What do you get when you mix Nora Ephron with Freddy KruegerJason Voorhees and Michael Myers? The combination may seem antithetic, but it works scary well in the director Josh RubenS cute, funny, scary rum-com/slasher movie mash-up, “Heart eyes. ”
Ruben, who works from an inventive script by Phillip Murphy, Christopher Landon and Michael Kennedy, somehow satisfies fans of both “sleepless in Seattle” and “a nightmare on Elm Street.” An iconic new horror Villain was born in the form of the film’s heart -lord, a slasher that stems young lovers every day of Valentine.
Ruben, whom he explained to IndieWire, wanted the film’s two sides to be just as strong so that the horror would deepen romance made the more scary because of our investments in the two young lovers (Olivia Holt and Mason Gooding) who fled the heart eye murder. As he studied films of both genres, he quickly realized that the usual thread was the importance of music. “You are watching a movie like John Carpenter’s” Halloween “, and it’s wall-to-wall points,” Ruben told IndieWire. “Without the point it would be something completely different.”
Ruben found something similar in the comedies that he referred to when he prepared “heart eyes.” “Then you look at something like” bride’s father “and see what Alan Silvestri gives to it, or what (Marc Shaiman) gives” sleepless in Seattle “, and it is always beautiful and orchestral,” he said. “It’s a bit sugar, but it never flashes.”
Ruben wanted something cordial like Silvestri and Shaiman’s work that could slip into screaming strings and assaulting percussion if needed, thus his choice of composer, Jay Wadley. “I knew Jay could deliver something as romantic and vulnerable as Silvestri, but I also knew that after working with M. Night Shyamalan, he could block it something scary.”
If Holt and Gooding provide the film’s romantic heart, the terror and Gore will come with the permission of a slasher as immediately memorable as “Friday the 13th” sequels Jason – a suitable reference point given Ruben’s key impact on the film as a whole. “Strange, it was’ Friday the 13th we: Jason lives,” Ruben said. “It has blue moonlight, it has falling leaves, it is as terrible as it is stupid.” While Ruben did not want “heart eyes” to be stupid, he wanted to “calm the audience to independence” with Nora Ephron-Esque elements before he went in to kill.
The killer himself began with the mask, as Ruben knew would be the largest review subject in film. “The very minimal slasher description in the script was something for” a twisted version of Heart Eyes Emoji, “said Ruben.” So then you go to legends like Tony Gardner and Bryan Christensen, who has worked with everything from Chuck Russell “The Blob” To “Darkman” and “Chucky” series and say, “What are you for the most twisted version of the heart eyes emoji? ‘”
Given Freddy Krueger in mind as an influence, Ruben wanted the heart’s murderer’s mask to look like it was made in a workshop, with asymmetrical eyes and incomplete metal rims that give the villain a little sad, puppy dog look without undermining the horror. “And then Chris Landon said:” What about age? “, Said Ruben.” The more you can age this thing, the more scary it gets because you look at it and go, “What the hell has that thing seen before? Where has it been?” So we talked about oxidized Blood and this joker -like batter over the mouth, and that type put it over the edge for us.
For the murderer’s physicality, Ruben returned to his primary influence. “I told Stuntman Alex McColl to watch” Jason lives, “he said.” I said, “Bring what you want to, but you get the idea.” All the other films Ruben loves that were affected by “Halloween” and Its monster. “The simple, iconic main cock, everyone does. Even in “Kiss the Girls” it was fantastic. ”
During the mixing process, Ruben also visited his beloved “Friday the 13th we: Jason Lives” when it played on the big screen in an revival house, and he brought a couple of his collaborators. “I took my editor and producer to see it, and they went,” did you just rip everything in this movie? ” letter To all his favorite movies.
“Wes Craven is in my blood. I’m a “Nightmare on Elm Street” children. I’m a “jaw” child. But “Jason Lives” was the one I continued to go back to, “the filmmaker said.
“Heart Eyes” opens in theaters on Friday 7 February.
