Night of the Reaper, 2025.
Directed by Brandon Christensen.
Starring Jessica Clement, Ryan Robbins, Summer H. Howell, Marty Finochio, Ben Cockell
SYNOPSIS:
A college student returns home and takes on some babysitting work as a last-minute favour to her hungover friend. That same night, the local sherriff receives a mysterious package that sets off a game of cat and mouse with a killer.
Night of the Reaper, a moodily framed noirish piece from Brandon Christensen, offers a pleasingly retro-styled chiller combining the intensity of clues unravelling alongside real scares. Offering a mash-up of two genres, the gritty crime procedural and the slasher, the movie successfully avoids expectations with a clever script and solid performance.
Babysitters in peril is a classic slasher trope, seen in everything from Halloween (1978) and When a Stranger Calls (1979) to the Scream (1996-) franchise and The Babysitter (2017).
Night of the Reaper goes straight into the nightmare of an unfortunate teen stalked in the home she’s working in, but mixes it up with a classically detailed reimaging of the 1980s. This put me in mind of Ti West’s classic House of the Devil (2009), which also features a babysitter tasked with uncovering sinister secrets in the 1980s.
The nerve-wracking opening sequence in Christensen’s film features Emily (Summer H. Howell) looking after a pair of mischievous little kids who like to play tricks. After a carefully delivered build-up, a skull mask-wearing baddie appears out of the midnight dark, and we’re left to imagine what horror follows.
The main story then takes off some time later with two subplots. The first of these involves Sheriff Rod (Ryan Robbins), who receives a series of VHS tapes capturing mysterious deaths, including Emily’s murder.
The second strand, that ultimately crosses with the sheriff’s, is that of Deena (Jessica Clement), who stands in for her hungover friend’s babysitter job while visiting home from chemistry classes at university. It soon becomes clear that she’s the latest target of the skull-faced killer. She also happens to be looking after the sheriff’s son, Max (the director’s son Max Christensen).
Clement is a bold and charismatic presence in the movie and carries much of the story along. A smart and stylish entry into the slasher film canon, the movie expertly offers up red herrings and riddles as the truth gradually shifts into view. Emily’s boyfriend (Ben Cockell) is initially brought in for questioning, as his habit of creeping around and capturing people on his new camcorder is noted for being distinctly suspicious.
The use of camcorders, VHS tapes and landline telephones is an effective way to get into the 80s experience. But it’s not overly played. One suspects that many filmmakers, possibly Christesen included, relish the opportunity to play with plots at a time before tracking devices, smartphones and that darned pesky internet.
The most intriguing aspect of the film is that Christensen is not satisfied to simply pay tribute to or ape classic slashers. The mixture of the detective story element and the director’s skilled handling of pace allows the film to really open up in new and inventive ways. He also could have overplayed the whole ‘it’s the 80s’ thing. While some will always love a bit of 80s soundtracked horror (yes, me and many others!) since Stranger Things, it can sometimes seem, well, like a bit of a cheap fix.
Instead, the film keeps the soundtrack to a simply effective synth score delivered by composers David Arcus, Terry Benn and Michell Osis. Hinting at mysteries of the past and the confusion of intersecting time lines, it serves as a useful and subtle signalling of the film’s sophisticated intent to beguile and fascinate.
I really enjoyed this movie. Christensen obviously loves genre films and keeps things surprising and moving at a pace, with some well-defined shots and use of light and shadows. Creepy and surprising, the deepening mystery is brought out with real flair.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Robert W Monk
