Screen Gems/Sony Pictures Entertainment’s Heart Eyes is a new feature that spans the rom-com and slasher genres. Directed by Josh Ruben, the film is driven by the Heart Eyes Killer, who’s wreaked havoc on Valentine’s Day in recent years, stalking and murdering romantic couples. This year, the killer has the city of Seattle on high alert as the holiday approaches.
Ally McCabe (Olivia Holt) and Jay Simmonds (Mason Gooding) are two co-workers who've been abruptly brought together to complete a last minute marketing campaign on February 14th, and after being mistaken for a young and in-love couple, become targets for the killer. The film also stars Gigi Zumbado, Michaela Watkins, Devon Sawa and Jordana Brewster.
Photo: Josh Ruben during the Heart Eyes shoot.
The feature was shot by director of photography Stephen Murphy, BSC, ISC, and edited by Brett W. Bachman, ACE. Ruben came on board on Valentine’s Day of 2024, and was tasked with completing the project in less than a year. And while the story is set in Seattle, the film was, in fact, shot on the other side of the world, in Auckland, New Zealand.
“From pre-pro, to shoot, to post, we hustled and got it done,” says Ruben of the film’s timeline. “The thing kind of came together very quickly...It was very fast moving…I get the call: ‘You’re leaving Monday for four months. You’re going to another country…And then I get down there, and I’m working with some of the most incredible crew I’ve ever worked with…They work with the likes of James Cameron and Peter Jackson frequently, so everyone hustled.”
The shoot took approximately 35 days, working out of a studio in Auckland, as well as on locations such as a vineyard, coffee shop and the city’s streets. Early conversations with cinematographer Stephen Murphy helped firm up the visual intent.
“I knew I wanted to shoot anamorphic, and I knew that I wanted the look to be evocative of the big, high-budget romantic comedies of the late ‘90s or mid-90s,” Ruben reveals. “We landed on a lens package that offered (a) bit of dirt. I am a huge flares fan, because I’m a huge (John) Carpenter fan, and it’s a great way to kind of give a lot of production value…But that was fully his department. I just gave him references. I said, ‘Look, I love Blue Moonlight. I love
Jason Lives. I love
Sleepless in Seattle. The trailer for
Alien Romulus.’ I wanted to look high-end and snazzy, but I need the blacks to be as black as anything in
Halloween. And I needed to also be evocative. It needs to feel like you’re in a Valentine’s Day film, so we looked at many references, and landed on a great aesthetic.”
Brett Bachman was able to assemble an initial edit as the shoot progressed.
“He did Werewolves Within. He did
(The) Toxic Avenger. Mandy. The Vigil,” says Ruben of the editor. “I call him my secret weapon. He’s just a phenomenal talent…He was assembling as we were shooting, and that’s a massive privilege. I’ve never had that before.”
Ruben was firm on capturing as much of the film’s action and gore in-camera. The Heart Eyes Killer’s mask, with its illuminated eyes, was created by makeup effects veteran Tony Gardner and Bryan Christensen. And when it came to making the kill shots look as authentic as possible, hair, makeup & effects designer Stef Knight embraced the challenge.
The ‘HEK’ has an arsenal of several weapons that are used to take out victims, including a machete and crossbow. He’s resourceful too, and in one case uses a tire iron to execute one of the most dramatic kills, surprising a young couple in the back of a van at a drive-in. HEK plunges the tool right through the mouth of the woman, leaving a hole in the back of her head. The camera then reveals the damage, with a shot from behind the victim that then passes through the opening and out her open mouth.
“Everything I wanted and needed to accomplish in-camera, I did,” Ruben recalls. “Honestly, there wasn’t a terrible amount of VFX augmentation. There’s decent share, but it’s all augmentation. Everything you’re seeing is in-camera, with the exception the hole in the back of Ruby Pledge’s throat, who plays the lady in the van. That’s just a testament to Stef Knight and the entire prosthetics and gore effects team.”
Crafty Apes in Canada provided visual effects services for the film. Heart Eyes’ soundtrack also received considerable attention.
“It’s paramount,” says Ruben of the soundtrack in a slasher film. “You cannot leave any stone unturned, as far as sound design is concerned, because it is everything. It builds tension...I am constantly dissecting and analyzing where we can calibrate that. Bret Bachman is so sound design forward. We built a lot of that blueprint of sound design in the edit before we bring it into the mix.”
Ruben is already thinking about his next project — an ‘alien-invasion thriller’ that he says he’s been “dying to make.”
INSIDE HEART EYES' ORIGINAL MUSIC
Composer Jay Wadley created the original score for Heart Eyes. His past work includes the psychological thriller
I’m Thinking of Ending Things (Netflix), the historical drama series
Franklin (Apple TV+), and the Sundance NEXT Award-winning
I Carry You with Me (Sony Pictures Classics).
“For Heart Eyes, I worked with a live ensemble of 50 strings and 14 brass players, recorded in Budapest,” Wadley reveals. “The orchestration was complemented by a rich blend of electronics and highly produced percussion elements, allowing the score to move seamlessly between horror, action and romance.”
Wadley (pictured, right) says the goal was to authentically integrate both horror and romance into the musical language, capturing the raw intensity of fear while also helping sell the emotional moments of connection between Ally and Jay.
“We needed to really make it feel like they were falling in love.”
For the romantic moments, Wadley leaned on the warmth of strings and the intimacy of piano to create a sense of vulnerability and emotional depth.
“In contrast, the horror elements relied on wild extended techniques in the strings and brass to build tension and terror, often reinforced by electronic textures. I used a combination of Moog Voyager, Moog Matriarch, and some small modular synths to shape the electronic elements, adding a tactile, analog grit to the score. A key inspiration was the classic aesthetic of both ‘80s and ‘90s horror films and rom-coms, and we wanted to call back to those sonic palettes while reinterpreting them for 2025 — melding nostalgic warmth with a modern, immersive edge.”
Wadley had approximately two and a half months to complete the score, which demanded that he work efficiently while making sure every moment felt intentional.
“I worked with Jason LaRocca on the mixes and I reference all the mixes on my ATC SCM50ASLs and in an ATC SMC25a 5.1 room,” he notes. “The result is a score that, hopefully, bridges past and present, delivering something both familiar and fresh.”