‘Heart Eyes’ Review: My Bloody Valentine

There’s nothing more appealing in a potential romantic partner than confidence, empathy, and honesty, and much of the success of Heart Eyes is tied to it being abundant in all three. Even while bathing in some of the most tired tropes of both slashers and rom-coms, there’s such a warmth and charm to the whole thing that it can’t help but come off as endearing.

It helps that there’s a walking embodiment of that principle in the form of Jay (Mason Gooding), a consultant brought onboard at an ad company when their creative director, Ally (Olivia Holt), blows an absurd amount of company money on a campaign that recreates famous death sequences from the movies. The campaign might’ve actually been a success if not for the fact that a serial killer—wielding a machete, and wearing a mask that looks like someone put little cartoon hearts on the lead singer of Slipknot—has been on the loose, slaying couples across the country on Valentine’s Day for the past few years and the campaign is nothing if not in bad taste.

Jay, though, is still in good spirits on Valentine’s Day, especially after he happens to cross paths with Ally ahead of their company meeting in one of the most sickeningly sweet meet-cutes ever seen on screen. While the stone-cold, love-averse Ally wants nothing to do with him, they’re forced to get to know each other a little better after a cheap plot to make Ally’s ex jealous convinces the Heart Eyes Killer that they’re a couple, thus making them a target.

Anyone who’s seen literally any rom-com in the last 30 years, from When Harry Met Sally to Anyone But You, knows where this is going. From minute one, Jay is your prototypical hopeless romantic of a dreamboat, and he’s able to effortlessly chip away at the cracks in Ally’s armor after a short time. But despite that familiarity, the film still narrowly avoids feeling cheap in the telling. And that’s probably the surest sign that this did indeed spawn from the same imaginations that made the similarly well-written Happy Death Day movies.

Here, Jay’s cornball act feels genuine, his kindness and softness feel earned, and even after getting into some fairly pulse-pounding peril, he winds up being a point of light on a wild, bloody night. Ally’s aloofness is also well-played, with the script not copping out when it comes to having her let her guard down slowly and organically, and at least until we hit the third act, which winks right at the audience that the climactic “Go get them at the airport!” sequence is about to happen, and just how silly it is in practice.

But Heart Eyes is a slasher movie first, and a gnarly one at that, with some imaginative, seat-shiftingly gruesome kills, and some particularly ominous set pieces. In the end, its only real flaw as a slasher is that the mystery behind the killer’s identity is a letdown, so much so that it may leave you wondering if a better version of the film wouldn’t have made much ado about it.

Marrying this particular brand of horror with rom-com conventions is no easy feat, and instead of trying to rewrite the book of love, Heart Eyes is more than happy to abide by it, delivering it chapter and verse to the very end. But aside from one indulgent moment of cynicism at the very start, its take on love is largely sincere and amiable. Which is to say, it’s ultimately a keeper.