Becky is a gory thriller created by Nick Morris, Lane and Ruckus Skye. The movie is directed by Cary Murnion and Jonathan Milott, the same guys who brought you Cooties and Bushwick.
Becky (Lulu Wilson) is a 13 year old girl who has recently lost her mother, has a strained relationship with her father Jeff (Joel McHale) due to his new relationship, while also being bullied in school. In an attempt to reconnect, Jeff takes Becky back to their family lake house alongside his new girlfriend, Kayla (Amanda Brugel) and her son, Ty (Isaiah Rockcliffe). Infuriated, Becky spends most of her time away in her tree house ignoring everyone.
In the meantime, prisoners Dominick – a neo-nazi (Kevin James), Apex (Robert Maillet), Cole (Ryan McDonald) and Hammond (James McDougall) kill their guards and escape from their transport van. In their attempts to retrieve an item hidden away in the lake house, they imprison and hold the entire family hostage, except for Becky. What follows is a series of brutal cat and mouse game between the prisoners and Becky.
This movie is what would have happened had Kevin been older in Home Alone. The creators know what the target audience wants and deliver on the gore factor, they also know how to represent strong female characters. Having a teenage girl as the revenge seeking protagonist is refreshing to see. Not every teen can pull off such a character but Wilson has the acting skills and the right expressions to play Becky so well.
Kevin James stepping away from his comedic background to play a psychotic nazi is a pleasant surprise. His version of Dominick is refrained which makes him more menacing than his men. The downside is his character not being utilised as much as he should have been. There are a few surplus characters that could have been cut in order to give him more screen time.
Becky is an enjoyable film, however, it’s far from perfect because there is very little character development for everyone involved – including Becky. Also, all the effort to escape prison and murdering people to get to this item hidden in the house, yet we never find out why Dominick wanted it for. It could have been left open for a potential sequel, but it does come across like the writers were in a rush and didn’t care to put any effort into giving us a proper reason.
The questionable choices of the creators also become evident when Becky is given a chance to seek revenge on one of the prisoners after finding her in the woods. The choice of weapon is ludicrous and could not cause so much damage to a human, not even if it was used by an adult with a strong physique.
If you can overlook obvious flaws in a story then Becky will be a fun gory thriller for you. 5.5/10
Becky is out from today.
