{"id":30590,"date":"2025-02-06T00:06:43","date_gmt":"2025-02-06T08:06:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=30590"},"modified":"2025-02-06T00:06:43","modified_gmt":"2025-02-06T08:06:43","slug":"heart-eyes-mixes-romance-with-gore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=30590","title":{"rendered":"HEART EYES Mixes Romance with Gore"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Running Time: 97 minutes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This film from Sony Pictures Releasing opens exclusively\nat theaters on February 7th<\/sup>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The arrival of Valentine\u2019s Day typical results in the\nrelease of various rom-coms, some good and some not-so-good. Every so often,\nstudios offer a bit of counterprogramming, like the 2003 slasher directly named\nafter the date. That feature was something of a stinker that is difficult to\nrecall today. After two decades, another film is attempting mix gruesomeness\nwith love-centric shenanigans. Heart Eyes<\/em> is a mixed bag of goodies that\ndoesn\u2019t all come together, but does work in fits and starts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The story begins by introducing a masked psychopath known as\nthe \u201cHeart Eyes Killer\u201d who, for the past two years, has murdered couples on February\n14th<\/sup> in different cities. It becomes immediately clear that Seattle,\nWashington is the latest area being targeted. After her latest, ill-timed publicity\ncampaign fails, young ad executive Ally (Olivia Holt) is forced to work with new\narrival Jay (Mason Gooding) on a new series of ads. The two have an awkward meeting\nat a restaurant before being targeted by the title character. Despite their\nclaims that they are not a romantic item, the maniac continues to pursue them. They\nseek help from police, including the single Detective Shaw (Jordana Brewster)\nand gruff Detective Hobbs (Devon Sawa), but find them little help as they are hunted\nacross the city. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Even though it is extremely violent, there is a heavy\nemphasis on humor. This makes the nasty bits lighter in tone than one might\nexpect. The film is clearly playing with Valentine\u2019s Day tropes as it opens\nwith characters being hunted in an idyllic locale. The opening set piece takes\nadvantage of a winery and a grape-crushing vat to maximum effect. A drive-in is\nalso effectively used and includes a disturbing impaling of an unfortunate pair\nof lovers. The villain\u2019s outfit is also amusing, with two glowing heart shaped\neyes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The film also benefits from a strong cast. Holt and Gooding make\na likable pair, with Gooding in particular offering several effectively amusing\ncomments and reactions to some of the odd behavior he witnesses. This is especially\ntrue at the restaurant when Ally encounters her ex (Ben Black), who displays an\nodd lack of empathy for friends who very, very recently died. There is plenty\nof onscreen chemistry between the two leads and they make the most out of their\ndialogue and reactions to everything occurring around them, which makes the\nleads easy to root for. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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So, what doesn\u2019t work? After a few creative slayings, there\nis a repetitiveness to several the villain\u2019s murders. And, of course, the antagonist\nhas no trouble offing random figures, but really struggles when chasing down\nthe leads. Speaking of which, some of the actions and behaviors displayed by\nthe protagonists really stretch credibility. Yes, the film is supposed to be\nfunny, but sometimes the back-and-forth between Ally and Jay right in the\nmiddle of an attack scene doesn\u2019t play well. In one instance, the pair take\ncover behind a door, only to start a \u201ccute\u201d conversation and then be violently\ninterrupted. One assumes the intent was to put an amusing twist a romantic clich\u00e9,\nbut in this instance the behavior feels too bizarre and doesn\u2019t earn a big laugh.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And while it\u2019s entertaining to see the killer rampage\nthrough a drive-in theater, it does take people perhaps too long to react in\nterror to what\u2019s occurring. In some respects, it feels like, in stumbling\naround town, the protagonists are actually unnecessarily adding victims for the\nvillain. Still, while the motivations of the characters are highly questionable\nand dubious, but at least we know we aren\u2019t supposed to be taking any of it all\nthat seriously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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At least this is a step above the 2003 Valentine\u2019s Day<\/em>\nfeature. The cast are remarkably charming, but the humor in this film is hit-and-miss\nand the set-pieces can range all the way from entertainingly demented to downright\nroutine. Still, there is enough here to amuse horror enthusiasts over the next\nweek or two. Heart Eyes<\/em> isn\u2019t perfect by a long stretch, but it is a\ncheerfully bloodthirsty slasher.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Running Time: 97 minutes This film from Sony Pictures Releasing opens exclusively at theaters on February 7th. The arrival of Valentine\u2019s Day typical results in the release of various rom-coms, some good and some not-so-good. Every so often, studios offer a bit of counterprogramming, like the 2003 slasher directly named after the date. That feature […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":30595,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[216,4660,5815,8977,8978,8979,8980,9319,11021,13383,15342,17844,18515,18709,23648],"class_list":["post-30590","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-216","tag-comedy","tag-devon-sawa","tag-heart-eyes","tag-heart-eyes-film-review","tag-heart-eyes-movie-review","tag-heart-eyes-review","tag-horror","tag-jordana-brewster","tag-mason-gooding","tag-olivia-holt","tag-screen-gems","tag-slasher","tag-sony-pictures","tag-valentines-day"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30590","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30590"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30590\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}