Spyglass has been building their horror portfolio over the last couple years, reviving the Scream franchise with Scream (2022) and Scream VI, as well as bringing the world Eli Roth’s long-awaited Grindhouse spin-off Thanksgiving (which is getting a sequel). Now Deadline reports that the Spyglass project Heart Eyes, described as a horror romantic comedy, has started filming in New Zealand, with Olivia Holt of Totally Killer and Mason Gooding from Spyglass’s two Scream movies leading the cast. We don’t know whether or not Gooding is going to show up in Scream 7, but he just can’t seem to avoid the slashers.
Josh Ruben, the director of Werewolves Within and Scare Me, is at the helm of Heart Eyes, working from a screenplay that was written by Happy Death Day director Christopher Landon, Landon’s Freaky collaborator Michael Kennedy (who also wrote It’s a Wonderful Knife), and Phillip Murphy (The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard). Here’s the synopsis: When the Heart Eyes Killer strikes Seattle, a pair of co-workers pulling overtime on Valentine’s Day are mistaken for a couple by the elusive couple-hunting killer. Now they must spend the most romantic night of the year running for their lives.
Ruben provided the following statement: “My love of horror is rivaled only by my love of romantic comedies. I’m excited as hell to mount my most challenging genre bender to date: a brutal slasher in a nostalgic rom-com universe.“
I’m a fan of the works of Ruben, Landon, and Kennedy (apologies to Murphy; I haven’t seen The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard), and Holt and Gooding are solid actors to have in the lead roles, so I’m looking forward to seeing how Heart Eyes turns out. Especially now that the synopsis and Ruben have confirmed that Heart Eyes is a slasher, which happens to be my favorite type of horror movie to watch.
Does Heart Eyes sound interesting to you? Would you like to see a horror romantic comedy that stars Olivia Holt and Mason Gooding, from the folks who brought us films like Werewolves Within, Scare Me, Happy Death Day, Happy Death Day 2U, Freaky, and It’s a Wonderful Knife? Let us know by leaving a comment below.