I was not expecting a mash up of Rom-Coms and slasher-style horror flick in the new film, Heart Eyes. Directed by Josh Ruben, who worked with this type of tone in the awesome independent film Werewolves Within in 2021, Heart Eyes truly does an excellent job of blending humor, romance and bloody gore.

The last two years, one in Philadelphia and one in Boston, a serial killer had been killing loving couples on Valentine’s Day. After February 14th, the Heart Eyes Killer, or HEK as he was called, would disappear. This year, the killer resurfaced, this time in Seattle.

Ally (Olivia Holt), going through a recent break-up, was struggling to do her job as an advertising creator, especially for the romantic product they are selling. Because her pitch was so dark, the head of her agency called in a freelance advertising designer, Jay (Mason Gooding).

Ally and Jay had a spark between them, but Ally’s own issues kept them apart. However, the HEK saw them together, mistakenly thinking they were a couple, and started to stalk them.

The cast does a strong job with the material. None of the actors were known to me. I saw that Olivia Holt was on the TV show Cloak and Dagger, so I did watch her there. I thought everyone did an excellent job with their characters and I was never certain about what way the story was going to take .

I can’t imagine that it is easy to balance the tone for a film like this. Heart Eyes never feels as if it is too silly with the humor or too much with the romance or too much with the gore. It all balances well, fitting together well. It had the feel of Happy Death Day combined with Scream. It was serious when it needed to be, and funny when it needed to be. All the while, providing us a couple that was worth rooting for and who were very relatable.

I enjoyed this movie quite a bit. It felt like it walked that line that kept everything nicely even and prevented it from becoming just a mess.

4 stars