Night of the Reaper begins with a familiar slasher movie scenario: a babysitter being stalked by a killer. The masked menace puts on a big show of toying with her, leaving creepy notes that almost feel like a prank until the danger gets all too real.
It’s a freaky opening sequence that signals director and co-director Brandon Christensen (Still/Born, Z) is well familiar with the horror tropes his movie is leaning into—and you can tell he knows his audience will pick up on them too.
Night of the Reaper‘s main reference point is, obviously, Halloween, the mothership of all babysitter horror movies. It’s set in the early 1980s—the era of Pat Benatar bangers on MTV—a little later than 1978’s Halloween. But advancing a few years means access to slightly more advanced technology, especially camcorders, a key plot device as well as a stylistic influence. The opening credits crackle with static “tracking” lines, and VHS tapes are important throughout.
The main events of the film pick up some time after the babysitter’s demise. We meet main character Deena (Gen V‘s Jessica Clement) as she’s walking down a quiet street festooned with Halloween decorations; the electronic score further underlines the Laurie Strode comparisons. Deena’s home from college, dutifully having what’s clearly a strained visit with her parents. When her high-school bestie, who’s still living in their hometown, gets sick, Deena agrees to help her out by stepping in to watch the local sheriff’s young son for the night.
Here we go again, the viewer might assume—and indeed, Night of the Reaper does seem to be setting up a similar fate for Deena as the girl in the opening scene. But there’s also a parallel storyline to unwind, as Sheriff Arnold (Ryan Robbins) starts receiving packages that lead him on a macabre scavenger hunt.
It seems more than possible that whoever killed the girl in the opening is back for more sinister taunting. Arnold remarks at one point, “Someone’s trying to tell me something.” But exactly what that message is (and who’s sending it) forms Night of the Reaper‘s central mystery.
© Shudder
As Night of the Reaper progresses, the tension and dread build in both stories. Deena’s gig watching little Max (Max Christensen) devolves from a playful game of hide-and-seek to an escalation of terror as doors slowly creak open, objects get rearranged by unseen hands, and a shadowy figure lurks in the woods just beyond the yard.
Sheriff Arnold, meanwhile, freely engages in some jaw-droppingly unprofessional conduct as he puzzles together a string of clues, especially once he realizes the babysitter’s cold case isn’t the only crime on the table. There are also hints at another death in the recent past that’s far more personal to him.
To share more about the plot twists that follow would compromise much of what makes Night of the Reaper enjoyable, but it’s not a spoiler to say it’s more of a horror whodunit than, say, something that drags its babysitting heroine into wild House of the Devil territory.
Halloween is the main influence here, but found-footage horror also makes its mark, as do other slasher series, including Scream. If the final reveals get a little too talky as Christensen hurries to explain all that’s come before, you have to appreciate the effort to fill in as many blanks as possible.
Standout performances in the cast come from Clement as the resourceful Deena, as well as Summer H. Howell—soon to be seen as Carrie White in Mike Flanagan’s Carrie series—who makes the most of her brief screen time as the first victim.
Night of the Reaper streams on Shudder starting today, September 19.
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