What happens when the best horror movies and rom coms inspires a new scary movie villain? Heart Eyes! Just in time for Valentine’s Day, we have a new and very twisted story that takes place during the holiday dedicated to love to unpack. Following the Heart Eyes Killer stalking the characters of the latest of upcoming horror movies, CinemaBlend spoke to the filmmakers about creating the right ending that has left us wanting more.
The Heart Eyes Killer Reveal, And Why It Was The Right Ending
While one would assume the Heart Eyes Killer would just be a huge Valentine’s Day hater who had their heart broken a few too many times, that’s not what is revealed at the end of the movie. We learn that a weirdly kinky throuple are all behind the mask (centrally including Jordana Brewster’s Detective Shaw), and the reason they were stalking Mason Gooding’s Jay and Olivia Holt’s Ally, despite them not being a couple, was because of the unforgettable kiss they shared early in the night. While speaking to director Josh Ruben, he had this to say about the startling conclusion:
I believe the late add was the throuple element, which I just love and know many people who are in them. And, I just got a kick out of it and loved that it was not a love-scorned character or characters that this was like, as Chris and Michael kept saying when describing their motive, them just kind of going like, ‘It just makes us horny. This just turns us on.’ It just subverts the genre in such a delightful way, also makes sense, is also funny and is also really chilling. You still get that Stu and Billy like energy out of the denouement, but it’s also repulsive in its own way that we look at couples and go like, ‘Oh God, the PDA,’ but it's also so delightfully, ridiculously erotic.
As Heart Eyes kind of underlines throughout its runtime, everyone has a kink, and for the Heart Eyes Killer, that’s killing couples off. Even though Jay and Ally weren’t together on Valentine’s Day, the throuple that makes up the killer could sense their chemistry a mile away and decided to make them their target of the evening. It’s good that Jay and Ally are able to team up and kill off Heart Eyes themselves, but Holt could not handle all the violence. As she recalled about filming Brewster’s death scene:
Being there, I couldn’t even watch it. It was so intense.
In order to survive, Jay and Ally are able to defend themselves – giving Gooding yet another horror movie he’s survived, and in the process of running for their lives, they find love with each other. Pretty cute, right?
How The Heart Eyes Ending Leaves The Door Open For A Sequel
But could the Heart Eyes Killer strike again? Josh Ruben said that the filmmakers weren’t interested in leaving audiences hanging at the end, but rather leaning into the rom-com of it all with the scene of Jay and Ally in the convertible stepping up their relationship. As he continued:
That was about as much of a tease as we wanted to give, I think the mask being left on the altar in the chapel is kind of an exciting prospect that anyone else could get their hands on it. Whether still living or dead or whether, who knows, maybe some of the authorities coming to descend on the place, what have you? Who knows who can get their hand on it. I didn't think terribly much about them being exposed in the end. We wanted to kind of nod to films that do that last little wink that the killer might be alive, but we love that it's that it ultimately is Monica.
When I asked the writers, which consist of Michael Kennedy, Chris Landon and Philip Murphy, about why they decided not to tease a sequel, here’s what they had to say:
Never count your chickens. It is terrible luck. And, it would also step on the surprise of where this could possibly go. I think we all have a pretty clear idea of where we wanna go. But, why even introduce it when you can save it and surprise people.
Of course, we’ll have to see how Heart Eyes does and if the movie, which I personally had a blast with, hits with audiences before they go forward with more Heart Eyes movies. It does feel like it could be a franchise like the Scream movies, where the killer is someone different every time should it actually become successful. As Ruben also shared:
If we were to take this further, I mean all I'll say just in terms of like the franchise of it all is it has such potential for a long life because you could look at almost any rom-com from My Best Friend's wedding to Bridget Jones' Diary, and you could take similar scenarios setups or character archetypes and have Heart Eyes intersect their trajectory. They're like love-scorned, love-troubled, bumbling, fumbling, lovesick kind of lives. You could wedge a machete through the center of like Andrew Lincoln's cue cards in front of Kiera Knightly. And it would just be such a delight, you know?
So many possibilities! Now if you had a crush on Heart Eyes too, go out to see it with a friend… or take a horror-loving date?
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