In 2021’s Grim Reaper, escaped mental patient Victor Cunningham (Deron Cunningham) is wandering around a small country town and killing people.

That’s pretty much the entire plot.  Grim Reaper is only a 70-minute film and the majority of those minutes are made up of either Cunningham wandering around in his grim reaper mask, Cunningham’s victims being stalked, and the police being ineffective.  (The main detective wears a baseball cap that read: POLICE.  It’s a good thing that the guy was wearing that baseball cap because, otherwise, I would have just mistaken him for a local bartender.)  Our final girl has a big bruise on her face and is trying to escape an abusive relationship, which adds a level of poignance to her story.

There’s a tendency amongst many to be automatically dismissive of DIY slasher films like Grim Reaper.  It’s true that Grim Reaper has its amateurish moments and that the soundtrack leans a bit too heavy on the metal and it’s also obvious that most of the actors were not professionals but I have to admit that I kind of enjoyed the movie and not just in an ironic sense.  It helps that the film was obviously made by people who appreciate the genre and, watching the film, one gets the feeling that it was a fun set.  It may seem like a backhanded compliment to say that the film is comfortable with being what it is but you need only compare it to some of the current big budget horror films to see the difference between a horror film made be fans of the genre and people who think that they’re somehow better than the horror label.  Even shot on video, the film still had somewhat effective shots.  Director James Ian Mair appears to have a good eye and he even manages to make good use of natural light.  That’s the same thing that got Chloe Zhao an Oscar and a Marvel movie.

Sometimes, you just have to be willing to appreciate a film for what it is.