Christmas-themed slasher villains have received more attention in recent years. Along with the return of Michael Myers in the Hallowe’en restart the trilogy, we have had Thanksgiving, Terrorist, and now Valentine’s Day is adding to the killer fun with Sony’s new movie, heart eyes.
Directed by Werewolves inside Josh Ruben, the film stars Olivia Holt and Mason Gooding as a pair of Seattle co-workers who work overtime on Valentine’s Day. It sounds potentially romantic, except there’s a masked killer in town known as the Heart Eyes Killer who targets romantic couples. After the duo witnesses the killer commit a gruesome double murder, Heart Eyes realizes that they must be lovers and decides to focus her attention (and the knife) on them. They’re not a couple, but sparks may fly as they run away and try to survive the night.
heart eyes has some Shout DNA in him, and not just with Gooding’s casting; was co-written and produced by Christopher Landon, the original director of Shout 7 who left the project last year after Paramount and Spyglass (a production company on the film) fired Melissa Barrera for her pro-Palestinian comments referencing the conflict between Israel and Hamas. In the film’s announcement JuneRubén promised that the film would be “a brutal slasher in a nostalgic romantic comedy universe.” The slogan promises “no couple is safe” and, if you’ve seen the recent Shout movies, many of those deaths can be mean, So watching it happen to the lovers could be fun in a twisted way?
Also starring Devon Sawa, Jordana Brewster and Michaela Watkins. heart eyes kill with love (and whatever else is around) on February 7, 2025.
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