Shudder teams up with Superhost director Brandon Christensen once again to collaborate on stylish horror flick Night of the Reaper, which, while featuring some gorgeous vintage slasher aesthetics and nasty kills, doesn’t quite satisfy.

Reaper opens with a promising, vaporwave-heavy credit scroll slathered in VHS graininess. The film’s setting, with its autumnal sidewalks and cloudy suburban neighborhoods drenched in foliage and vintage Halloween decorations, offers an enticing beginning for a creepy feature. Christensen’s love of classic slashers is evident here—you can feel it through the screen.

We’re introduced to college student Deena (Jessica Clement), who has just returned to her small hometown. The town is plagued by missing persons cases, which have left the local police bewildered and frightened as they uncover disturbing evidence.

Despite processing her sister’s recent death, Deena hesitantly covers for her friend to babysit the sheriff’s kid—only to be taunted and tortured by the killer responsible for her town’s misery.

Reaper is an OK modern slasher, but its story sags when it gets caught up in its complex details, twists, and pacing. The big reveal of the killer is decent in its surprise, but it doesn’t feel like enough. Their acting feels over-the-top and tiptoes around being absurd, not scary.

This is an unfortunate tipping point that many slasher villains accidentally fall into; being a crazy killer doesn’t mean to have the actor portray it as silly behavior. Making that out-of-your-mind behavior “scary” is what’s missing here (think 1989’s Intruder for a good example of a solid slasher villain). Additionally, a more straightforward story would have sufficed and enhanced this flick.

I deeply appreciated Reaper’s respect for the 1980s, as well—we as the audience are aware of the timeframe of the film, but it isn’t thrown in our faces (like some more recent slashers have). It doesn’t feel like cosplay.

Christensen’s subtle style choices (like the characters’ clothing, VHS-styled snuff clips, the use of Beistle Halloween decorations, and more muted coloring instead of bright neon everywhere) successfully sell the time period.

Reaper, while not perfect in its plot, remains an entertaining Halloween horror to play this chilly season.

Night of the Reaper
2025
dir. Brandon Christensen
90 min.

Now streaming on Shudder and AMC+.