Spoilers only have eyes for you.

I once said that horror shines when it’s mixed in with another genre. I wonder if it’s too late to take that back. Someone finally decided to try to throw a rom-com in the mix. Now as much I want to tell you to run for your lives now, this one deserves a chance. First of all, your suspension of disbelief is going to get quite a workout so start warming up now. If you’re not ready to play along, it might be more of a challenge. Let’s see what we have here.

(Credit: Sony Pictures)

Heart Eyes (2025) is directed by Josh Ruben and written by Phillip Murphy, Christopher Landon and Michael Kennedy. In this premise, a serial killer dubbed as the “Heart-Eyes Killer” or HEK for short, has been known to kill couples on Valentine’s Day. The movie casually drops Boston and Philadelphia before establishing its setting in Seattle. We follow Ally (Olivia Holt) as she stumbles onto Jay (Mason Gooding) in a meet-cute that has every cliche in the book of boring. It’s not Ally’s day as she’s headed to her job as a publicist to face the wrath of her over-the-top dictator of a boss thinking she’s getting fired. Instead, she ends up being partnered with a star publicist that ends up being, you guessed it, Jay again.

I’ll let you discover the rest of their backstories, but don’t worry there is not much depth here. The movie picks up the very moment that Ally and Jay get targeted by HEK and have to run for their lives. Up to this point, it’s obvious the movie is intentionally playing into every rom-com cliche including every single adult behaving like a child. Fortunately HEK finally makes a move before things get too sappy. Now, by this time, the mix is still romance and comedy so fortunately horror adds up some gore to spice up the balance.

It works better as horror gets mixed in, you just have to survive the introduction. The protagonists themselves are obviously playing their parts, but everyone else in the background is willing to remain one dimensional. As the action moves to a police station, we’re almost going into meta horror territory. Our killer has already demonstrated the classic slasher tropes of omniscience and instant teleportation so we know there is no safe haven or lock that will resist. And as for a happy ending, I’ll let you be the judge of which way the movie is going to take.

Recommended with reservations. It’s campy, silly and tacky but if you’re willing to play into it, can be entertaining. It’s not scary by any extent of your imagination and all perception of logic or reason should be left out of any viewing party. It never reaches the meta depths that it seems to search for, but it does work more as a comedy with horror elements, some gory stuff and romance on the side. If you’re willing to play on easy mode, it can be worth your time just don’t forget the popcorn.

That will do for now.