Night of the Reaper, 2025.
Directed by Brandon Christensen.
Starring Jessica Clement, Ryan Robbins, Summer H. Howell, Keegan Connor Tracy, Matty Finochio, Ben Cockell, Max Christensen, Bryn Samuel, Savannah Miller, Susan Serrao and David Feehan.
SYNOPSIS:
In the heart of a quiet, 1980s suburb, college student Deena returns home and reluctantly takes on a last-minute babysitting job. That same night, the local sheriff receives a cryptic package that pulls him into a sinister scavenger hunt that sets off a game of cat and mouse with a dangerous killer. As the clues unravel, Deena finds herself ensnared in a nightmarish mystery that she may not survive.
Shudder’s latest original Night of the Reaper is a creative blend of classic slasher and murder mystery tropes that puts a new spin on the babysitter-targeted-by-serial-killer genre. Directed by Brandon Christensen and led by Jessica Clement, the film is a tense and engaging piece of horror.
Night of the Reaper follows Clement’s Deena, a college freshman who comes home and fills in for her sick friend’s babysitting job the same day the local sheriff is mailed evidence to a string of murders that begins a game of cat and mouse as he follows one clue to the next. Deena’s simple babysitting night turns into its own horror show as she is terrorized, turning her from victim to protector.
It is a well told story taking several of the classic tropes seen in horror slashers and flipping them on their head in a compelling way. Christensen, and his brother Ryan Christensen who both co-wrote the script, show their love for the genre through playing with trope definers like Halloween, Scream and more. Utilizing a cat-and-mouse mystery gives the film another edge for audiences to bite on, showing the depths of the killer’s threat to anyone in their smalltown.
Clement gives a terrific performance as Deena, sharing great scenes with her friend Haddie, played by Savannah Miller, that despite how little they are together in the film their friendship feels authentic. Miller’s levity and outgoing nature balances well against Clement’s more subdued personality. She also has great chemistry with Max Christensen, the little boy Deena is charged to babysit, and shows there is more to Deena’s character than she lets on as she can be quite cunning in her own right.
Ryan Robbins’ Sheriff Arnold is equally compelling as he is sent on a scavenger hunt for clues, becoming more determined with each piece to catch the vicious killer. Robbins does well balancing his role as the town sheriff and a grieving husband and how that grief pushes him into an obsessive state to solve the case. Summer H. Howell doesn’t get a lot of screentime as the film’s opening victim, but she shows plenty of range in the span of minutes as a caring babysitter, fun-loving teenager to the desperate fear of being toyed with. Other memorable roles include Ben Cockell and Bryn Samuel as a couple teenaged boys who may or may not be suspects in the Sheriff’s investigation.
The film relies more on its tension and suspense than it does on jump scares or gore and while there are moments of the latter two as befitting a slasher they are used sparingly. Christensen shows how to use a scene’s tension and raise it well, putting the characters into believable states of mind or danger that make the audience question what will happen next as he twists one trope after another.
Night of the Reaper is an entertaining slasher, paying homage to classics while putting its own spin on cemented aspects of the genre through its characters. The cast is great with Clement and Robbins delivering emotive and nuanced performances with the Christensens’ script and Brandon Christensen’s direction blending slasher and mystery together in an engaging way.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
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