‘Night of the Reaper’ Review: A Generic Babysitter-in-Peril Throwback
I am a connoisseur of retro horror. I’ve been chasing the dragon since I first saw Halloween decades ago. My fondness for the great babysitter-in-peril pictures of years past makes me the target audience for films like Brandon Christensen’s Night of the Reaper. Christensen nods to many of the classics from yesteryear here, even including more recent efforts like The House of the Devil; however, the films that inspire him have real substance. Night of the Reaper, on the other hand, comes in a shiny package, but the contents are hollow and empty.
Christensen collaborated on the script for this retro horror homage with his brother Ryan Christensen. They set the film up as a seemingly straightforward slasher, but matters eventually devolve into full-fledged nonsense by the end. The introduction of a preposterous twist and a second-act lull ultimately dampened my enthusiasm.
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The fraternal filmmaking duo kicks off the action sometime in the ’80s, beginning with a prologue that catches up with the plucky Emily (Summer H. Howell) on a seemingly routine babysitting gig. After a solo dance sequence that’s a little too reminiscent of a scene in The House of the Devil, Emily encounters a character in a reaper mask. From there, we cut to a couple of years later, with the narrative revealing that poor Emily perished at the hands of the masked intruder.
In the present, we catch up with Deena (Jessica Clement), a college student who reluctantly takes on a babysitting gig for Sheriff Rod (Ryan Robbins) when her friend Haddie (Savannah Miller) suddenly takes ill. Deena seems to think she’s in for an uneventful evening, but soon enough, a familiar masked intruder gives her a run for her money. Concurrent to Deena’s ordeal, Sheriff Rod finds himself embroiled in a scavenger hunt with ties to Emily’s murder as well as several other mysterious deaths. The two reconvene in the third act for a series of outlandish surprises.
The film starts out strong with a memorable prologue, but lags too much in the middle. Following the inciting incident, the tension subsides almost entirely until around the one-hour mark. The downturn in action is ultimately laying the groundwork for a surprise reveal that unfolds later on. And while the wait may be worth it for some viewers, I found myself growing increasingly bored by the lull.
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I will admit that I was sufficiently surprised by the twist, but it’s so preposterous that I came away frustrated. The pieces of the puzzle feel disjointed even after they are all assembled. From opaque character motivations to essential pieces of information awkwardly withheld solely to support the twist, the writing reads as messy. When I look back on Night of the Reaper, I see a film that invests so heavily in its twist that other aspects of the narrative start to suffer.
Though I recognize that it’s in support of selling the twist, I couldn’t help but be put off by how underdeveloped Deena is. Her only defining characteristic for the first two acts is that she’s a Mary Poppins-esque caricature who spoils her young charge (Max Christensen) with sugar and endless playtime. As I mentioned, the motivations behind her peculiar actions become clear when the twist is revealed, but the lack of justification before that is a sloppy filmmaking choice. There should always be something tangible within the narrative to justify character motivations. Something aside from a twist, that is. In this case, there isn’t.
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Worse yet, the supporting characters are even less developed than Deena, with each functioning as a flimsy stereotype. Even the party responsible for the crime spree lacks any significant motivation for the violent proclivities perpetrated within. We get one of those scenery-chewing, “Who needs a reason?” explanations that can read as really sinister under the right circumstances. The right circumstance might be a setup that leans into the random nature of the violence, making the revelation feel unhinged and evil. Here, the identity of the offending party is revealed solely as a ‘gotcha’ moment that might surprise the audience but adds nothing to the narrative.
What’s frustrating to me is that there are times when Night of the Reaper almost works. The first and third acts both have legitimate moments of efficacy, but it’s not enough to salvage the film. The bogged-down midsection and preposterous twist that’s barely supported by the narrative kept me from connecting with this one.
If you want to check the film out to see if the pros outweigh the cons for you, you can catch this Shudder original beginning on September 19, 2025.
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Night of the Reaper
Summary
A messy script and a preposterous twist hinder this retro slasher from reaching its full potential.
Categorized: Reviews
