Every year, on February 14, love is celebrated. Valentine’s Day is a special day for people to spend their time with others they care most about. The holiday is celebrated in so many different ways, whether that’s spending time with a significant other, being with any loved ones, or simply cozying up with a sweet love movie. However, it seems like the traditional and heartwarming movies are not the same anymore. Over the years, when trailers come out for Valentine’s Day films, it feels different. The typical theme of happiness and love is not the focus, and instead, horror films have taken over. Could love be overshadowed by everyone’s favorite movie genre?
Since when is murder and crime in the same category as love and affection? Multiple movies this year that focus on Valentine’s Day have been announced to be horror movies that won’t leave viewers feeling very warm and fuzzy after the watch. One new film that has caught people’s attention is Heart Eyes. It focuses on a masked maniac who wears a red glowing mask with heart eyes and terrorizes couples on Valentine’s Day. Instead of showing the true meaning of love and celebrating the holiday, the filmmakers took a completely different take, mixing both. The movie starts as a typical romance film but quickly switches pace. Slashing and people dying on such a beautiful holiday does not mix very well. These horror movies become the center of attention around this time of year, and why?
Today, when movies are announced, it almost seems that the only genres are horror, sci-fi, and action. In the early 2000s and 2010s, romantic comedies were everywhere. They were so creative and had people loving them. It almost seems like the romantic genre is dead. It’s hard to make a new movie now without using the same plot in every other film. Theatrical movies take all the attention now, even if they are truly low-budget films. The era of rom-coms may be over because it seems that nobody can make a movie as good as the oldies that everyone keeps going back to. Movies like The Notebook, 10 Things I Hate About You, 13 Going on 30, and so many more are forever fan favorites and can potentially never be topped. What happened to the traditional, yet entertaining, movies about love? Instead, Hollywood puts all their attention into putting out new superhero or thriller movies every year.
Are horror movies the new love movies? The one day of the year when anyone can celebrate themselves or others may not be that so much when films like this are taking over the theaters. Those who need a little extra affection don’t want to put on a scary movie on this day. They want something to lift their spirits and leave them feeling a little more loving. So hopefully one day, the rom-com era will return, and people will remember how good a film really can be.
