If you’re wondering about the current state of onscreen love, you might want to consider one of this year’s Valentine’s Day tie-ins. Heart Eyes is a “romantic slasher film” about a masked killer who travels from city to city, murdering multiple couples on Feb 14.
Olivia Holt, left, and Mason Gooding in “Heart Eyes.” (Christopher Moss / Sony Pictures / TNS)
The movie’s tagline is, “stay single — stay safe.”
This might seem like a gratuitously bloody way to announce the death of conventional cinematic romance. But it’s true that the kind of serious, swoony emotion seen in old-time dramatic films like Brief Encounter, An Affair to Remember and Love Story is increasingly rare.
The traditional romantic comedy, relying on high-spirited, Tracy-and-Hepburn-type sparring, also seems to be on the decline.
Part of the reason for this romantic slump might be economic. Mid-budget movies that mostly involve grown-up characters talking to each other are increasingly rare, as the industry bifurcates into little indie …