Heart Eyes Killer (HEK) comes out in the Valentine’s Day to hunt lovely couples, wearing a creepy mask with glowing heart shaped eyes. Can he be the next iconic slasher killer on the screen? People who were involved in making the movie think so. Director Josh Ruben said that their goal was to create a genuinely scary movie with romantic elements. He thinks that he had found the balance.
It’s not serious
There are three elements in the balance in this movie. It has slasher-horror-scary parts and romance and comedy. So there are tense, scary scenes and serious scenes and romantic scenes. But without a fail every kind of a scene has a comedy part in it. From the very first scene where the Heart Eyes Killer first appears on the screen to kill the annoying couple in the vineyard, to the very last end-credit scene there are comedy bits in every scene. It actually dampens the seriousness of the actually serious scenes.
Another thing that reduces the seriousness of the movie is the behavior of the two main characters. Even in dire situations Ally and Jay find moments to have lovey-dovey little talks. In the very first time they were attacked by the Heart Eyes Killer, they fled Ally’s apartment and closed the door behind them. Instead of fleeing from a literal serial killer, they stopped at the door to have a little talk. HEK had to stab through the apartment door to wake them up from their love induced stupor. Later when they were hiding in a van from the HEK, they had time to have a full blown discussion about reasons behind their views on true love. They only panicked when the killer was in their field of view. Otherwise they were not acting like truly terrified targets of a notorious serial killer. So as a viewer, I did not feel really scared behalf of Ally and Jay.
Overusing comedy and the lack of real panic in the main characters have stopped this movie from becoming a truly scary slasher flick. I’m not unkind to say that Heart Eyes feels like a parody movie. But it feels like a romantic comedy with a slasher twist.
The Heart Eyes killer
The killer has a killer design. His mask is unique and quite intimidating. I really like its bony looking leathery texture. It gets more intimidating when its heart shaped eye sockets start to glow red in the dark when the killer is using in-built night vision of the mask.
Killer’s all black attire and his big jacket make him look bigger and imposing. The sound design of killer’s footsteps also adds some weight and power to his character.
Movie director said that he specifically requested to include glowing eyes and a utility belt to HEK design. He calls the utility belt as the Utility Belt of Death. To be honest, even after listening to his commentary I still cannot identify a distinctive utility belt on the Heart Eyes Killer. I can see that HEK is pulling out weapons from under his coat, but his utility belt is not visible like Batman’s utility belt. According to the director he was aiming to create a similar look to another famous slasher icon, Jason Voorhees’s utility belt.
Heart Eyes – Powers and abilities
On the screen, the Heart Eyes Killer has a commanding presence. He looks taller than the average person, quite strong and lethal. It was established from the very first scene that the HEK was not a supernatural being. Actually I did not catch that on my own. I learned it from the director’s commentaries. In the vineyard scene, when HEK reaches in to the grape crushing machine to grab the woman, she slams the door on his hand. There, you can hear a faint yelp coming from the HEK. Director says that they had deliberately added that yelping sound to show that the killer is not some supernal monster, but a human.
Freak of nature: you can’t deny that the killer shows some extraordinary feats throughout the movie. He is strong enough to stab a police woman with a flagpole and raise her completely off the ground. He is pretty quick and accurate with his lethal throwing knives.
Tech wizard: HEK has some cool gadgets too. He uses extension crossbow bolts for his crossbow. He can light up heart shaped eyeholes in his mask. That’s not just a cosmetic choice. They light up when he uses the inbuilt night vision function of his mask. Also in the first scene, I noticed that he knew how to operate the grape crushing machine or he was tech-savvy enough to figure it out on his feet.
So in summery HEK is a brute and someone with tech/ engineering knowledge.
Jay Simmonds – The Red Herring
Jay Simmonds is a perfect candidate as a suspect for the Heart Eyes Killer. He is tall and big, and looks strong. In the coffee shop, Right after he literally bumped into Ally, we can see him looking at a TV screen which is showing news about the Heart Eyes Killer. In that scene he has a certain look, like he knows something about the news. I did not fell for that. I immediately sensed that all these signs are there to frame Jay Simmonds as the killer. I knew it was a Red Herring. It was too early to give up hints about the identity of the killer. As it turned out, I was correct about the red herring.
Three Killers
Even though I was able to sniff out the red herring from miles away, I never anticipated that the Heart Eyes Killer was not a single person, but three people acting as one. This is actually not a new thing. I can think about two other stories where the killer turns out to be more than one person. In the TV show Mentalist, Red John is a notorious serial killer and the arch-nemesis of the protagonist, Patrick Jane. Patrick Jane is a mentalist who uses his mentalist abilities to catch criminals, and he is very good at that. But, Red John is always few steps ahead of him. As it turns out, Red John is not a solo serial killer. He is more of a cult leader. He has many followers in powerful positions, especially in law enforcement agencies. So it is near impossible to identify the true identity of Red John. Patrick Jane personally kills two prime suspects for the Red John. First one is a decoy and the second one is the real one. Even though the show presents the last one as the real Red John, many fans of the show, including I believe that the real Red John could still be out there.
In Hot Fuzz (2007) movie there is a killer in a village who wears a cloak and a mask to hide his identity. Nicholas Angel (starred by Simon Pegg) is a top tier police man who is too good and efficient at doing his job at London. Since his stats shame his fellow officers they give Officer Angel a transfer to a crime free quite village. That is the village of the killer. When Officer Nicholas Angel learns about the killer, he tries his best to catch the killer. Even this elite police officer has a hard time trying to catch the killer because the killer is abnormally fast and has an ability to appear and disappear in unexpected places. Later it turns out that the killer is not a single person. A group of villagers in the village have created a secret society like an extremist neighborhood watch. They use the killer persona to kill off any unwanted person from their village.
The Heart Eyes had an opportunity to create something like in Hot Fuzz. It has three killers wearing the same costume. So they have missed the chance to show the Heart Eyes Killer moving abnormally fast and pop up in unexpected places. It would have even added a supernatural flair to the movie.
The three killers plot twist lessens the impact of the reveal of the identity of the Heart Eyes Killer.
If the killer turned out to be Jay Simmonds or someone who is built like him that would have been great. Instead we get three people as the HEK. One of them is Detective Jeanine Shaw (Jordana Brewster). She is tiny comparing to the Heart Eyes Killer. And she claims that she is the one who was in Ally’s closet. The one who came through the closet was a brute. I’m sorry, but I can’t suspend my disbelief to accept that it was Detective Shaw under that mask. She is tall enough to be the killer and bulky clothes could make her look big. The killer in the vineyard easily could be her, because in there HEK uses primarily ranged weapons like crossbow and throwing knives to kill people. But in the Ally’s apartment, the killer throws hands with Jay Simmonds who is taller and bigger than the killer (Jay Simmonds’s actor Mason Gooding is actually taller than the HEK’s stuntman Alex McColl according to the IMDB). Not only that but also killer holds off Jay by his throat, using only one hand. Detective Show would not be able to do that.
Can the Heart Eyes become the next iconic slasher killer?
HEK has a memorable face mask. But that’s not enough to make him an icon or a cult classic. He needs some memorable scenes. In the movie focal point is not HEK, it is Ally and Jay’s love story. As an example, after the initial scene with the HEK he takes 38 minutes to appear again on screen. That’s a long time considering the movie’s runtime of 01 hours 37 minutes. My argument is that this one movie is not enough to stick HEK in people’s memories. Other slasher killers: Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers, Freddy Krueger have many movies under their name to establish as slasher icons. If anyone can do that with a single movie, that would be great. But in my opinion, HEK did not managed to do that.
Now, regarding making sequels, we are in quite the pickle here. All 3 perpetrators behind the HEK are dead. So how can you make a Heart Eyes 2 without the original Heart Eyes Killers? In the director’s commentary, director says “The mask was left at the crime scene. Who could possibly grab it if there’s a sequel?”
Ally and Jay are going to be the next Heart Eyes Killers..?
For a moment I thought that Ally is going to be the next HEK. After Ally pushed Detective Shaw on to the sword of St. Valentine statue, Ally had this strange look on her face. Previously she said that she was squeamish at the sight of blood, but in this scene she wasn’t bothered by blood. In fact I thought that Ally was enjoying the thrill of a kill. But it turned out that the sight of excessive blood had cured her hematophobia.
HEK already has a fan base in the movie. Most of them are some dumb kids who are trying to be edgy, wearing knock-off HEK masks. But there could be few bad apples among them who are crazy enough to be copycat killers. In fact, Detective Shaw and the I.T. guy David claim that the other killer Eli who had died in the car park was a stupid fan of them.
Original Heart Eyes Killers said that they met each other through online chatrooms. So there could be more people who are aware of their secrets. Also there is a potential to make a prequel to show how they had met through online chatrooms and conspired to form the Heart Eyes Killer.
There are many possible ways to carry on Heart Eyes movies without turning into supernatural realm by literally resurrecting the original HEK killers. If they decide to make more memorable movies, someday Heart Eyes Killer would be added in to the hall of fame of slasher icons.
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