Night Of The Reaper

One of the greatest time periods for the genre known as slasher horror films, was definetely during the glorious time known as the 1980´s. This was the time when slasher films really found it´s audience both in cinemas and on VHS at your local rental store. It would be lazy of me just to talk about the Friday The 13th franchise so instead we have to mention some other horror classic released during the 1980´s. For example it was in the year of 1981 when we got the slasher horror classic known as Dark Knight Of The Scarecrow from director Frank De Felitta. This was actually a TV movie and not a theatrical release. However, this film especially found it´s audience in VHS rental stores where horror fans clearly loved this genre. Dark Knight Of The Scarecrow takes place in a small town in the Deep South. This is where a little girl named Marylee Williams ( Tonya Crowe ) is best friend with mentally challeneged man Charles Eliot "Bubba" Ritter ( Larry Drake ). The locals in this town doesn´t like seeing Bubba spending time with this little girl, and when a dog attacks Marylee they automatically blame Bubba for this. Bubba is chased out in the field where he tries to hide within a scarecrow outfit, but is brutally murdered. Marylee turns out to be alright after all and the ones who killed Bubba know they did wrong. The dead soul of Bubba is brought back to life through the scarecrow to revenge those who killed him. Dark Knight Of The Scarecrow is one of those true classics in slasher horror films you should see. The acting is actually not bad and includes great performances from legendary actors Charles Durning, Larry Drake,  Robert F. Lyons among others, and i do think the scarecrow killing people works pretty well from a practical effects point of view. I suggest you pick up a physical blu ray or DVD. Recently i was going through a list of Shudder films i have not watched yet and noticed the slasher horror film known as Night Of The Reaper. Apparently is supposed to be set in the 80´s so this sounded like something in my taste. Is this a slasher horror film worth your precious time or should you check out Dark Knight Of The Scarecrow instead?

College student Deena ( Jessica Clement ) is babysitting during Halloween while there is a killer out there known as the Reaper out on the streets. One babysitter was brutally killed by this masked individual and no one knows where the killer will strike next. Mysterious VHS tapes keeps showing up near Sheriff Rodney Arnold ( Ryan Robbins ) showing the Reaper killing some of the victims. Could Deena be the next possible vicim or does the Reaper already have someone else in mind to be the next victim?

Those of you who have read my reviews over the years probably know how important it is for me if you try to capture a certain time period on the big screen. You have to be able to have the right costume design, the right atmosphere of the time period, the correct music choices and of course the feeling of an old school slasher horror film. Night Of The Reaper actually manage to pull all of these things off in a positive way, and especially focusing on getting the 80´s vibe correctly. You have pop songs from MTV playing in the background, you have the girly 80´s hair that most of us remember growing up during this era. Apart from these details this slasher horror film also manage to look like a Halloween rip off, without feeling too similar and add some interesting details along the way. The characters do feel like they are living in the 80´s with the dialogue that matches the time period. I especially appreciate actress Jessica Clement ( who some of you might recognize from TV series Pure ) as the character Deena. What i like about this character is that she feels so natural on screen, she´s just a young intelligent woman living her life and Jessica give the personality of Deena a realistic portrait of a woman her age. And to throw this personality into a slasher horror film is of course a fun combination, so we really get to see what Deena is able to do in different situations. There are a couple of other good characters here such as Sheriff Rodney ( played by TV series Riverside actor Ryan Robbins ), but what really works in this film is the Reaper, the masked killer. The mask is simple but looks cool, the killings ( at least the ones we do get to see ) works for the most part. If i have to bring something up that this film could have done better is done something unexpected, like a susprise moment in the film instead of following classic slasher horror films from the past. You can be inspired by slasher horror classics, but i like it when they are creative and surprise us. With that said i still think this is a solid horror film for fans of this specific genre. If you just want a pretty traditional slasher horror film then Night Of The Reaper should do the trick. Director Brandon Christensen ( who also directed the Shudder psychological thriller Superhost, worth a watch ) clearly loves old school slasher films and deliver a solid film for this genre. If you don´t want a complicated plot and just enjoy a popcorn movie night, Night Of The Reaper should do the trick.

Rating: DDD