The latest Valentine’s-themed horror movie Heart Eyes’ characters engage with rom-com tropes while in the middle of fleeing from a killer. It’s inherently ludicrous, yet that’s somehow exactly why it works.

Whether it’s because of similarities to Heart Eyes’ ending, similar romance plots, or just a few familiar names in the end credits, there are some great horror comedies both old and new that should resonate with those who enjoyed Heart Eyes. And while there are other horror movies that take place on Valentine’s Day, the best movies like Heart Eyes are similar for slightly different reasons.

10 Scream (1996)

Directed By Wes Craven

Although the Scream franchise’s Mason Gooding appears in Heart Eyes, the two films have primarily been compared on the basis of Scream’s very first installment. Both movies include similar twists involving multiple killers who seem almost giddy when it comes time to finally reveal their ultimate plan, and both movies include a ton of self-referential humor. While Scream naturally voices criticisms about the horror genre, Heart Eyes drills more into the rom-com side of its premise.

The similarities between Heart Eyes and Scream don’t end there. Although it doesn’t come up until close to the end of Heart Eyes, it turns out the Heart Eyes Killer and Ghostface both enjoy playing games. Both movies also wring jokes out of killers springing to life after having seemingly been killed. Perhaps Scream wasn’t originally billed as a comedy, but there’s no denying the film’s sense of humor has had an impact on Hollywood’s horror writers for close to thirty years, and that impact can be very lovingly felt in Heart Eyes.

9 Warm Bodies (2013)

Directed By Jonathan Levine

Despite being written and directed by a man whose feature directorial debut was slasher film All the Boys Love Mandy Lane, zombie romance Warm Bodies doesn’t actually emphasize its horror elements all too aggressively. There are some extremely tense scenes when Nicholas Hoult’s “R” first meets Teresa Palmer’s Julie, but the film is pretty much a full romcom by the time of Warm Bodies’ ending. And while the skeletal “Boneys” offer a menacing zombie threat, the CGI is so rubbery that Warm Bodies only ever feels about as scary as any given scene from Mars Attacks!.

That said, there’s no denying the film’s general darkness, and Warm Bodies shares Heart Eyes’ love for portraying its central romance in the most grimly dysfunctional setting possible. And since Heart Eyes never includes a scene where Jay watches Ally sleep while noshing on chunks of her ex’s brain that he keeps in his pocket, Warm Bodies might actually win that contest.

8 Idle Hands (1999)

Directed By Rodman Flender

Decades before Heart Eyes and just a year before Final Destination, actor Devon Sawa appeared in Idle Hands. The movie follows a directionless stoner who suddenly finds himself unable to stop killing people when an evil spirit possesses his hand. It also features post-Scream Seth Green as a zombified murder victim, a soundtrack by The Offspring, and a romantic subplot in which an unemployed 20-something still living at home is able to woo Jessica Alba. Essentially, it’s as 1990s as a teen horror comedy could get.

ittedly, Idle Hands got significantly worse reviews than Heart Eyes, but it did accrue something of a cult following. And while the film’s sense of humor is a lot less subtle than that of a film such as Heart Eyes, it’s a harsh reality that it was really the overlap in timing between Idle Hands and Columbine that helped kill the movie. But much like Heart Eyes, the movie loves its gore just as much as it loves its comedy, and that alone has given it a special place in the hearts of numerous millennial horror fans.

7 Totally Killer (2023)

Directed By Nahnatchka Khan

Devon Sawa and Mason Gooding aren’t the only returning horror alums in the main cast of Heart Eyes. Amazon Prime’s Totally Killer follows Kiernan Shipka’s Jamie as she travels back in time to 1987 on a mission to save her mother from the Sweet 16 killer. The younger version of Jamie’s mother is played by Heart Eyes’ Olivia Holt, with a slight twist on genre classics such as Back to the Future in that Holt’s character is revealed to have been completely unlikable as a teenager.

This establishes the strongest similarity between Totally Killer and Heart Eyes, in that both horror comedies use their format to lampoon a completely different genre at the same time. While Heart Eyes spends about half of its time sending up rom-coms, Totally Killer embraces the general campness of time travel comedies. Totally Killer’s ending also involves a multiple killer twist, albeit one with a rather different explanation than those given by Heart Eyes or Scream.

6 Happy Death Day (2017)

Directed By Christopher Landon

The director of Happy Death Day shared screenwriting duties on Heart Eyes, and his influence is definitely felt in the tone of the film. Both films feature protagonists who at times seem more exhausted by their circumstances than legitimately afraid of them, and each film addresses its subgenre in an extremely tongue-in-cheek fashion. Tree’s many deaths in Happy Death Day result in her approaching the time loop with growing irreverence, adding immensely to the film’s comedic beats.

Both films could also be said to take horror-themed approaches to completely different movies. While Heart Eyes’ essentially mimics every romantic comedy with a protagonist whose given up on love, Happy Death Day is often described as a slasher version of Groundhog Day. It’s a genre blend that doesn’t immediately sound as if it should work, but Landon decidedly proves otherwise by balancing the film’s horror and comedy with near-surgical precision.

5 Scare Me (2020)

Directed By Josh Ruben

While Heart Eyes is director Josh Ruben’s third time blending horror with comedy, his first such feature was 2020’s Scare Me. Starring Ruben himself in the lead role, Scare Me focuses on two professional writers sharing spooky fireside stories with their pizza delivery guy. The film has an extremely small cast and almost non-existent body count, but Ruben gets most of his horror beats from the sheer tension between the two main characters.

Because Scare Me can’t rely on the creative killings of a slasher film like Heart Eyes, Ruben instead fills the runtime with sheer directorial style. Scare Me employs a number of artfully chosen shot selections and inexpensive visual effects, allowing Ruben to really play with his creative identity as a director. Almost any viewer who appreciates what he’s done with Heart Eyes should immensely enjoy seeing where the director got his start.

4 Werewolves Within (2021)

Directed By Josh Ruben

One year after releasing Scare Me, Ruben directed an adaptation of the 2016 game Werewolves Within. With its Fargo-like humor style, the film follows a group of Vermont residents as they try to uncover which of them is the werewolf attacking the local community. Much like Scare Me, the film’s horror aspects largely revolve around tension and paranoia, reminiscent of The Thing or the classic Twilight Zone episode “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street.” There is, however, one key difference.

Thanks to the presence of werewolf attacks, Werewolves Within is a decidedly bloodier experience. Considering Ruben’s next film would be an all-out slasher, Werewolves Within makes for a perfect transition piece from Scare Me to Heart Eyes. Ruben’s also clearly grown as a director in a very short amount of time, as the runtime for Werewolves Within feels less unnecessarily bloated than that of Ruben’s last project before it. Seeing the director evolve so much in such a short time only makes Heart Eyes that much easier to appreciate.

3 Lisa Frankenstein (2024)

Directed By Zelda Williams

Although the concept of a young woman falling in love with a reanimated corpse might make Lisa Frankenstein sound relatively similar to Warm Bodies, there’s actually a pretty wide ocean between the two movies. Lisa Frankenstein features multiple murders and chopped-off body parts, setting it more directly in the horror camp than Warm Bodies was ever trying to be. It’s also notable that Lisa Frankenstein’s ending is pretty much the exact opposite of the ending from Warm Bodies, despite both movies featuring couples who transform to match each other.

But even if Lisa Frankenstein more closely resembles Heart Eyes due to a stronger slasher influence, one particular difference is worth noting. While Heart Eyes sends up slasher films and romantic comedies, Lisa Frankenstein is geared more toward paying homage to 1980s horror comedies. Despite this difference, the film beautifully matches wits with Heart Eyes when it comes to the absolute skill with which Lisa Frankenstein evokes its sources of inspiration while still crafting its own unique narrative.

2 It’s A Wonderful Knife (2023)

Directed By Tyler MacIntyre

Another holiday-related horror comedy, It’s a Wonderful Knife focuses on Christmas rather than Valentine’s Day. As implied by the title, the film follows Yellowjackets’ Jane Widdop as Winnie Carruthers, whose wish that she was never born places her in a timeline in which a serial killer stalks her town. The film’s visual aesthetic mimics that of a typical Hallmark Christmas movie, with Joel McHale and Justin Long giving performances that feel very much in line with Hallmark’s style despite the more gruesome tone of the story.

While the story itself bears little resemblance to Heart Eyes, screenwriter Michael Kennedy’s involvement in both movies blesses It’s a Wonderful Knife with a certain air of familiarity. And similar to Totally Killer, the movie manages to implement the same twist reveal as Heart Eyes and Scream while providing a somewhat fresher justification for the presence of multiple murderers. The film doesn’t quite blend its disparate genres as well as Heart Eyes, but it’s nonetheless an intriguing watch for those who like to celebrate their holidays with a little bit of bloodshed.

1 Freaky (2020)

Directed By Christopher Landon

With a script by both Christopher Landon and Michael Kennedy, Freaky shares the strongest creative connection to Heart Eyes. Despite taking the premise of Freaky Friday and turning it on its head, the movie also pays tribute to numerous slasher icons from the 1980s and beyond. But what really sets Freaky and Heart Eyes on the same level is that the mash-up of comedy and horror never feels unbalanced. Up until the ending of Freaky, in which the body swap reverts, Vince Vaughn convincingly plays the film’s final girl while Kathryn Newton delivers a chilling performance as the movie’s slasher.

What best aligns the films is that their romance subplots never destroy suspension of disbelief as much as they seemingly should. Vince Vaughn crushing on a high school boy feels like it would land as clumsily as something out of Rob Schneider’s The Hot Chick, but it’s played straight. This echoes the best aspect of Heart Eyes, which manages to convincingly build attraction between characters who should really be focused on other things. Crossing over genres while maintaining a believable story thread isn’t easy, but Landon and Kennedy have proven twice now that they’re among the best-suited for the job.