2025, Josh Ruben (Werewolves Within) -- download
It's not a proper seasonal event without a slasher flick. But how about a romcom slasher flick, with all the tropes, like enough to make a Hallmarkie post from it, as long as you skip past the "returns to their PST" bit? Essentially, an infamous serial killer only slays couples, and always on Valentine's Day, and all over the country. And then our "really don't like each other" pair get mistaken for a couple and ... slashing time!
Ally (Olivia Holt, Jingle Bell Heist) is an ad exec who came up with a rather bleak, but incredibly stylish ad campaign for a ( ... a ... ?) jewelry company (essentially run by Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine) which not only fails but also draws the ire of the country due to the toneless similarities to the serial murders going on. So, Valentina brings in hotshot freelance ad man, Jay (Mason Gooding, Scream) to work with Ally, or else she is fired.
I should mention the meet-cute preamble where Ally whines to her bestie (Gigi Zumbado, DMV; a true joy in this role) about how she's about to be fired, orders a complicated coffee drink which just happens to be the same complicated coffee drink that a guy orders, and as they banter, they bop heads -- a number of times, drawing blood. And yes, the guy is Jay.
Ally also has an ex she is unhealthily obsessing over, who she happens to bump (no head bops though) into outside the resto where her and Jay are supposed to be meeting to strategize on a new campaign, but turns into a flirting, get-to-know-you meet cute, but which Ally savagely guts with her opinions of Jay. But outside, when she sees said ex, she grabs Jay and kisses him; you know, the classic "make the ex jealous" thing. Except, Heart Eyes or HEK (heart eyes killer) sees them and .... begin the real movie!
This movie is totally ridiculous, almost farcical in nature, except when its dealing with Jay and Ally. They are played as the straight romcom potential couple. Everything around them is unhinged. The cops who investigate the preamble / intro murder at a vineyard (loathsome influencer couple get squished in grape squisher) are named Hobbs and Shaw ("like, in the movie?" what movie?) and don't seem to mind getting covered in the blood & gore of the victims. When Ally and Jay are initially attacked and chased, Jay gets knocked unconscious, and Ally ends up briefly defeating HEK. The police appear and Jay is arrested as the HEK based solely on his initials on a ring found at the last crime scene. And the two just end incredulous while also focusing solely on their ... romantic entanglement.
I am once again challenged by my first reaction being that this movie is a "lot of fun." But it knows that the idea of a serial killer slaying a bunch of couples, and any random passerby who gets in his way, is not fun. When Jay and Ally escape the HEK the second time they end up at a midway / drive-in populated by tons of couples. They are just trying to get lost in the crowd, but eventually realized they are the ones getting a ton of people killed, and decide its time to fight back. They know its not fun for anyone, despite them getting all schmoopy over each other. An immense amount of the fun is that this is a ridiculous situation, and they begin to get it.
In the end, the mash-up of the genres played complete straight is what made the movie enjoyabled.
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