Nerds That Geek Movie Review: ‘The Raking’

Written by Scott Edwards

Urban Legends are something that I will never get tired of, especially when learning about a place I might be staying at for a while. Even if the stories are not told well, I love to hear what the people actually believe when it comes to these stories, because most of them come from something that really happened. With even an ounce of truth behind them, Urban Legends go a long way into explaining what happened in these small towns and while so many people only think that they are stories, they might want to be mindful of what the stories are trying to tell them.
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Needing to come up with an idea about what to do their report on for their Cultural Anthropology project, Noah has already done some research on the local legends. Seeing that she has dork as part of her group, Kennedy is not willing to go out of her way at all for the group, especially since the only thing she wants to be doing is her teacher’s assistant Ethan. Jade is worried about her grade and is not willing to give up on the project, so she listens to what Noah has brought to the table, and finds the legend about the Rake incredibly interesting and gets the group to agree to do it the next day, as the Equinox is upon them and that is the time when the Rake comes out to play.

Getting the group loaded into the car, Ethan wants to keep his relationship with Kennedy under wraps for their night of investigating. Jade is getting sick and tired of her roommate and her secrets during the trip, and to make matters worse, Kennedy invited her little sister Kelly on the trip as well. With the group not all getting along and being forced to pull over on the side of the road, they are greeted by a local who warns them not to set up camp on this night, because it is not a good night for camping, at all. Not listening to the man and making their way to a prime location at Joshua Tree, the group is ready for a great time with ghost stories and beer, but that is not all the Tree has to offer them on this once in a lifetime event.

Sneaking away from the group, Kennedy and Ethan get a little frisky when the young woman is scratched on the back. Seeing the wound, the group finds out that they are not alone and listening to the unearthly screeches from whatever is stalking them, they decide to leave. But when they discover their car has a dead battery, they are forced to sit and listen to the creature attacking their camp right outside with no way to battle it. When the attacks stop and they believe that the creature has moved on, they are shocked to see that it has not, and Kelly is dragged away in a fury. Seeing the strange man from earlier in the day arrive with shotgun in hand, the group has no choice but to trust that he has come to help. Leaving their camp is only the first of many decisions that the group will have to make during the long night, but each decision becomes one of life or death when dealing with the Rake.

Although this may not be on the top of my list for a monster movie, it ranks up there pretty high. The movie really did tone down for a while after the first appearance of the creature and even though we were getting to know the characters inside and out, I wish there was a little bit more action coming their way to keep the story interesting. But when the Rake is able to frighten the group and get closer to the light that it fears, the movie goes into non-stop frights, which is great to keep the audience entertained. With a creepy monster that only appears once a year, a need to feed, people who are afraid of the dark, a relationship that seems doomed and a full closure of the entire story, this is not a bad watch if you have the time. I will admit that all the times I have been to Joshua Tree, I never thought that there was anything that could hurt me, and I will keep it that way and never attempt to go there during the Equinox. Stay Scared.

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