Director Josh (Werewolves Within/Scare Me/A Wounded Fawn) Ruben's Heart Eyes seizes the reins from My Bloody Valentine 1981/2009, Valentine and (the too often bypassed) Hospital Massacre to install new bloodshed for the amorous holiday.
In this case, we get a persona wearing a mask with glowing (night-vision), heart eyes, who returns each Valentine's Day to slay young lovers. (This time, the carnage occurs in Seattle.) The Heart Eyes Killer's origin remains vague through most of the movie, but it doesn't stop the scares, with an overflow of gruesome, tongue-in-cheek morbidity (ala Student Bodies, April Fool's Day 1986, Unmasked Part 25, Lisa Frankenstein and Companion) and more than a little, lonely-heart lament swirled with His Girl Friday spunk.
Olivia (Girl vs. Monster/Cruel Summer) Holt's Ally McCabe and Mason (Scream V & VI) Gooding's Jay Simmonds are the leads, ad-agency coworkers for wedding rings, who are mistaken by the (sardonic-cupid) killer for an official couple. The two must avert death throughout the night, passing through an apartment, a carnival, a precinct, a drive-in theater and a chapel during the arduous hours, their bond becoming stronger along the maddening way. (They're joined by Michaela Watkins, Chris Parker, Gigi Zumado, Latham Gaines, Devon Sawa, Jordana Brewster and a particular, "left-field" chap who the film's promoters are presently keeping concealed; each actor/character plugs the jittery gaps as either a casual interloper, potential victim or well, maybe something altogether else--hint, hint.)
Much credit goes to writers Christopher Landon, Phillip Murphy and Michael Kennedy for making astute use of the various, splatter-flick, run-for-your-life tropes, which fans of the subgenre will respect.
Ruben's direction moves it along with utmost vim within a ninety-seven-minute span, so that things never seem anchored by the familiar format, resting the movie's success on its wacky, hybrid premise.
I'll admit, I'd have liked earlier insight on the Heart Eyes Killer, aka H.E.K., who's used as a rampaging prop with a Scream/Psycho II-ish catch, but hey, the concept serves its purpose well enough, and it seems there's a good chance that this one will get a follow-up. Why not fashion a backstory (even a prequel-segment within a sequel, in the manner of Rob Zombie's Halloween) to continue the spoofy mythology?
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