Heart Eyes is a 2025 romantic comedy-slash-slasher hybrid that blends Valentine’s Day sweetness with deadly twists. Directed by Josh Ruben and written by Phillip Murphy, Christopher Landon, and Michael Kennedy, this film stars Olivia Holt and Mason Gooding in a tale that explores love, trauma, and a serial killer’s obsession with couples. With a Valentine’s Day backdrop and a deadly premise, Heart Eyes adds a twisted flavor to the holiday of love.
Olivia Holt plays Ally McCabe, a recently heartbroken advertising creative who no longer believes in love. Mason Gooding portrays Jay Simmons, a charming consultant hired to fix Ally’s professional misstep. But their workplace awkwardness takes a deadly turn when they are targeted by the infamous “Heart Eyes” killer — a masked murderer who butchers couples on Valentine’s Day. What begins as a night out to discuss work soon spirals into a terrifying game of survival.
Let’s dive into how Heart Eyes unfolds — and more importantly, uncover the identity of the killer (or killers).
HEART EYES (2025) MOVIE PLOT SUMMARY
Ally McCabe is stuck in a post-breakup slump. Still bitter from being dumped by her ex-boyfriend, Collin, she pitches a macabre jewelry ad campaign showing lovers meeting grisly ends. The timing couldn’t be worse — a serial killer known as Heart Eyes is on the loose, targeting couples around Valentine’s Day.
Enter Jay Simmons, a confident and charismatic consultant brought in to clean up Ally’s PR mess. Their first dinner together is professional, though Jay tries to break the ice with some casual flirting. Ally, uninterested in love, keeps him at a distance. But when she runs into her ex and his new girlfriend outside the restaurant, she impulsively kisses Jay to save face.
What seems like a harmless kiss is anything but. Heart Eyes — lurking in the shadows — takes notice. Ally and Jay’s false romance has now made them the killer’s next targets.
After the kiss, Ally realizes she’s locked out of her apartment. Jay breaks a window to help her in and cuts his hand. Ally tends to the injury and reveals that she once went to medical school, but dropped out due to her aversion to blood.
That night, the killer attacks them in Ally’s home. A bloody struggle follows, and Ally runs, leaving Jay behind. She later finds two detectives — Jeanine Shaw (Michaela Watkins) and Zeke Hobbs (Devon Sawa) — who arrest Jay. He’s found with the killer’s mask and weapon, and his initials “JS” match those engraved on a wedding ring found at a crime scene. The evidence looks bad.
At the police station, Ally tries to defend Jay, while Jeanine flirts with him during interrogation. Meanwhile, Ally meets a seemingly awkward IT technician named David (Yoson An), who gently asks her on a date. She declines.
Suddenly, the power goes out, and Heart Eyes strikes again — killing the desk officer and Detective Hobbs. Ally helps free Jay, and they escape to a nearby drive-in movie theater, hoping to lose the killer. But the killer shows up, massacring couples at the theater.
Ally and Jay team up and fight back. They stab and kill the attacker and unmask him. But the face behind the mask is unfamiliar — a man neither of them has seen before. It’s assumed the nightmare is over.
Jeanine Shaw reappears, injured but alive, and offers to drive Jay home. Ally declines to join, still afraid of falling in love.
After reflecting on her feelings, Ally realizes she has fallen for Jay. Her best friend Monica (Gigi Zumbado) pushes her to go after him. Just as she sets out to do so, Ally receives a disturbing phone call — it’s the killer, who has captured Jay and orders her to come alone.
WHO IS THE KILLER IN HEART EYES?
Now comes the big reveal. And it’s not just one killer — there are three.
When Ally arrives at the chapel to save Jay, the true identity of the Heart Eyes killer(s) is revealed: Jeanine Shaw, David the IT guy, and a third man named Eli — the one Ally and Jay killed earlier. Eli, it turns out, was just a fanatic “third wheel,” while Jeanine and David were the real masterminds. Oh, and they’re married. That ring with the initials “JS”? It belonged to David, engraved for his wife — Jeanine Shaw.
Their motive? Murder is their kink. They enjoy killing couples on Valentine’s Day as a twisted form of bonding. The night Ally and Jay kissed outside the restaurant, they caught the killers’ attention. That unexpected spark marked them as targets.
David and Jeanine orchestrated the entire spree. David was behind the winery murder where the ring was found. Jeanine, a cop, used her authority to manipulate evidence and stay close to the case. Eli served as the face under the mask — the muscle, the expendable pawn. His death didn’t stop the killing spree because he was never the true threat.
In the final act, Jeanine gives Ally a brutal ultimatum: kill herself or kill Jay. Ally pretends she’s going to shoot herself, but turns the gun on Jeanine instead. Unfortunately, she also accidentally hits Jay. But somehow, he survives — thanks to some candle wax cauterizing his wound.
What follows is a gory final showdown. Jay kills David by stabbing him in the eye with an arrow. David falls onto burning candles and dies… or so it seems.
Jeanine, now enraged, attacks Ally. The two women battle fiercely until Ally grabs a metal straw and stabs Jeanine in the neck. In a final, poetic moment, Ally pushes her onto the sword of a statue of Saint Valentine — the holiday’s namesake. The blade pierces Jeanine’s neck and slowly decapitates her.
David tries to spring back to life but is finished off with an arrow from Jay. The killers are finally dead.
HEART EYES ENDING EXPLAINED
One year later, Ally is back in medical school, and she and Jay are a couple. At a drive-in movie, Jay asks Ally to move in. Ally turns it around and proposes instead. Jay accepts.
But just as the movie seems to wrap up with a happy ending, a mid-credits scene throws a final curveball. Ally receives a phone call that sounds like the killer’s voice. Turns out, it’s just Monica playing a prank. But the call cuts off mid-laugh, leaving us wondering — was it just a joke, or is someone else out there?
Heart Eyes mixes romantic comedy tropes with classic slasher horror, and flips expectations at every turn. What starts as a workplace rom-com becomes a tale of survival. The twist of multiple killers — hiding in plain sight — gives the story its punch, especially when authority figures like Jeanine Shaw are revealed to be just as twisted as the villains they claim to fight.
In the end, love survives, but only just. Ally conquers her fear, Jay survives the bloodbath, and together, they reclaim Valentine’s Day — but the shadow of Heart Eyes lingers just beyond the credits.
Stay tuned to tvacute.com for more updates, recaps, and deep dives into Heart Eyes and other thrilling Netflix releases!
