Grim Reaper (2021) User Reviews

How to shoot a micro budget slasher in one weekend

[Northtribe3 · 5/10 · 25 May 2022]

This is a typical slasherfilm but without all of the interesting bits.

If I watch a slasher I usually want at least one or two cool kills or interesting characters but this film lacks most of that.

It's pretty clear from the get-go that the director was inspired by Psycho (shower scene) and Halloween (the killer POV shot).

I would also say that I hated the fact that most of the kills takes place during the middle of the day and for that reason it never gets scary or atmospheric, I think the reason why is because they wouldn't have any problem with lighting in that way but if your picture quality is good doesn't mean that your film is automatically good or great. The characters are very forgettable because there's a big problem to know who any of these character's names are. The kills are mostly boring and by that I mean next to no blood or gore at all (except from a really funny head decapitation scene). The mask of the killer looks ridiculous and makes me think it was bought at the closest shop/supermarket in the area. If I have to point out any positive things about this film it would be the dialogue (which is really unintentionally funny at times) and the lighting in the film which makes me think this would be better if it was an action film and not a horror film. I had a few laughs when I saw the police officers in the film because of how stupid they looked.

Also I think I would of found this more entertaining if it was a SOV horror flick from the 80's.

Well... at least it wasnt that long and it had a kind of "so bad it's good" type of vibes to it. Im sure the people who worked on it must have had a blast though.

Only recommended if you like micro budget horror films.

5 out of 10.

A solid enough indie slasher with all the expected issues

[kannibalcorpsegrinder · 6/10 · 6 August 2023]

Trying to move on in her life, a woman looking to return to her hometown while hoping to get past her abusive partner becomes stranded in a section of the woods patrolled by a vicious masked serial killer murdering anyone in his path and must try to find a way of escaping.

Overall, this was a rather fun indie effort. That we're given just enough of a motive for what's going on here regarding the rampaging killer's release from the protective care and treatment of the facility where he catches the attention of the woman trying to get out of the abusive relationship while rampaging through the community is good enough for this kind of film. It not only generates enough of a backstory about his troubled past leading into being a serial killer while also giving us just a glimpse of the girl's past that puts her in the area to come across the killer which is all admittedly simplified and obvious for this type of film but is workable enough in this type of feature. This provides the launching pad for a solid slew of effective better-than-expected stalking scenes. Ramping up the body count with a series of random encounters with nameless individuals in the best indie-ambush tradition, there's some decent enough work here featuring the killer strike throughout the woods and surrounding areas. Managing to mix in traditional stalking scenes even with it favoring the ambush approach here as it continually brings in new victims, the main factor against this fun indie approach is the lack of gore. As most kills are undone by splashing blood on adjacent surfaces or obscured with camera angles, this is all underlining the low-budget issue elsewhere here for the other big detriment.

Rated Unrated/R: Violence and Language.