NIGHT OF THE REAPER Review: A Lean Babysitter Slasher That Reaps What It Sows
Night Of The Reaper arrives on AMC’s Shudder on Friday, September 19.
Horror makes another return to my front page for the moment with a look at Brandon Christensen’s latest 1980s-set flick, Night Of The Reaper. This was a blind watch and I just finished screening a film I didn’t enjoy all that much, so to say the least, I love a good revenge thriller and Night Of The Reaper took the edge off a little.
The bulk of the film centers on college student Deena (Jessica Clement) who comes home and reunites with her folks, and takes a last-minute job babysitting in place of her best friend for the young son of the town Sheriff, Rod (Ryan Robbins). What follows on the day of is a slew of discoveries by Rod: boxes in several distinct locations, each containing a VHS tape that he soon begins tying to the crimes of an elusive killer who’s been terrorizing the neighborhood off and on for years.
Further punctuated by the occasional roadkill incident, the story percolates its slow-burn tale to a boiling point confrontation in one of the most smartly-written and suspenseful thrillers I’ve ever seen. Night Of The Reaper seethes with a dated “VHS tape” visual effect in several moments of the film. Additionally, it does amply well at misleading you into thinking all that’s there is a predictable potboiler with the usual jumpscares and rural horror tropes until well into the second half, followed by a big reveal where everything starts unfolding in explosive and bloody fashion.
Clement is mindblowing as our protagonist, along with Robbins in a character that progressively starts coming unhinged in ways that eventually begin to make sense once the pieces are put together. The more gorier and violent gags pertain to ambush bludgeonings and stabbings to one moment where another character gets his head ventilated by a tricked-out device.
I haven’t seen any of Christensen’s films up until now and if you’re like me and you love a cunning, brutal revenge thriller, I think you’ll find yourself in good company with Night Of The Reaper. I’ll leave it to the more consistent horror heads to decide if this is worth a go, but if my word means anything, then I’m saying it is.
Director: Brandon Christensen
Written by: Brandon Christensen and Ryan Christensen
Cast: Jessica Clement, Ryan Robbins, Summer H. Howell, Keegan Connor Tracy, Matty Finochio, Max Christensen, Ben Cockell, David Feehan
Genre: Horror, Thriller
Language: English
Runtime: 93 min
