Why The Wedding Ring Was Left At The Crime Scene Of Heart Eyes’ First Kill Sequence

While Heart Eyes does give viewers a clue to the villain’s identity early on with a lost wedding ring, there is a justification for this subtle foreshadowing. In the opening scene of 2025’s romcom/ slasher mashup Heart Eyes, an odious couple who have just gotten engaged are pursued through a winery and killed by the titular masked murderer. The bride-to-be suffers a brutal fate when she is crushed to death in a wine press, but she does manage to injure the killer as he traps her inside.

The short-lived heroine slams the door of the wine press on the killer’s hand, giving her a momentary advantage in their fight. This seems like an incidental detail, but it proves pivotal in Heart Eyes’ twist ending. The killer still manages to turn on the compactor and kill her, but Heart Eyes’ killer reveal hinges on something that they leave behind in the process. It might not be enough for anyone to correctly guess the killer’s identity, but it is one of a few clues to one of their real names.

The Heart Eyes Killer's Hand Injury Explains The Wedding Ring Being Left Behind

The Slasher Movie’s Killer Has Their Hand Crushed In The Opening Scene

When their hand is crushed in the compactor door, the Heart Eyes killer’s wedding ring seems to fall off without them noticing it. This ring is soon found by detective Jeanette Shaw, who later confronts Mason Gooding’s protagonist Jay about it during an interrogation. Jeannette argues that Jay could be the killer since his initials match the ring, but this turns out to merely be a double bluff. It later transpires that Jeanette herself is one of the movie’s trio of killers, and this was an attempt to cover her co-conspirator’s tracks and pin their crimes on someone else.

Since Heart Eyes mixes murder mystery tropes and slasher elements like many recent slashers, it is tough to predict the identity of the Heart Eyes killer early on. It does look bad when Jeanette reveals that Jay was in the same city as the Heart Eyes killer during their earlier attacks, but Jeanette’s complicity isn’t impossible to predict. Although it is tough to guess that Jeanette is working with two other accomplices rather than just one, the fact that she has the same initials on the ring is telling.

The Wedding Ring Is An Early Tease For Heart Eyes' Big Killer Twist

Eagle-Eyed Viewers Can Work Out Heart Eyes’ Killer From The Ring’s Initials

The ring’s initials are J.S., which Jeanette argues could stand for “Jay Simmons.” Instead, viewers later learn the initials stand for “Jeanette Shaw,” since the ring belongs to her secret husband. Jeanette’s claims that she is single and unlucky in love do throw viewers off the scent. However, Jay offers the audience a clue when he notes that his wedding ring wouldn't have his own initials on it, but rather those of his partner.

Olivia Holt's Maddy and Mason Gooding's Jay get into a cab in Heart Eyes 2025

Heart Eyes' Near Box Office Record Proves The Slasher Movie Deserves A Sequel

Heart Eyes nearly broke a major slasher box office record in its second week of release, proving the hit romcom needs a follow-up after its success.

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While Heart Eyes borrows from the Scream movies at various points, the movie’s twisty whodunit plotting is one of the most obvious nods to the earlier meta-slasher series. Like the Scream movies, Heart Eyes does technically give viewers enough subtle hints to work out the identity of the killers before they are revealed. However, it would take an eagle-eyed audience member to catch Jeannette’s matching initials in Heart Eyes.