February has always been a month we associate with romantic comedies, but when it comes to 2025 movies, there’s honestly a lot more upcoming horror movies on the calendar for fans to get excited about. For someone like myself, who actually has a lot of love for both genres, I definitely recommend this weekend’s new release Heart Eyes. I had the chance to watch it early in order to speak to the cast and filmmakers for CinemaBlend, and I was so impressed with how it impressed me on both fronts.
Sandwiched between the releases of Sophie Thatcher’s Companion and the new Stephen King movie The Monkey, there’s a very fun (and funny) slasher called Heart Eyes. It’s definitely giving Scream – so if you are a fan of good-time horror movies that are also great for date nights, it might be your thing, too. Now, for the purposes of this article, I won’t be spoiling Heart Eyes. So feel free to read on as I share my take on the romantic slasher film. I need to talk about it.
Heart Eyes Is A Rom-Com Inside A Horror Movie, And I Had So Much Fun With It
Heart Eyes is about a fictionalized serial killer called the Heart Eyes Killer who has been haunting couples on Valentine’s Day for the past few years by killing them off. The movie specifically follows a recently single young marketing associate named Ally (played by Olivia Holt) whose campaign has gone totally wrong ahead of the commercial holiday. Mason Gooding’s Jay swoops in to assist her, but that means their red alert business meeting occurs during the dinner rush on Valentine’s Day, and makes them Heart Eyes’ next target.
So Ally and Jay end up spending their V-Day running away from a dangerous murderer who is going after the wrong demo for their M.O. Meanwhile, Jordana Brewster and Devon Sawa play a pair of detectives who are on the Heart Eyes Killer’s trail. I wasn’t sure what to expect going into Heart Eyes, but was impressed me was how well it nails being a romantic comedy and horror comedy in one go.
Like, it’s genuinely such a hilarious movie that had me both swooning and wincing at the clever bloody moments. I found myself getting very sold on Heart Eyes as a new horror villain, even though I never expected him to scare me. I also found myself going “aww” at the more romantic moments. It’s honestly very impressive how the movie was able to nail both genres at once.
Heart Eyes Also Has A Solid Commentary On Romance Trends
What really works about Heart Eyes is how it handles its tone. It’s solidly twisted, but never wants you to stop having a fun, lighthearted time. The movie starts strongly with a gnarly kill involving a couple getting engaged (and doesn't ease up from there). As the movie goes along, it had me thinking about how creepy and excessive couples can get about their relationships, making them prime targets for a horror concept.
For example, if you’re in your 20s like I am, your social media timeline is most certainly filled with wedding photos upon engagement photos and such. The movie made me think about the lengths couples can go to get attention and publicize their relationships.
That especially goes for Valentine’s Day. Sometimes it can feel like a competition is secretly happening on social media where couples will do anything to have the cutest possible record of their love to the world. It can get so nauseating that it’s not completely out of the realm of possibility that some crazed villain could start targeting them to teach the whole industry a lesson. And I’ll say this: while I definitely thought Heart Eyes was going in a specific direction within its commentary, there’s a lot more to it than I thought, and that impressed me, too.
The Heart Eyes Filmmakers Told Me They Had Both Genres In Mind While Making It
When I spoke to the filmmakers behind Heart Eyes, I asked them about how their backgrounds with rom-coms and horror movies may have been tested while blending genres. As co-writer and producer Chris Landon said about working on the movie:
It was a lot of fun. It's funny, I admittedly had been exposed to many, many rom coms just by virtue of my friends and sisters and to be honest, I've always kind of hated them, But, I also understood them really well because I think both rom coms and horror movies have a lot of tropes. And so for me, it was the joy of both approaching both of those genres and getting to sort of unpack all those tropes, but at the same time still writing characters that you're genuinely invested in, which I do think is the secret sauce of the movie. Because even though we're sort of winking and poking fun at some stuff, the characters in the romance are still taken for real.
Landon, who famously made the Happy Death Day movies and Freaky, was brought on with his Freaky co-writer Michael Kennedy after Philip Murphy came up with the idea. Murphy had a “really bad first date” in October 2021, and after it didn’t go well and he was watching a lot of horror movies for Halloween season, he started to imagine if they would have bonded if a scary movie killer like Jason Voorhees was after them. The resident rom-com fan was really director Josh Ruben, who told me this about his connection with the genres:
I grew up with an older sister and a mom who were constantly loving up on Julia Roberts. I think Pretty Woman was played in that house growing up almost as much as like all the Friday the 13th movies. My sister Rachel, who has a music track in the film, actually at the restaurant scene from her new album, she was both my rom-com gateway and my horror gateway. We were equal lovers of horror and rom-coms in my house… I was the little one [and my parents would] take me to everything from My Best Friend's Wedding to The Bodyguard. I was just dragged along, and they were all like big movies with big budgets, they shot on anamorphic lenses with beautiful light. They felt worth going to the movie theaters for. And, that's what I wanted to do in this instance was make it feel as kind of big and grand but as sweet as like Sleepless In Seattle or My Best Friend's Wedding or any of them ever did.
I find it interesting how the filmmakers connect with rom-coms versus horror, because while you watch it, you can really feel like there’s a lot of care and attention being placed in both avenues. Like, if you have one rom-com fan and one horror fan that go see this on a date, I think both will be happy, and that’s pretty amazing.
And, I Think Heart Eyes Could Become A Valentine’s Day Tradition For Horror Fans
Now, I’m not saying Heart Eyes is the best horror movie I’ve ever seen. But it totally won my heart, and I do think if you check it out, you will have a fun time with it and maybe even recommend it. I also like that it could fill this void on what to watch if you love horror and don’t want to go for a rom-com, or vice versa. There’s a campy quality about Heart Eyes that feels rewatchable, and I know I can definitely see myself throwing it on one Valentine’s Day in the future to relish in the season in a non-traditional way.
Heart Eyes hits theaters this Friday, February 7. While you’re here, you can also check out CinemaBlend’s interview with Mason Gooding about his horror track record thus far.
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