HEART EYES

HEART EYES (2025). Director: Josh Rubin.

A serial slayer known as HEK (Heart Eyes Killer) has already struck on Valentine's Day, targeting couples and others who get in his way, when he makes his presence known in grisly fashion in Seattle. Advertising woman Ally (Olivia Holt of Totally Killer) and newcomer Jay (Mason Gooding), carry on a budding, awkward romance while dodging attacks from the killer. Finally cornered, they find out the dread secret of the Heart Eyes maniac.

The Heart Eyes Killer

Heart Eyes begins with a sequence in a winery where a female victim is literally crushed in a wine press, her head being graphically smushed for the edification of disaffected gore geeks. Then we get a whole series of rom-com type scenes which are completely out of sync with the opening sequence. There's a scene when our young couple inadvertently lead the maniac to a drive-in theater, where he proceeds to hack and slash at dozens of people -- this is a highly uncomfortable reminder of such real-life scenes of slaughter (albeit this killer doesn't use a gun). 

Gooding and Holt

Okay, Heart Eyes doesn't get points for good taste, nor for its rather self-absorbed lead characters (Ally takes forever to start thinking about the many innocent victims and never really expresses much dismay over the people she literally sees killed right in front of her.) However, the climax, which has at least one surprise, is well-done and satisfying. Mason Gooding, an appealing actor, is the son of Cuba Gooding, Jr. 

Verdict: An odd mix of humor and gore that unlike the early Scream movies, doesn't quite work. **1/4. 

TOO SCARED TO SCREAM

TOO SCARED TO SCREAM (1984). Director: Tony Lo Bianco. Produced by Mike Connors.

Lt. Alex Dinardo (Mike Connors), his partner Frank (Leon Isaac Kennedy), and undercover policewoman Kate Bridges (Anne Archer of Fatal Attraction) investigate a series of gruesome murders at the tony Royal Arms high rise apartment house in Manhattan. Their one and only suspect is doorman Vincent (Ian McShane), who is decidedly strange, was there at the time of all of the killings, and lives with his crippled mother (Maureen O'Sullivan in a silent role). But could someone else be responsible for these slayings?

Too Late to Scream isn't quite what you could call a slasher film, because the murders are as tasteful as anything on television, and despite the use of a knife and mentions of dismemberment in one of the killings, nothing distasteful is ever shown. With a scarcity of suspects the film only begins to work up real suspense in the final few minutes when the killer and the motive behind the murders are  finally revealed. Mike Connors, who also produced the film, offers an acceptable if listless performance, Archer is better, there are some good character actors in vignettes, and Ian McShane basically walks off with the movie. The main problem with the flick is that the screenplay betrays little real knowledge of police methods and everything just seems rather perfunctory. Working as director, Tony Lo Bianco offers a workmanlike, if uninspired, job, although some of the very brief murder sequences aren't badly handled. One could argue that the motive and solution to this is borderline homophobic.

Verdict: Interesting cast and situations, an exciting climax, but there's something missing here. **1/2.