Josh Ruben is the director here. Ruben has mainly done television. He seems to have found his niche though. His last two features were horror comedies. His previous specifically upped his profile, as it was a video game adaptation called Werewolves Within (2021). For those who have seen that small, independent film, you'll know that a crossbow ends up being a significant weapon. For this film, which Ruben didn't write, a crossbow becomes another significant weapon used. I would say the crossbow has more thematic purpose here, as this film is a slasher flick set on Valentine's Day. Obviously, Valentine's Day is symbolized with a cherub wielding a bow-and-arrow. Having a serial killer who wields a similar device only makes sense. This film was co-written and produced by Christopher Landon, a filmmaker who made a name for himself writing the sequels to Paranormal Activity (2009) but who broke out as the director of Happy Death Day (2017), a hit horror comedy that was one of the most successful of its kind, especially since Wes Craven's Scream (1996). The kind of meta-commentary, snappy dialogue and gory violence that made that Wes Craven film a hit was replicated to some degree in Landon's 2017 film, so Landon brings that same kind of energy here without missing much of a beat.
Olivia Holt is an actress and singer who made a name for herself on various Disney Channel projects as a child. She transitioned to adult pop star in 2016, eventually making her debut on Broadway in 2023. That same year, she appeared in a slasher comedy, Totally Killer (2023), produced by Jason Blum, the same producer behind Happy Death Day, so that's what probably put her on the radar for Landon and Ruben. Here, she stars as Ally, an advertising executive, living in Seattle, Washington. Her current job doesn't matter because she originally wanted to be a doctor, but she dropped out of medical school because she would always get queasy at the sight of blood. She doesn't like her advertising gig, but when her Valentine's Day campaign gets a ton of backlash from social media, her boss pushes her to fix it or else be fired.
Mason Gooding (Scream VI and Love, Victor) co-stars as Jay Simmonds, a fellow advertising executive who is hired to help Ally's client fix the Valentine's Day campaign. This forces him to work with Ally. Upon seeing her, he seems smitten. Yet, he leaves in the morning to hop on an airplane. Even if he is interested in Ally, he has less than 24 hours to make something happen both romantically and professionally. He's such a believer of love and romance, so it's difficult for him to get past her cynicism and belief that love isn't real or that it's a farce. This belief might be motivated from a bad breakup and issues with her parents, but Ally not being impressed with so-called romantic gestures, such as flowers, candy or fancy dinners isn't necessarily a bad thing. As this film progresses, it's revealed that different people have different "love languages." Hers might not necessarily be traditional, but the film doesn't engage with that possibility. It does take something traditional and swaps the gender roles in a cute way, but that's less about challenging that gender role, as it's just about being cute.
Instead, this film quickly gets to the slasher stuff, which this film posits as a kind of love language for a certain psychopath. Apparently, killing romantic couples who demonstrate their affection in public is a fetish or kink for the psychopath in question who wears a leather mask with heart-shaped eye-holes. The psycho is referred in the media as the "Heart Eyes Killer" or HEK. This person was first identified as murdering couples in Boston and then in Philadelphia. Finally, HEK comes to Seattle, setting sights on Olivia and Jay, assuming them to be a couple because they are seen at a restaurant on the night of Valentine's Day. The police at first suspect that Jay himself is HEK, which then presumes that HEK might not be one but two or more people, not unlike the reveal in Scream.
Jordana Brewster (The Fast and the Furious and The Faculty) also co-stars as Jeanette Shaw, a police detective with the Seattle Police Department. She is investigating the murders. She's the one who suspects Jay of being the killer and she's the one who floats the idea of there being multiple killers who are HEK. She's an odd duck. When she's questioning Jay in an official capacity, she also seems to be somewhat flirting with him. When she's talking to Olivia about Jay, she also hints at her being flirtatious with him. She definitely seems unprofessional, but her police partner also seems very unprofessional, which is perhaps the comedic sensibility of this film at work.
Obviously, this film is very much about the burgeoning romance between Olivia and Jay. What's never stated is that romance is easy. Actually making a relationship work is the hard part. Yes, it's easy to be attracted when both people are very good-looking or sexy. Yes, the two might have some things in common in terms of their pasts or childhoods. Going through a mutual trauma, like being chased by a serial killer, could assist in bonding the two. Such a thing is underlined in the film Speed (1994) with dialogue from Sandra Bullock to Keanu Reeves that also undermines the idea. Bullock's character says, "Relationships that start under intense circumstances, they never last." This point was proven in the sequel to Speed. However, this film tries to circumvent that criticism by suggesting that this is some kind of soulmate situation or two people who will be in love forever and ever.
Because of the structure of this film, there isn't enough time for the characters to build a foundation that would prove such a suggestion to be solid fact that Olivia and Jay are soulmates. There are moments that attempt at some kind of deepness, but it's all superficial. I suppose the romance here is enough to satisfy, but I'm not sure I was as convinced with the final proclamations of love. If you're one that likes slasher flicks and a lot of gory kills depicted, then this film would likely give some thrill or entertainment. For me, it's about Mason Gooding, a young Black man who has been a part of the ensemble of the last two Scream films, now being in the forefront. He was so in an independent flick last year, but this is his first lead in a major motion picture and his charm is winning enough that he could absolutely be a movie star, something we need more of, especially young African American movie stars.
Rated R for strong violence, gore, language and some sexual content.
Running Time: 1 hr. and 37 mins.
In theaters.