USA, 2025
Review: JA Kerswell
This entertaining, twisty slasher avoids the flashier elements of other recent retro offerings, but delivers a compelling whodunnit mystery amid its knifeplay. A serial killer in a skull mask and black robes commits murders shaking a small town and is now seemingly taunting police by sending them VHS tapes of their bloody handiwork. When a young college student returns for the weekend, she takes a babysitting job she won’t forget.
In a prologue, a young babysitter, Emily (Summer H. Howell), has her night interrupted by a series of creepy pranks that she initially thinks are the work of the two children she’s watching. However, she finds a large video camera in the living room recording, and someone in a skull mask looms from the shadows and attacks her. A year later, Deena (Jessica Clement) returns to town to spend a weekend with her parents and runs into her old boyfriend Willis (Bryn Samuel) and his friend Chad (Ben Cockell), who enjoy filming pranks with their own large video camera. Deena also catches up with her old friend Haddie (Savannah Miller), who is supposed to babysit the sheriff’s son that night. But when Haddie falls ill, she asks Deena to step in because she doesn’t want to lose a profitable gig, and her friend agrees to help.
The police receive a series of boxes containing clues pointing towards the house where Emily was murdered, as well as a series of videotapes; the first of which shows the killing of a lone camper in the woods two years earlier that authorities had believed was an accident. As he and his deputy, Butch (Matty Finochio), investigate, they liaise with local ranger Liz (Keegan Connor Tracy), who notes the number of dead dogs she has found recently. One of the tapes appears to show Chad’s van at the scene of Emily’s murder. When the Sheriff gets a tape that suggests the car crash that killed his wife years earlier was not an accident, he tries to piece the clues together, but his deputy worries he might go rogue.
Meanwhile, Deena arrives at the Sheriff’s remote house for her babysitting job. At first, everything goes smoothly, and she bonds with his young son, Mark (Huxley Fisher), but soon she becomes uneasy when she senses something is wrong— and someone in a skull mask is watching her from the dark woods …
Set in the late 1980s, NIGHT OF THE REAPER somewhat downplays its retro style—this is a 1980s, where decor from the previous decade still lingers, from brown sofas to crocheted blankets. In this regard, it is more similar to Ti West’s HOUSE OF THE DEVIL (2009) than, say, FEAR STREET: PROM QUEEN (2025). While over-the-top retro pop stylings can be fun, they tend to overshadow everything else. Here, although not always entirely convincing, they complement a mystery that subverts some expectations while also providing a fun slasher ride. The filmmakers have some fun with VHS-style aesthetics (playing into urban legends about so-called snuff movies), but it enhances the film rather than overpowering it.
Certainly, director Brandon Christensen pays homage to many babysitter slasher movies of the past: from the Halloween setting to the sometimes genuinely creepy prologue that is purposefully reminiscent of WHEN A STRANGER CALLS (1979). The film’s pacing is also less frenetic than many recent releases, allowing the mystery to develop at a steady yet engaging pace. Although not a blockbuster, it looks great, with crisp, fluid cinematography that recalls John Carpenter’s HALLOWEEN (1978). It also benefits from sharp, believable dialogue and quirky characters—elements that are reminiscent of classic slashers and that other modern filmmakers could learn from. The performances are also strong, especially toward the end of the movie after the identity of the killer (or killers) is revealed.
However, what sets NIGHT OF THE REAPER apart is its twist at the two-thirds mark (which I wouldn’t dream of spoiling and will let you discover it yourself, but it effectively subverts the cliché of babysitter as the eternal victim). While it offers a genuinely surprising and satisfying ending, the direction the movie takes arguably shifts into the territory of more modern slasher murder mysteries despite its relatively low bodycount.
Christensen’s earlier SUPERHOST (2021), although it leans more into dark comedy, is another piece of slasher movie fun and well worth checking out if you enjoyed this.
BODY COUNT 4:
Female 2 / Male 2
NIGHT OF THE REAPER (Trailer)
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