Reaper

Danny Trejo is an actor I have long admired. From his smaller roles in masterpieces like "Heat" to his long-deserved go as a leading man in the campy but fun "Machete" films, he is a screen presence who is simultaneously intimidating but also somewhat relatable. Usually, he is relegated to playing a thug, criminal, ex-con, or just general bad guy, and rarely is he given the chance to pull in the audience emotionally. Rather, he's just the comic relief or the action set- piece.

That's why I was pleasantly surprised when I came across "Reaper" the other day and found that while he is still playing someone on the bad side of the law (a drug dealer, in this case), he is actually given the opportunity to be a compassionate, sympathetic, and ultimately heroic leading man. Hooray! Here, he is the only one in a band of criminals who are being terrorized by a supernatural force at a creepy motel is who not just self-motivated but also trying to help out the other two young baddies as well. He's the only one who doesn't try to take advantage of the main hitchhiker, and he gets a beautiful scene where he relays to her his regrets about his lost marriage, the child who doesn't see him anymore, and the life he wishes he had a chance to relive. He offers the most substance in a film which is otherwise lacking in it, and he delivers easily one of the best performances of his career.

That makes "Reaper" a MUST SEE for any true Trejo fan. The film itself starts off rocky and takes too long to introduce Trejo himself, but once it does, it gets rolling pretty nicely. The other two veteran actors, Jones and Busey, are in barely there roles but give some credit to the two young actors (hitchhiker and drug mule) for holding their own and helping Trejo carry the film.

While the film is far from perfect, it finally affords Trejo a role he deserves. As for the titular "reaper" monster, forget about him! The real force here is Trejo, and "Reaper" is his show.

Boisterously entertaining, this low budget throwback slasher has bodacious hottie Natalie (Shayla Beesley) riskily hitch-hiking the dusty back roads scamming on lecherous creeps for their dough to dutifully pay mom's medical bills, and after she reluctantly accepts a ride with greasy sleazer salesman Bill (Jake Busey) they both fatefully end up at the ominously monikered 'Last Chance Hotel', a deliciously doomy locale, this heart-broken hotel amusingly replete with visibly disturbed, batso bonkers, bible-blathering, doom-auguring receptionist Caine (Justin Henry). The local news dramatically report the extraordinarily lurid details concerning the supernaturally revivified mass serial killer 'Reaper' allegedly continuing his murderous modus operandi of super-sanguineous sinner slaying from beyond the grave!

Director Philip Shih's splattery shocker provides electrifying scenes of sublime midnight movie madness as noble-hearted, machete-weilding drug mule Danny Trejo and the monstrously beleaguered guests of the bloodily besieged motel do desperate battle with the high-wattage, hell-fired 'Reaper'. Consistently compelling due to the engaging performances of a damn fine cast, with Trejo, Beesley, Henry, and Busey's boozy curb crawling creep all being far more nuanced protagonists than the usually drearily disposable knife fodder. 'Reaper' is one eminently diggable B-Horror, with pacey direction, a creepier-than-thou location, pluckier than average final girl, and this red-eyed, reprehensibly rampaging, riotously revenging Reaper is guaranteed to scythe his wanton way into the contemporary slasher pantheon! While I thoroughly enjoyed 'Reaper', I could have done without the ceaseless grimacing of ex-footie thug Vinnie Jones, a boorish amateur with all the subtlety of a sinkhole! 'Reaper' is a pleasingly gritty B-crime horror hybrid that references Renny Harlin's cult classic 'Prison'.

Danny Trejo is the reason i wanted to see this little straight to dvd Horror but it's a fairly decent little flick. The cover art of the dvd is terrible & has nothing to do with the film.

Reaper is a well made little Horror/ Supernatural/Crime Thriller it's definitely a mix of genres crossing over abit like the 90's Classic From Dusk Till Dawn that also starred Danny Trejo so the idea is a cool one here putting a small group of criminals against each other & a supernatural serial killer that all end up at a big creepy old Hotel but it doesn't truly go anywhere exciting or thrilling.

This is a fun movie with a road thriller feel that turns into a trapped in one place Horror!!!

Danny Trejo, who I'm a huge fan of plays a good role here as a wise Criminal with a heart who is a drug dealer that picks up a young hitchhiker girl & ends up at the big creepy old Hotel.

Trejo also has a cool moment where he gets out a big Machete & as we know that's a little nod to his most famous role.

The atmosphere is creepy with a feel that something is about to happen like it's tense in a way building up to something is coming!!!

The Dark gloomy lit hotel is a great setting for a Moody Horror like this but never goes for full action of blood bath type stuff, it's good for what it is but also abit boring & could've been way better!!!

Could've used more Trejo & Could've used some more action scenes & some more bloody scenes to make the stakes feel higher but like i said for what it is it's not a bad little flick.

The next best performance after the cool rugged Trejo as Jack the criminal with a heart comes from the beautiful hitchhiker on a personal mission played by Shayla Beesley as Natalie a smart & cunning thief who gets caught up in this complicated criminal underworld.

Natalie is a very good well written character & a smart quick thinking one too it's a very good performance by Beesley.

Jake Busey turns up as a weird travelling salesmen who seems to have given up on life.

We also have tough British actor Vinnie Jones as a violent crime lord who also gets mixed up in the supernatural mess & basically plays the same character he always plays.

James Jurdi is another class actor here as a petty criminal who gets on the wrong side of just about everyone in this movie.

Mike Michaels plays the Supernatural serial killer The Reaper who is roaming the deserted country back roads killing anyone in his path of death who ends up the hotel with the group of criminals.

Gotta say again i love Danny Trejo & have since the 90's & i think he's one of the greatest B-movie character actors of all time!!! Trejo is a class act with a great screen presence & he is basically the new Charles Bronson in some ways!!!

I'm so glad Trejo finally made it as a big star & got the big cult following he deserves as he is a proper vintage rugged tough guy like a real grindhouse hero who has actually lived it & seen it all.

He has become legendary...finally.

I always look forward to seeing his rugged mustached face on the front of straight to dvd B-movie covers.

Trejo has become so popular after the success of Machete that any low rent cheap film he even had a small cameo in has released the movie with Danny Trejo billed as the main lead star on the cover with a cool picture of him but I've been tricked too many times by buying these films because I'm a huge Trejo fan & find out that the film is crap & Trejo has a tiny bit part for a few mins!!! Very annoying but that's the impact of our cult hero Trejo,we just love seeing him in anything.

This is a fun & interesting story & damaged characters that happen to cross paths & come accross a supernatural killer & it's the characters that really save the film from being a "bad film" because you are interested in these people & as said Trejo gives a nice thoughtful performance.

Following a score of strange incidents, a group of criminals hiding out at a reclusive hotel find their troubled hitchhiker target is the least of their problems when a supernatural being begins taking out everybody one-by-one.

This here was quite the bland and overall uninteresting effort. The biggest issue here holding this one back is the fact that so much of what happens here is just not that interesting or enjoyable, which is mainly due to how this one starts off. The majority of the first half here is dedicated to thoroughly uninteresting by being more of a lame crime/drama rather than straight-forward horror film. By focusing on her troubled life-style and willingness to utilize her femininity to get the drop on both guys which allows her to continue being such a tease to everyone makes for such an overly bland offering. Hardly anything about this section works well in determining this one as being much of a horror film with the three different plot lines coming into play here that makes this one drag out the horror elements which come so late into the film that there's little opportunities for horror elements even before taking those elements on throughout the rather extended series of stalking scenes in here. These are just so overlong that it ends up really ruining the few attacks at slasher rhythms with the fact that the killer is so underdeveloped and completely clueless about his origins that he's quite unimposing long before having his first appearance pop up in the second half of this one. Still, once it does get into some of the more involved sequences here this one becomes quite a bit of fun with the fact that there's some genuinely fun sequences in here, from the rather tense stalking done in the middle of the hotel where the crackling bolts of electricity that signify its presence burst into the middle of the scene and make for a creepy time as it begins stalking the unwary groups still in the midst of their petty arguing and allowing for some tense moments, as well as the final confrontation in the church which has some creepy moments. Along with some fine action in the different races to get to safety throughout here, there's some fun to be had but it's mostly pretty flawed.

Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language and drug use.

Went into this expecting very little but was quite surprised to discover that it was far less gory and way more interesting than initially suspected. I think the advertising here actually didn't do justice to the film because it comes off as a cliché slasher romp from the marketing but it's actually a twisty crime thriller with some supernatural shades. The cast really holds it together nicely, creating an ensemble of refreshingly flawed characters who are playing a dangerous game of survival of the fittest. Genre vets Trejo and Jones are always welcome additions to this kind of material, and they do as good a job as can be expected. Overall "Reaper" isn't quite what was expected, in a good way.