I feel like there are occasional horror films that might make better prose stories than films. "The Rake" is one of them. Character relationships seem important, and the performances are actually pretty decent, but those relationships aren't well developed or really make much sense in the film itself. The deeper psychological issues the film wants to work with don't quite land because the film can't really get beyond the surface. What occurs is a fair to midland character drama with seemingly random additions (again, a novel would allow background to be explored) and a difficult pace. A fairly lackluster ending doesn't do it any good, either: a last showdown between protagonist and monster just gets shunted, which really seems like the filmmakers ran out of money. It's not bad, just...unfinished.
Review of The Rake
