After Scream revitalised both the slasher and the horror genre at large back in 1996, the inevitable flood of junkier imitators arrived, less interested in reinventing the wheel and more in keeping the engine running. Quick to write and cheap to make, films like I Know What You Did Last Summer, Urban Legend, Cherry Falls and Valentine trotted out slightly different variations on the same formula (masked killer, WB channel teens) until the films became dumber than the ones Scream had been targeting in the first place.
It tracks then that after a Ghostface reboot, with 2022’s surprisingly successful fifth instalment, the same would happen once again. Heart Eyes, a film that boasts the same production company and one of its stars, is exactly what an exec would give an easy greenlight to, an easily sellable “if you liked” knock-off. But whatever might have made sense on paper just doesn’t translate to screen, a fun little concept that ends up being something of a drag.
