‘The Raking’ is a 2017 release by Bryan Brewer who directed, co-wrote, and starred in this indie film.
This is a rather predictable creature feature.
It opens with a family of three. The parents of a small child are arguing in their car with the boy in the backseat. The car unexpectedly stops on the deserted road. (What could possibly happen).
Something attacks and kills the parents, but the boy survives and is eventually found.
Fast forward 20 years or so to a teachers assistant banging a blonde student. The TA, Ethan Cooper, has a scar on his arm and he doesn’t like anyone to touch it. (Hmmmm….I wonder where he got that from?).
As it turns out, Ethan is a teachers assistant for a class studying urban myths.
Ethan and the girl he is sleeping with, Kennedy, meet up with Kennedys roommate, Jade at a local bar. They are joined by Noah, a geek with a camcorder who has a crush on Jade. They are in a study group to decide on a topic for their research project. They decide on the tale of something called, the Rake.
(So far in this movie the only thing I like is that Jade is a goth chick whose hair matches her sleeves).
Kelly, Jades sister sneaks into the car as well and they begin the drive to the area where the Rake is supposed to be. This creature supposedly only makes an appearance on the Equinox. Well, guess what day it is? Yep, its the Equinox.
They stop and make camp. Kelly gets her first beer. Noah films stuff. Ethan makes out with Kennedy who gets her back scratched up after hearing strange noises and growling sounds.
They are scared and run to the car. It doesn’t start. (Surprise). Little sister, Kelly, is dragged screaming from the car by something they only get a glimpse of.
Fortunately, a guy with a gun and big lights on his truck shows up. Telling them to “stay in the light”, they manage to get in the truck and he drives them to his home.
James, their savior, tells them about his brothers death and what he knows about the Rake, which isn’t much. It’s old. And it wakes every year to “feed and harvest”.
When they ask what they should do, they are told that “all you can do is wait out the night” because, “you don’t fight what you can’t kill”.
Ethan calls 911 and is told that help would arrive in an hour. Meanwhile, Jade asks, “what did my sister see?”
James responds, “evil incarnate.”
At this point in the movie, we cut to shots of Kelly in a cave with the creature. It is humanoid, with long fingers and claws. (It reminded me a little of the creatures in ‘The Descent’).
The rest of this indie movie is typical of movies of this type. Each person gets picked off, one by one, by the Rake after the lights go out. (Surprise, surprise).
I watch a lot of horror movies and I always try to find SOMETHING I like in each one.
This was a difficult task with ‘The Raking’.
The acting was adequate, but I didn’t really care about or have any interest in the characters. (Except the goth chick. I like goth chicks).
The settings were boring, the cinematography was boring. It was pretty much a boring movie. You figure out by the second scene that Ethan was the boy in the car from the beginning of the movie. The Rake even recognizes him at the end. (Hooray for the Rake).
Speaking of the creature, it was probably the best thing about this movie because there was no CGI. Hooray for physical special effects.
All in all, a dull movie. Nothing really good, but nothing terrible either. Just boring and predictable.
I give ‘The Raking’ 2 stars out of 10.