‘Heart Eyes’ Director Josh Ruben Balances Humor and Horror in New Slasher (Video Interview)

Josh Ruben has been acting in and making short films and television for almost twenty years, but directing the horror-comedies Scare Me and Werewolves Within definitely put him under far more radars as a director. That might also have been why Christopher Landon (Happy Death Day, Freaky) and Spyglass Media Group (Scream) came to Ruben to direct Heart Eyes, which on paper seems like a very different type of movie for Ruben.

Heart Eyes refers to the “Heart Eyes Killer” (H.E.K.) who has been plaguing various cities on Valentine’s Day, killing seemingly happy couples, and when the killer arrives in Seattle, two young people who are definitely not a couple find themselves as H.E.K’s latest target. Olivia Holt (Totally Killer) plays Ally, an ad executive forced to work with Jay (Mason Gooding from Scream), so she agrees to meet him for a dinner meeting, despite it being Valentine’s Day. A pair of detectives named Hobbs and Shaw (Devon Sawa, Jordana Brewster) have been trying to catch H.E.K., and the two

Heart Eyes might seem like a straight-up slasher movie but the fact it spends so much with Ally and Jay and is instilled with so much humor and romance makes it a very different take on a movie that some might feel like they’d seen before.

Cinema Daily US had a chance to speak with Ruben about how he got involved in the movie, casting his two leads, and how he carefully straddles that divide between horror and humor. Unfortunately, Ruben and his wife lost their new house in the L.A. fires before fully moving in, but he told us that he wants to make more movies in the city to help it get back on its feet after the disastrous event.

Heart Eyes opens nationwide on Friday, February 7 with previews on Thursday night.

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Director: Josh Ruben

Screenwriter:  Phillip Murphy, Christopher Landon and Michael Kennedy

Cast: Olivia Holt, Mason Gooding, Jordana Brewster, Devon Sawa, Gigi Zumbado, Ben Black, Latham Gaines

Producer: Christopher Landon, Greg Gilreath, Adam Hendricks

Production Co: Spyglass Media Group, Divide/Conquer, Screen Gems, Ground Control, 

Distributor: Sony/Screen Gems

Rating: R (Strong violence and Gore|Language|Some Sexual Content)

Genre: Horror, Comedy

Language: English

Release Date (Theaters): February 7, 2025

Runtime: 1 hour, 30 minutes

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Check out more of Edward Douglas’ articles.

You can watch the trailer for Heart Eyes below: 

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