HEART EYES: Slasher Comedy with Heart
By Harrison J. Bahe
For the past several years, the “Heart Eyes Killer” has wreaked havoc on Valentine’s Day by stalking and murdering romantic couples. This Valentine’s Day, no couple is safe…
I do love a good slasher flick. Since the Scream movies have basically deconstructed and rebuilt the genre to self-awareness, it’s hard to make a good slasher flick nowadays. However, there comes a slasher flick every once in a great while that inserts itself into the great pantheon of slasher classics. Heart Eyes is on the right path to be one of those movies.
What makes Heart Eyes great is its self-awareness. The filmmakers knew what kind of movie they were making, and they knew exactly what kind of audience would be watching this movie with critical eyes. Heart Eyes delivers on all the gory thrills that is expected from the slasher genre. It pays homage to almost every slasher film that came before it, but it also hilariously pays homage to every romantic film ever made. In fact, the film flips the genres on their heads and addresses the wondrous cliches that we’ve come to love from them as they’re smashed together in all its gloriously gleeful gore. First, the horror. The chases in the film are exciting and the kills are the over-the-top enough to satiate every gorehounds desire for carnage. Second, the romantic aspects. The film pulls from every great romantic comedy out there and makes us care for our two love birds who become the target of the heinous Heart Eyes Killer. It even pokes fun at those couples who sacrifice genuine authentic experiences for the sake of capturing the moment of proposal for a staged video. I love it!
Heart Eyes is a fun, self-aware horror comedy with heart. It has all the thrills of a slasher flick and all the romance of your favorite romantic comedy films. It even includes some unexpected horror alumni as Jordana Brewster from films like The Faculty and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning and Devon Sawa from Final Destination and Idle Hands play detectives seeking out the Heart Eyes Killer. It’s all smushed together into one heck of a film that will scare you, thrill you, and make you say “Awwww” to its lovey-dovey moments, which is why I give Heart Eyes:
4 Arrows out of 5
Heart Eyes has been Rated R by the MPAA for strong violence and gore, language and some sexual content.