‘Heart Eyes’ is the Romantic Comedy Horror Mash-Up that Could’ve Been

Heart Eyes

★ ★

‘Heart Eyes’ is a movie about a serial killer, known as the Heart Eyes Killer, or HEK for short, who murders romantic couples on Valentine’s Day. He’s been moving from city to city for the past seven years, and at the start of this film, has found his way to Seattle.

This movie opens with the token horror murder sequence. In this case, a couple on a remote hillside has hired a photographer to shoot staged engagement photos for their social media. The killer brutally murders all three.

Jordana Brewster, Devon Sawa and Mason Gooding
© 2025 Screen Gems

The Seattle Police Department wastes no time investigating and speculating HEK has moved into Seattle. The investigation is led by somewhat inept police detectives Jeanine Shaw (Jordana Brewster) and Zeke Hobbs (Devon Sawa).

From here, the tone of the movie quickly jumps from a dark, campy horror style to a bright and vibrant romantic comedy vibe. It’s probably intentional that this feels like two movies happening at the same time. Whether it works or not is questionable.

Gigi Zumbado as Monica and Olivia Holt as Ally
© 2025 Screen Gems

The romantic comedy part of ‘Heart Eyes’ starts with Ally McCabe (Olivia Holt) with her friend Monica (Gigi Zumbado) in a coffee shop ordering coffee. They talk about men, Valentine’s Day, Ally’s love life and whether Ally will still have a job after her latest ad campaign bombed. Ally meets Jay (Mason Gooding) while in the coffee shop and they seem to hit it off.

We stay in romantic comedy mode for quite awhile. So much so that I checked my watch a couple of times wondering if I was still in the right theatre. There’s a lot of will-they-won’t-they between Ally and Jay that might have worked if the characters weren’t so campy and annoying. The acting falls somewhere between upbeat soap opera and over-the-top, Disney channel enthusiasm. For me, it made the characters unlikeable.

Olivia Holt and Mason Gooding
© 2025 Screen Gems

I found myself not caring much if Ally and Jay fanned the flames of love, nor did I feel much fear for them when HEK finally (I mean, it’s about time already) pounces on them from the closet.

I really enjoy good horror, and I appreciate a good romantic comedy. I thought the blending of the two genres might make for a wild, entertaining ride. It could have been a lot of fun. The problem is with the development of the characters and the simplistic, predictable dialogue.

The Heart Eyes Killer (HEK) stalks the Seattle Police Department
© 2025 Screen Gems

On the positive side, the horror scenes were well done overall. They were interesting and entertaining by themselves. But without sympathetic characters to root for, even the best scary movie scenes fall flat.

‘Heart Eyes’ is the romantic comedy horror mash-up that could have been. Oh, how I longed for it to be.