Night of the Reaper (2025) is directed by Brandon Christensen, who wrote the film alongside his brother, Ryan Christensen. It stars Jessica Clement, Ryan Robbins, Summer H. Howell, Matty Finochio, Keegan Connor Tracy, Max Christensen, Ben Cockell, David Feehan, Bryn Samuel, Savannah Miller, Susan Serrao, and Sofie Kane. The film follows Deena (Clement), a freshman college student who returns home, and is quickly roped into babysitting the sheriff’s son, Max (Christensen). Meanwhile, the Sheriff (Robbins) sets out to investigate a series of mysterious packages sent from ‘The Reaper,’ each containing evidence of a past murder that shook their small town. It soon becomes clear that The Reaper intends to commit another murder, urging the Sheriff to catch the culprits before it’s too late. Little does he know that their target is actually Deena, who’s forced to defend herself and Max against the merciless serial killer. Unfortunately for The Reaper, it soon becomes clear that Deena isn’t your typical teenage babysitter. In fact, The Reaper’s arrival might just be exactly what she’s been waiting for.

For a film that clearly has a limited budget, the bulk of its performances are serviceable, if not a bit run-of-the-mill. The only performance that clearly doesn’t work is Ryan Robbins as the Sheriff. He’s a character meant to be in a sort of emotional crisis, but Robbins often takes it way too far. He has two emotional levels: completely calm and completely unhinged. There’s absolutely zero nuance in the performance, making the character appear crazy rather than someone struggling to come to terms with his tragic past. 

Even some of the better performances are hindered by a script that repeatedly attempts to subvert our understanding of their characters’ motivations. Once these actors are forced to portray completely different versions of their characters, they no longer feel like authentic, consistent people. It’s as if they were cast as one version of the character without confirming if they’d work as the other. This flip could’ve worked if the performances were better or if it had the proper setup. Unfortunately, that isn’t the case. It just feels a bit random and jarring, as if a different writer stepped in to finish the third act.

For the first two-thirds, the film plays as a generic, but well-intentioned suburban slasher in the vein of Halloween (1978). The mystery involving the videotapes is effectively chilling and atmospheric, a nice sense of dread permeating across the extended build-up. There’s also an effective roster of red herrings, resulting in the eventual killer reveal being unpredictable despite also being somewhat disappointing. 

Once the film shows its cards, it unfortunately falls apart for a variety of reasons. Once we understand Deena’s motivations, the film begins to feel more like a forced action-revenge fantasy, ultimately eliminating any opportunity to scare the audience. It’s not an inherently bad story direction, but it’s tonally foreign in comparison to the rest of the film. It also retroactively diminishes the tension of the scenario, revealing that no one other than The Reaper was ever actually in any real danger. It pretty much ruins any rewatch value the film could’ve otherwise had (not that it has much to begin with). 

Overall, this is a generic, forgettable slasher that features a handful of interesting ideas, but fails to execute them in compelling ways. There are enough spooky, dreadful vibes to satisfy audiences who simply want something creepy to watch during the Halloween season. Unfortunately, that form of enjoyment falls apart during the third act, which becomes more of a lazy, eye-rolling revenge fantasy. It’s also a shame that a film with these kinds of B-movie qualities would take itself so seriously. The film is oblivious to its own flaws, mistakenly believing it holds more dramatic weight than it actually does. Unless this genre is 100% your vibe, the film is an easy skip. Even its attempts to provide something new are entirely forgettable. That being said, it’s better than most films with such a small budget. C-