Heart Eyes (2025)

 Heart Eyes was another mystery screening which I had pretty much worked out and this is another film where I probably wouldn't have gone to see it normally. This is a horror film which sees some co-workers stalked by a serial killer who thinks they are a couple. That is pretty much the plot.

GOOD POINT 01 - VERY GOOD OPENING

The film wastes no time in setting its stall out with the Heart Eyes killer attacking a pretentious social media couple who are staging a marriage proposal in a vineyard and get killed (along with the cameraman filming it all). It's relatively short but it does end with the woman being squashed to death in some wine making contraption. Its gory and not what I was expecting. It is probably the most gory death in the film but its 

GOOD POINT 02 - GOOD CHEMISTRY BETWEEN ALLY & JAY

One of the key things you need in a romantic film (even a horror) and that is chemistry from the main couple and we get that in this film. Olivia Holt and Mason Gooding work well together and there is a nice evolution between the two as they go from two co-workers who don't get on to two co-workers who fall for each other and ride off into the sunset. Holt plays Ally as someone who isn't the most confident person and doesn't like that someone comes in and does her job better and Gooding plays the smooth talking person that Ally isn't supposed to like but finds it hard not to. Thye play the roles well.

GOOD POINT 03 - COMEDY WAS PITCHED JUST RIGHT

There were comedic moments sprinkled out throughout the film and it wasn't over the top but pitched just right there was one moment where Devon Sawa’s Detective Hobbs, looks angrily at Jay in an interview room, is escorted out of the room by Jordana Brewster’s Detective Shaw and the door is closed but it has a glass window in the door and it placing is perfect as his funny face is still looking at Jay. That may not make the joke sound funny but trust me it is and there are plenty of funny moments which work to create the right mood for the film. 

GOOD POINT 04 - GOOD KILLS

One thing you want in a slasher horror is that the kills need to be good and that is one thing the film does very well. The first kills happen within the first 5 minutes of the film and sees the self indulgent girlfriend meet her end in some sort of wine making machine which squashes the grapes and berries and its literally an eye popping scene. The rest of the kills might not be quite as graphic or original but they are what you would expect and they are effective.

BAD POINT 01 - DIALOGUE MUST HAVE BEEN WRITTEN BY AI

Whilst the chemistry of the two leads and the deaths make this film enjoyable, the script is terrible and sometimes its ear scrapingly bad. It's bad to the point that I wondered at one point if the screenplay had been written by AI. I know expecting the script in a horror film to be anything above average was asking a lot and was probably not going to happen, it still would have been nice to have something approaching decent. 

BAD POINT 02 - KILLER REVELATION WAS A BIT RUBBISH

The question of who the killer was is another thing that slasher films are known for and sometimes they work but other times they dont and unfortunately in the case of Heart Eyes its the latter. It’s revealed that Detective Shaw and her boyfriend/lover are the ones responsible and it felt a bit of a disappointment. It would have made more sense for it to be Ally’s ex-boyfriend or someone else. Instead we get a cop and the IT guy we encounter in one scene halfway through. Not the best revelations.

OVERALL

I didn't have too many expectations for this film but despite that I enjoyed this film. I thought it did what it was supposed to rather well and its a fun 97 minute horror film. Will it be one that I will want to watch again. Maybe if I see it on TV but I don't know. The central performances and the kills are worth your time and it would work as a nice double feature with one of the recent Scream films.