Heart Eyes
SONY
Horror is once again on the rise and with shocking and quite surprising results it comes in an era without titans of the industry with infamous iconography from the likes of Freddy Krueger, Michael Myers, Leatherface and in its place feels a new dawn of Art the Clown in Terrifier, Pearl in Ti West’s Trilogy, Nic Cage in Longlegs and the Osgood Perkins era, and now Josh Ruben’s Heart Eyes which takes a crack at the whip to stand with newfound giants of the Horror scene. Without sounding like a backhanded compliment, Heart Eyes is a simple narrative and conflict with equally simple iconography that makes an entertaining romp. It finds perfect balance in not taking itself too seriously, laying its cards down in its cold opening that sets the tone and precedent for what is to come with terrific silliness and plentiful gore. That balance is quite well captured throughout, and with the often silly moments of horror convention. Heart Eyes wears idiocy as a badge of honour, plays with its statements, ridicules the ridiculous, and finds a surprising amount of heart and entertainment value in said thematics and moments.
It might be too far to state this is a breath of fresh air as Heart Eyes doesn’t risk or evolve the terms of genre convention or narrative, and as mentioned above, as much as it runs with the silliness, it very much is straight-laced and simple digestible horror. Which is perhaps one of its most covert strengths in that it doesn’t need to be outlandish to sell itself to major crowds and absorbs said audiences in being a simpler thriller with inquisitive iconography that draws in viewers. If to be compared to anything, forget about Scream or the masked killer motif, as Heart Eyes is similar to something like Christopher Landon’s Happy Death Day. Perhaps not in plot and structure, but more so with a strong focus on the protagonist with plenty of emotive brevity and pathos that crafts emotional immersion and depth to otherwise one-dimensional characters into living, breathing arcs. Olivia Holt and Mason Gooding have terrific chemistry and wonderful texture, and charm both separately and when conjoined. Their dynamic and relationship has a spark and maintains such when the film at times pauses its Horror narrative to fully engage with its Rom-com dynamic and still remains an entertaining and engaging feature. It blossoms comedy and emotional injection into their narrative and maximises the tension and atmosphere when Ruben’s film reminds the viewer of the world and genre they are in.
Furthermore, for the Horror and gore junkies, Heart Eyes isn’t something like Terrifier or Hostel to the degree of visual terror and torment but undoubtedly has its moments in physicality and set-piece with a notable opening and uncomfortable climax that book end a feature that makes every crossbow hit and knife swing hit and hit incredibly hard. Equally to boast, Heart Eyes manages to land its outlandish and silly iconography of its main villain, playing into aforementioned motif of understanding its silliness but within this heightened world, the Heart Eyes mask and visuals manages to fill the viewer with both dread and a sense of un-seriousness (as if to remind the viewer this isn’t real? Not that they would need to for obvious reasons) yet word just as well as in the context of the unsuspecting characters that come into contacting with this serial killer; jumping back and forth between the two until the inevitable demise.
Again, the simplicity of Heart Eyes is consistently key. It is silly but never stupid, and understands the weight of its weapons tenfold and delivers in spectacle and thrills. Its score works to incite dread and reinforce the tongue firmly in cheek tone, the feature on a whole is aiming for, with great camera work that is subtle yet effective in composition that isn’t trying to scream and shout with ego. It leads to the strongest, if not one of Heart Eyes’ biggest compliments, in that Josh Ruben brings no ego on screen here. It is a feature that wears itself in the utmost pride, with little here that takes away from the central focus of the film. No visual gimmicks, redundant cameos, forced twists or out of place soundtrack, everything is in place to deliver a solid experience that wants to have fun and to that degree what a success Heart Eyes indeed is.
