I'm quite the fan of creepypastas and cryptids and all that, The Rake being one of my favourites, although this move just puts it to shame. The acting is very subpar, the story...well, I'm pretty sure there isn't one, and I'm not sure this movie even has anything to do with The Rake.
Also, don't go thinking "Oh I should go watch the movie!", because I'll give you a summary in a couple minutes, and you can save 80 minutes of your life.
A little information: The Rake is one of the first cryptids to be created, and is described as a skinny, humanlike creature which walks on four legs, despite being at least 6 feet tall, that is if it weren't so hunched when it is upright. It has grey skin and black pits for eyes, and is overall...harmless, at least to some extent. Most encounters with it involve it going into people's bedrooms, and looking at them, sometimes even talking to them. The person is then traumatised and scared for their life, some even committing suicide due to this.
In the movie 'The Rake', the creature does not once go on all fours, looks more fat than skinny, and...infects/possesses people?
The movie starts with an introduction lasting around 10 to 15 minutes, and this is the only good part of the movie. It features a family of four, the father being someone who is investigating a serial killer who has been possessed by The Rake. The killer then enters the house and kills both the parents with a sharp-nailed, severed finger, before slitting his own throat with it in front of the children (Ben and Ashley).
Fast forward 20 years and the two kids are grown up and on meds and traumatised, hallucinating and hearing The Rake when it isn't there, despite...not having actually seen the thing. They also apparently have another sister, which we just have to accept. This actually kind of makes sense though when compared to some of the other stuff that happens in this movie. She and her husband (Who for some reason dislikes Ashley because she can't control her own trauma, and yet likes Ben despite him going through the exact same stuff) invite Ben, Ashley, and two other completely irrelevant characters, who we don't get told anything about, over to their new house in the woods.
The move then wastes your time with pointless worldbuilding until the last 10 or so minutes. This middle section consists of Ashley having panic attacks and being shouted at. Ashley then runs into the forest and sees...herself...but in a smoke machine in the middle of some very not smoky or foggy woods, and follows it to see The Rake.
Now, the last 10 minutes. This is basically just a bloodbath. Suddenly they just decide that it's time for everyone to die. This part makes absolutely no sense, and has no suspense or foreshadowing moments leading up to it. And because of terrible writing and lackluster delivery of it, the movie hasn't given you a single character to get attached to to relate to, and so you feel no sorrow seeing everyone die, only feeling uncomfortable at how much gore there suddenly is. Despite this, this is probably the best bit of the movie, with somewhat decent CGI and blood.
Put simply: A & B's sister's husband goes to the basement, finds his wine bottles broken, and then get stabbed by The Rake and dies. Ben, his sister, and one of the two pointless characters (The other is bust vomiting at a corpse in a barn, no idea whether he lives or not) are in a car because Ben fainted or something. They return to the house, and the pointless character goes to the garage alone to make a call and dies. The other two find the husband's body and then find the pointless character's body. Ben grabs a gun, and shoots Ashley as she enters the house. He then rips his eyes out, slits is throat and dies. But he's apparently alive due to a monster in him, who comes out of his body and then just stands in front of A & B's sister...menacingly. Cut to the credits.
Overall, this movie is terribly done. Then put little effort into creating likeable characters, building and interesting world, building suspense, and horror in general. The movie has almost nothing to do with The Rake, despite the movie claiming to be based off of the original creepypasta, and only shows the creature they claim to be The Rake during the last 10 to 15 minutes of the film, in which it shows up and kills a few people...before just disappearing.
I must admit, maybe my thoughts on this movie would be a little better if I hasn't gone in specifically to see The Rake. Maybe if they'd made it an original monster, it could've worked out better. Although that can't change the fact that the writing is awful, with the execution of it being just as bad, if not worse.
(Note: Maybe this does relate to the real Rake more than I think, so sorry about that. It's been a little while since I looked at those old creepypastas.)
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