Rachel Melvin’s tenure on the soap opera Days of Our Lives is put to good use in the indie horror film The Rake. As much of a monster flick as an exploration of the emotional fallout of damaged childhoods, this horror exercise doesn’t overstay its welcome and emerges as a nice addition to the creature feature genre.
Clocking in under 80 minutes and featuring smart direction from Tony Wash, the primary running time of the film is focused around a weekend get together hosted by Nicole (Melvin) and her husband Andrew (Joey Bicicchi). As past hurts are examined and new hopes emerge, it appears that someone (or something) is hunting the couple and their family and friends. Soon reconciliation and redemption are replaced by grievous bloodshed…and death. 
The script by Wash and Jeremy Silva doesn’t necessarily explain everything. One doesn’t totally grasp what the rake of the title is or gather all the details of how Nicole is connected with the others, but the final 30 minutes of the film is a beyond enjoyable stalk n slash. Melvin and her co-stars also deliver the dramatic goods, a testament to their impressive talents and Wash’s keen ability to work with them.
You can stream The Rake at https://www.amazon.com/Rake-Izabella-Miko/. You can also follow Skeletons in the Closet, another recent Wash project, at https://www.facebook.com/skeletonsintheclosetmovie/.
Until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!
Nicely, as an actress, Moore simply navigates her character’s growth from timid to uncontrollably lustful. There is no grand posing, but you truly believe that she has fallen under her supernatural partner’s spell. Meanwhile, Byron Minns, as the vein strewn reason for Moore’s down fall, makes one understand why she would tumble down this murderous rabbit hole, head first. 
pular stars of her time…albeit in some of the strangest cinema ever produced.
Naturally, Henie, who spends much of the movie in close-ups featuring an approximation of thoughtful whimsy, finds her true love by the film’s spectacular finish. Chaney, of course, would go on to classic monster status with his appearances in such films as 1941’s 
Here as the clairvoyant Cassandra, Wilson tries to warn Morton Downey, Jr.’s obnoxious Ray Bright about impending danger. Of course, Bright treats Cassandra with nothing but skeptism and scorn. Despite this hateful onslaught, Wilson allows her character to maintain the cool regality that made her a wonder of the song set and establishes Cassandra as someone with both compassion and a rigid will. Naturally, Bright’s cynicism eventually relegates him to the clutches of a Dick Smith inspired creature in the episode’s penultimate awakening. Still, the finest moments here, for terror freaks who like the horror mixed with a cup of class, belong to Wilson. 
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