with knives, wit, and a surprising pulse of tenderness.
🎭 Performances and Character Arcs
Olivia Holt stars as Ally McCabe, a recently dumped pitch designer chronically emotionally stalled in a post-breakup world teeming with relationship anticipation. Holt also portrays a woman who navigates through the emotional range of her character with charm and sharp comic timing that allows vulnerability to bubble under a hardened fortress of sarcasm and instinctive survival.
Gooding interacts with Holt as Jay Simmons, a consulting advertiser, and Mason Gooding who is smug on the surface but has a soft spot underneath. Gooding’s portrayal of Jay strikes a balance between endearingly dimwitted and surprisingly valorous, and the dynamic between him and Holt is sympathetic and realistic without being overly sentimental, which is critical in a film that has to earn trust rather than assume it.
Supporting characters do not serve solely as archetypes for the story. Monica’s wit and dry delivery comes alive as a supportive best friend in Ally. Em Michaela Watkins embraces her inner villain with manic energy as a boss who may actually be a villain herself, Crystal Cane. Devon Sawa and Jordana Brewster assume the roles of Detectives Hobbs and Shaw, adding a noir depth. They are not mere background checkers of the crime, but important figures in disentangling the riddle with their own comical and dramatic moments.
Heart Eyes Concept and Design
The production design for Heart Eyes integrates Valentine-inspired elements such as heart-shaped balloons and flower petals, and pink under-lit lighting resulting in pop horror with an ironic twist. The rest of the film aims to counter those further through brutal artistry that doesn’t only cut the gaze but love as the performance and resolve enacting panicking prelude to pyrotechnics.
Cinematographer Stephen Murphy captures the film with glossy attention to detail. The tenderness of the romantic interiors is consistently undercut by flashes of violence, oscillating the viewer between comfort and impending danger. Framing is tight when it comes to being suffocating and loose when characters need to unwind.
Transitions in tone from Isla’s and Jay’s quirky strings to pulsing synth emphasizes the score’s cohesion throughout the film. Musical cues aid in filling the gap earlier on, before ascending in tension with an uneasy body count. The genre shifts, alongside the score imitating an antagonistic heartbeat.
💡 Themes and Execution
❤️🔥 Romance as a Weapon and a Mask
The performative romance the movie criticizes is the one intended for social media clout, devoid of any intimacy. The couple’s survival hinges not just on evading the killer, but striking a connection beyond the gruesome theatrics.
🔪 Commodification of Love and Gender Tropes
In many ways Heart Eyes is a gendered satire of the slasher format. As classic slashers infamously ‘punish’ female sexual agency, this film turns the dynamic on its head. Here, the killer’s obsession is not lust—or one’s base animalistic urges—but rather a perverse idealism: murdering couples who fall short of his twisted vision of love. The narrative mocks the outlandish beliefs that women bear the burden of maintaining ideal relationships, while men must perform ‘emotionally’ be sincere.
🎭 The Masked Killer as Cultural Mirror
The Heart Eyes Killer takes on duality as a slasher and cultural figure—romantic obsession gone murderous caricature. The killer is wrapped in a hearted eyed emoji mask, which shows him as the extreme of how the society sells romance as idyllic and forces people into roles under pain of death. The violence is never excessive, it serves as a punchline to societal pressure.
📝 Reception and Cultural Response
Heart Eyes was met with enthusiasm from its release due to its younger audiences, horror-romcom fans, and those on the lookout for something quirky. While older horror critics were utterly divided—some were annoyed with the mixing tones—genre accepting audiences relished in the self conscious absurdity and tonal shifts from cuddly to cutthroat.
The movie turned out to be more profitable than anticipated, grossing over 30millionagainstabudgetof30millionagainstabudgetof18 million. Its success led to discussions about the blending of genres and if horror can sincerely blend with comedy and romance without diluting any of the elements. Most people, however, simply agreed that it felt different to have a Valentine’s Day movie with survival as the primary motive instead of heartbreak.
Some people are already speculating about a sequel or anthology series, so the Heart Eyes Killer could become the next seasonal slasher sensation.
🎯 Conclusion: Is Watching Heart Eyes Enjoyable?
If your valentine prefers Scream to Serendipity, then Heart Eyes is a must watch. It is a fun and stylish slasher flick that features a surprisingly tender take on how love is feigned and sometimes, the act turns genuine.
Part satirical horror, part rom-com tribute and fully committed to delivering on all expectations.
Heart Eyes guarantees a twisted and exhilarating experience for those ‘coupled’, ‘complicated’ or those done with dating. Irrespective of your relationship status, you can watch it for the blood, the laughter, and the acidic sting of reality disguised in a red ribbon.
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