The Raking

'The Raking' is a horror movie that, if you tuned in midway through, you'd probably think it looked pretty reasonable - for a general B-movie of its genre. It has a high (again, for the genre) definition feel to it (although, was it me or did the camera slip out of focus here and there?) with reasonable acting talent. And, because of this, I stuck with it until the end.

The story is about five college students who take a field trip out into the American wilderness in order to complete an assignment, but naturally fall foul of a local monster. A decent enough premise, but there just isn't enough that's different to make it stand out.

Unfortunately, there's not really much here to recommend, as it's pretty run-of-the-mill. The characters are quite unlikable and bland (although, as mentioned, the acting and script aren't as bad as others) and - naturally - played by actors about twice as old as the teenagers they're supposed to be.

It's kind of split into three 'acts.' The beginning has the students arrive at the desert (bumping into the obligatory 'wise man' who gives a vague warning as to what horrors they may face) then instantly get attacked. The second part is the longest - and most forgettable - as it's all in one house where the characters just talk. Then you have the final bit where the blood starts to flow - and is about the best (and shortest) section.

When you see the monster it's really nothing special. It's a nice enough mask, but it's just a guy in a costume and reminded me of one of the 'extra' vampires you could see in the background of the classic 'From Dusk to Dawn.'

Like I say, I stuck with it because it always felt like someone was going to happen to make my investment worth it. Yeah, the last ten minutes picked up the pace, but, apart from that, I could probably have fast forwarded a lot more and not missed out on anything.

Bad casting, bad lighting, bad acting. The only semi decent thing was the soundtrack.

I don't know what film people watched to give this over four stars, but if it's this then I suspect they all worked on this film.

The story has more holes than a sieve and there is no excuse for it. I don't expect a lot from low budget movies, but is it that hard to write an unoriginal script that doesn't have every character acting like they have had a lobotomy.

In such a disaster of a movie don't blame the actors who wont win an Oscar, but in the main they did a reasonable job as did the makeup artist/s.

Heading out on a camping trip, a group of students researching a local internet legend finds themselves trapped in a nightmare as the creature they're supposedly hunting is real and begins stalking them through the area, forcing the group to band together in order to survive the trip.

This here wasn't all that great of a creature feature. One of the main issues here is the fact that barely anything at all actually happens for large portions of the film's running time. This one takes way too long to get the group out to the grounds where the creature supposedly lurks as the continued usage of them arguing over what they plan to do on the trip or whether or not they're personal conflicts start getting involved in their mission which isn't in the slightest bit interesting. That it gets further interrupted by the need for the telling of ghost stories out in the middle of their camp really does manage to throw another big dull spot in the middle of the film that holds back it's pacing, and with the initial story being told at the hunters' lodge that takes forever to fully get spelled out for the others that drags out the tempo even more. This overall lack of action manages to reduce the amount of screentime the titular creature receives which manages to make it seem all the less frightening because it's not on-screen often enough to make an impression. There are some fine points on display because of the creature, but the film never gets the chance to really explore it due to the lack of screentime it gives to the monster which is quite short and barely worthwhile here as there are so many more scenes featuring them interacting with each other even after the film decides to announce the creatures' presence so early on here with an attack quite early on. That factor just makes the pacing that much more obvious here with it being obvious the creatures' out there from the beginning yet never delving into exploiting that factor as often as it could've which really does lower this one significantly. Coupled with a cheap-looking monster costume that heightens the low-budget experience, this one has a few problems that don't hold off its positives. There's not a whole lot to like here, which mainly comes from the setup of the creature and its fine backstory. The usage of the internet legend as a basis for the creature isn't a bad start, but it's not as well-known as other creatures which give it a unique and creative feeling that's explored here. As well, there's also the few rather fine action scenes here that get quite enjoyable, from the initial encounter in the campsite to the house encounters that are somewhat thrilling for their sense of gore and frenetic activity throughout which does make this enjoyable. Overall, though, it's not all that great.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence and Graphic Language.

Didn't know what to expect from this horror so plugging it in it immediately got my attention because it started off rather good, it had it all. Next scene also looked promising, you know the sexy student and the weird goth girl, yes this is going to rock. But was I wrong. Once after those two scene's this flick has nothing to offer.

Yes, it do involves a creature but it's more about those bunch of students going to Joshua Tree for a night camping and telling each other boring stories. It's full of clichés but nothing works. No suspense, no horror (except opening sequence) no nothing at all. The main problem with this flick is every time they say something there's a break of 2 seconds before someone reacts. Even with bodies being attacked, reaction is always too late, bad editing I guess.

I watched it throughout the end just to see if it do becomes a horror, sadly it was a horror to watch.

Gore 0/5 Nudity 0/5 Effects 0/5 Story 2/5 Comedy 0/5