Heart Eyes' Killer Identity Twist & Plan Explained

Warning: Main spoilers forward for Coronary heart Eyes

Josh Ruben’s newest horror comedy Coronary heart Eyes has earned overwhelmingly optimistic critiques for its well-executed style mix, however maybe probably the most good a part of the script was its stunning twist ending, which lastly revealed the id and motivation of the Coronary heart Eyes Killer. Whereas Coronary heart Eyes is heavy on each gore and imaginative kills, it develops a surprisingly candy romance in between the meta rom-com commentary and the sight gags. Critics have applauded the forged of Coronary heart Eyes, significantly its two leads, for strolling the road between horror and comedy.

The film follows new coworkers Jay (Mason Gooding) and Ally (Olivia Holt) as they spend Valentine’s Day evening fleeing from a masked killer via town of Seattle. In the midst of their ongoing terror, they discover widespread floor regardless of their conflicting attitudes in direction of romance, ensuing within the improvement of actual emotions for one another. Unsurprisingly, they handle to outlive the evening in order that their newfound relationship has the chance to proceed, however solely after they uncover the true id of the Coronary heart Eyes Killer.

Associated

Coronary heart Eyes’ Put up-Credit Scene Defined

The post-credits scene for Coronary heart Eyes confirms the fates of Ally and Jay after the grisly occasions of the film and feedback on a possible sequel.

The Origin & Backstory Of The Coronary heart Eyes Killer

The Killer Recognized As HEK Was Already Two Years Into His Reign Of Terror

Coronary heart Eyes cleverly would not introduce the Coronary heart Eyes Killer as some mysterious entity that no person believes in, like many slasher motion pictures have achieved earlier than. When the film opens in Seattle, the nation is all too conscious that the “HEK” serial killer has slaughtered {couples} on Valentine’s Day the final two years. Whereas he initially started his rampage on the East Coast, killing {couples} in Boston and Philadelphia beforehand, he seems in Seattle for his third Valentine’s Day, and promptly murders a pair at a vineyard and a spa, together with anybody who will get in his method within the course of.

Coronary heart Eyes – Key Particulars
Launch Date	Director	Runtime	Price range	RT Tomatometer Rating	Metacritic Rating
February seventh, 2025	Josh Ruben	97 minutes	$18 million	82%	63

The killer had been captured with images and safety digicam footage, so most of the people knew what he seems to be like and the way he operates effectively earlier than the film’s fundamental narrative begins. In truth, the Coronary heart Eyes Killer has a sickly devoted fanbase, with folks sporting makeshift masks and a cult social media following. It makes the emoji-eyed slasher considerably distinctive in trendy horror, and provides him an added layer of realism; that is just about precisely how social media in the true world would react to a gimmicky, well-known serial killer.

The First Coronary heart Eyes Killer Is Simply A Fanboy

The third Particular person To Act As HEK Was An Keen Recruit

Heart Eyes Killer In Seattle Police Department Lobby In Heart Eyes

That cult following is definitely liable for a few of the Coronary heart Eyes Killer’s murders, because it’s revealed that the masks is worn by a number of folks. One in all whom is a person named Eli, who’s later defined to only be a “fanboy” of the true Coronary heart Eyes Killer. He is recruited when the Coronary heart Eyes Killer involves Seattle, and it is really Eli who’s liable for the movie’s opening scene murders on the vineyard, together with the arrow that the cab driver who introduced Ally and Jay to Ally’s residence took to the face.

Eli is the model of the Coronary heart Eyes Killer that stalks Jay and Ally via the drive-in on the film’s (faux) climax, and who they finally incapacitate and kill. Whereas not all of the switches between Coronary heart Eyes Killers are recognized, it is clear that the transitions are well-orchestrated to make it appear to be it is one particular person doing all of the killing, which means that Eli was in all probability recruited primarily based on his pre-existing data of the Coronary heart Eyes Killer’s modus operandi.

Detective Shaw & Her Husband Are The Actual Coronary heart Eyes Killer

Jordana Brewster’s Character Posed As A Detective Searching HEK

Jordana Brewster as Detective Shaw in Heart Eyes

After Jay and Ally kill Eli, the true Coronary heart Eyes Killer, or Killers, are revealed: Jordana Brewster’s character Detective Shaw and her husband, David. Alongside her companion, Detective Hobbs (performed by Devon Sawa), Shaw manages to cover her connection to the Coronary heart Eyes Killer by posing as one of many detectives pursuing him. Coronary heart Eyes does a very good job hiding the reveal, with the one actual clues being the marriage ring discovered on the scene of the vineyard murders matching Detective Shaw’s initials, and David posing as an IT man on the Seattle Police Division the place HEK exhibits up.

The murderous husband and spouse lastly reveal themselves to Ally and Jay after they kidnap Jay and pressure Ally to St. Valentine’s Chapel in Seattle the place they declare they have been married ten years earlier. Whereas they try and pressure Ally to confront her personal romantic emotions (or lack thereof) for Jay, the younger, almost-couple handle to outmaneuver and overpower Detective Shaw and David, and kill them each in appropriately Valentine’s Day-related manners.

Why Detective Shaw & Her Husband Turned The Coronary heart Eyes Killer

They Related Primarily based On A Shared Ardour For Homicide

In a satirical shot at horror motion pictures, David and Detective Shaw’s motivation is not primarily based in some convoluted logic primarily based on revenge in opposition to a world that has handled them unjustly or their very own previous scorned love lives. They met years in the past in a chatroom and bonded over their shared affinity for homicide, actually explaining that homicide is their love language. As famous by a detective initially of Coronary heart Eyes and repeated by the Shaws within the film’s climax, “All people’s bought a fetish.” David and Detective Shaw’s occur to be killing {couples} on Valentine’s Day.

How The Coronary heart Eyes Killer Can Return In A Sequel

HEK Already Has Followers, So A Copycat Killer Makes Sense

With how glorious the critiques of Coronary heart Eyes have been, together with a projected field workplace complete that ought to fully justify the film’s modest manufacturing value, a sequel appears all however inevitable. Luckily, the groundwork has already been laid for the way the Coronary heart Eyes Killer can return regardless of all three individuals who have been liable for the slasher’s creation ending the film in a puddle of their very own blood. It is potential that neither Mason Gooding nor Olivia Holt will return for a sequel, however the Coronary heart Eyes Killer can dwell once more because of the tradition surrounding the character.

A Coronary heart Eyes sequel may discover the murders of a copycat killer, or the larger Coronary heart Eyes Killer fan tradition basically.

The connection between Detective Shaw and her husband started in an internet chatroom, the place someway the dialog discovered its solution to their shared love of grisly homicide. It stands to cause that the web might be how they discovered Eli, who was a licensed fanboy of the Coronary heart Eyes Killer earlier than donning the masks himself. With all three characters useless, with their identities uncovered, they may virtually definitely encourage copycat killers throughout the nation. A Coronary heart Eyes sequel may discover the murders of one in every of these copycats, or the larger Coronary heart Eyes Killer fan tradition basically.