‘Heart Eyes’ is a Love Letter to Slashers and Rom-Coms

At a Glance: Brilliantly skating the genre line between Rom-Com and Horror, Heart Eyes is both a parody and a love letter to the most cliche of cinema tropes, crafted by filmmakers whose joy drips like blood in every scene. 

From the beginning, Heart Eyes is unafraid to be what it is: a Romantic/Horror-Comedy. Confidently, almost defiantly, committing to these opposing tones, the filmmakers manage to tap into something fresh and exciting for fans of both genres. Leaning into self-parody, Heart Eyes cycles through every horror and rom-com trope in the book, playfully poking us with over-the-top performances, innovative kills,  and Hallmark-level cheesiness. 

It’s a weird blend, for sure. If you absolutely despise romantic comedies or can’t stomach a gruesome death scene, you probably won’t make it very far into this flick. If you can find the fun in corny romantic dialogue AND watching obnoxious couples get brutally terrorized, then prepare yourself for a blast. 

Director Josh Ruben is practically gleeful in his execution of the script by Phillip Murphy, Christopher Landon, and Michael Kennedy. Someone with less enthusiasm would have risked of phoning in the rom-com beats and playing this thing too straight, but Ruben knows when to poke fun at the absurdity of the situations at hand. 

The cast is also clearly in on the joke and having a blast. In another movie, Olivia Holt (Cruel Summer) and Mason Gooding (Scream VI) would have made an eye-rollingly bland couple, but Ruben allows them to lean into their imperfections and play up their stereoytypically-attractive typecasting. 

Spoilers Below:

I have to talk about the Jordana Brewster in the room. The pure glee that this woman imbued her psychotic killer with was something I had not seen from Brewster before, and it was a joy to behold. She reveled in every nasty line she was given as if playing this character was her own personal kink.