If you’re a slasher fan, there are many reasons to be happy right now. After being looked down upon for years, the subgenre is surging back thanks to recent releases likeThanksgivingandtheTerrifiertrilogy. This month we were presented with another promising slasher entry inHeart Eyes, directed byJosh Ruben.Heart Eyeshas a clever premise, as a masked killer strikes every Valentine’s Day, killing couples. When the killer choses Ally (Olivia Holt) and Jay (Mason Gooding) as his (her? their?!) next targets, what we get isa horror movie that purposely leans into romantic comedy tropes, as Ally and Jay begin to fall in love while they run for their lives. Ruben has said that he modeled his film afterFriday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives, but, honestly,it’s styled more likeScream, while falling short of both because of one big, fatal flaw:Heart Eyesdoesn’t know what kind of movie it wants to be.
‘Heart Eyes’ Has an Identity Crisis
Inan interview with Bloody-Disgusting, Ruben said thatFriday the 13th Part VI: Jason Liveswas what he was aiming for because “that film is as brutal as it is silly as it is fun, and that was the white whale.” He was also inspired by silly and sweet rom-coms likeSleepless in Seattle. The comparison toJason Livesis an unusual one, because that film is barely a horror-comedy at all. Sure, it has some funny moments, like when Jason smashes a victim’s face into a wall, leaving an exact imprint of their face from the other side, but it’s still a serious slasher movie that arguably features Jason Voorhees at his scariest.Jason Livesis actually more meta than a straight-up comedy, not entirely dissimilar fromWes Craven’sScream, which arrived 10 years later. And, truthfully,Heart Eyesoften feels more like a post-Screamfilm than an ’80s slasher. But whereas bothScreamandJason Livesknewhow to blend genres,Heart Eyesmisses the mark.
Having a horror movie break out during a romantic comedy is a fun idea, but ifHeart Eyesis horror above all else, then terror has to be the dominating feeling throughout. The first scene gets that right. We meet a bickering young couple during their proposal in a vineyard, where the right words being said and the right camera angle to capture the moment are more important than the act itself. Before long, the Heart Eyes Killer strikes, and the scene quickly stops being a commentary on overly elaborate marriage proposals to focus entirely on suspense and carnage. Had the film kept this tone and balance throughout, it could have worked, butHeart Eyescontinually struggles to blend its slasher and rom-com tropes.
In ‘Heart Eyes,’ the Biggest Slasher Movie Rule Gets Tossed Out the Window
Maybe sex doesn’t always equal death in horror?
It would have been enough to introduce Ally and Jay as strangers who are immediately attracted to each other and then fall in love as the Heart Eyes Killer is chasing them. Some of thosecute romantic comedy tropescould have been woven in organically. But the problem is the movie tries to throw inallof them. The couple has to meet by ordering the same coffee, then they have to bump heads and act awkward and giggle. Jay has to be the new guy at work who might be stealing Ally’s job, like this is some Lifetime TV movie. A friend of Olivia’s has to use the name of every romantic comedy she can think of in a sentence. Olivia has to run after Jay in an airport … and on and on and on.
Heart Eyesconstantly pushes its rom-com agenda, nearly to the point of parody and definitely to the point where the film completely forgets to turn back to its horror half.Jason LivesandScreamknew when to stop with the genre-hopping and get to the thrills. Tommy Jarvis (Thom Mathews) wasn’t making jokes as he hunted down Jason, and Billy (Skeet Ulrich) and Stu (Matthew Lillard) eventually made good on re-enacting the horror movies they liked to reference. But the rom-com tropes only pick up speed asHeart Eyesgoes along, as if the movie is constantly winking at its audience and saying, “Get it?”
Comedy During the Action Kills the Tension in ‘Heart Eyes’
All of those rom-com tropes are used inHeart Eyesfor comedic effect, butthere’s a fine line between horror and humor.Friday the 13thandScreamnever make their killers the joke, and, toHeart Eyes' credit, it doesn’t either. When that mask is on, the Heart Eyes Killer is creepy. It’s everything else that’s a joke. The best horror comedies know when to hit stop on the funny and let the scares take over.Heart Eyeswants to constantly do both at the same time, but that just can’t work. If you’re making jokes during the film’s most suspenseful moments, all the tension is removed from the scene.
For example, at one point, Jay and Olivia trap the killer in a bedroom, but then they stand near the door and make a joke instead of running. And if they’re not scared of the killer, why should the audience be? Later, when they attack the Heart Eyes Killer, Olivia complains about getting blood in her mouth and projectile vomits all over the villain, completely taking away anything scary about him. Ruben’s film ends up treating its protagonists like a joke, as they shout bad one-liners while trying not to die. It’s just one precarious step away from falling intoScary Movieterritory.Heart Eyeswants to live up to slashers that came before, but that’s hard to do when they can’t get out of the way of their own gimmick.
Heart Eyes
In Heart Eyes, two co-workers working late on Valentine’s Day are mistaken for a couple by the infamous Heart Eyes Killer. Directed by Josh Ruben and written by Michael Kennedy and Christopher Landon, the film stars Mason Gooding and Olivia Holt.
