20 years after the brutal murder of their parents, two estranged siblings are reunited at a housewarming party.  Ben (Stephen Brodie) has found a hard-won sense of normalcy over the years, while his younger sister, Ashley (Shanae Grimes-Beech), has spent most of her adult life under psychiatric care. 

When a surprise announcement reels Ashley into an emotional spiral, she is convinced that something inside her has awoken - something that’s been dormant since childhood. Forced to revisit their nightmarish past, Ben must separate logic from legend and uncover whether the horrors are of Ashley’s mind, or that of a real evil that threatens to INFECT US ALL.

The Rake releases everywhere June 5th!  PRE ORDER THE DVD NOW!!!

The Rake was born in October of 2014 when FX artist Jason Kain and director Tony Wash were discussing frustrations over another project losing its steam.  "Jason pretty much said 'Screw it, why don't we make a movie about The Rake?'  He showed me a brief synopsis from Creepypasta about the Rake mythos and I've always been a fan of creature features so it was pretty easy to convince me." Shortly after, Robert Patrick Stern, Sarah Sharp, Jim Petersen and Angela Verdino became involved as producers and the team quickly began orchestrating the development of The Rake.  Wash brought on co-writer Jeremy Silva to help pen the script and the duo had a shooting script ready in less than three months.  "Jeremy is an incredible writer.  Talented, intelligent and professional.  With every edit he would send me, the story would become tighter, the tension greater, and the characters more real."

By March of 2015 a location had been secured along with a majority of financing and casting had begun.  Initially, The Rake was to be a non-union project so the team had to look for talented cast members who were not affiliated with SAG.  "We began reaching out to actors we'd worked with in the past and whom we felt were capable of bringing such rich characters to life." recalls Rob Stern.  One of the actors the team contacted shared the script with a group of producers he is associated with in LA and they were instantly eager to become a part of the project.  With the movie now in the hands of the new producers, principle photography commenced in late March.  After a 19 day shoot ended in April and three subsequent pickup days in December, The Rake was in the can and being shipped to LA for the edit, helmed by Sam Bauer (Donnie Darko).  Over the next two years, the LA team put the movie through post production and secured distribution through Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.  "It's been an interesting process to say the least." said Wash of the experience.  "I'm accustomed to indie filmmaking where the director is the captain of the ship from inception to completion.  The 'Hollywood Process' is a substantially different approach that I was unfamiliar with, but I'm damn proud of what our team created on set, hope our post team in LA built upon that foundation, and am excited for audiences to see that talent and diligence shine through in the final product."  

With a dynamic group of characters portrayed by some truly talented actors, an ace practical special FX team that helped bring the nightmarish creature to life, and top-notch production design, camera and lighting work,  The Rake is sure to prove to fans that Scotchworthy's quality is continuing to grow.

SPECS

Genre: Horror, Psychological Thriller

Run Time:  80 Minutes

Key Cast Members: Shanae Grimes-Beech, Rachel Melvin, Joey Bicicchi, Izabella Miko, Joe Nunez, Stephen Brodie, Darcy Wood

Key Crew Members: Tony Wash (Director, Producer, Co-writer), Robert Patrick Stern (Director of Photography, Producer), Sarah Sharp (Production Designer, Producer), Angela Cox (Unit Production Manager, Producer), James Petersen (Producer, DIT), Jeremy Silva (o-writer), Mike Dozier (Producer), Tommy Vlahopoulos (Executive Producer), Jason Kanjiro Howard (Executive Producer), Jason Kain (Special FX Supervisor, Creature Designer)

Content: Violence, Language, Nudity, Gore

BTS Photography by Nicole Defilippis