Netflix And Chill: The Wrath Of Becky (2023)

Considering how much I enjoyed Becky, I am surprised that it took me this long to get around to the sequel. There didn't seem to be a lot of the main people returning behind the camera, but Lulu Wilson was back in the main role, which ensured I would eventually give it a watch. I'm glad I did. This sequel is a lot of fun, and I'd say that it's on a par with the first film.

A bit of time has passed since the events of the first film and Becky has been doing her best to lay low. She's moved between a number of foster homes, but is now settled with a woman named Elena (Denise Burse). Elena doesn't ask Becky too many questions, and Becky tries to act like someone happy to make a fairly normal life for herself. That all changes when a group of racist incels, part of a group called the Noble Men, start trouble in town though, and Becky refuses to put up with their attitude in a confrontation that kicks off a chain of events that will lead to a lot of pain and death.

Co-directed by Matt Angel and Suzanne Coote, with a story from the two of them shaped into screenplay form by Angel, The Wrath Of Becky makes a choice early on to remind us that Becky is an entertainingly cold-blooded psychopath. She can keep herself in check, just, by indulging in occasional daydreams of violence against those who piss her off, but it's glorious to watch things build and build to a point that allows her to start doing what she enjoys most. While this idea felt like a bit of a twist in the first film, the joy here comes from watching people push the buttons of someone that we know will eventually explode in absolutely spectacular fashion.

Wilson remains as good in the central role as she was in the first film, and arguably gets to have more fun thanks to the fact that the dark (aka fun) side of her character is visible for almost all of the runtime here. The rest of the cast work well in roles that only need them to be menacing for a short amount of time before clarifying that they're actually just dead (noble)men walking. They may think they're Proud Boys, but everyone else knows they're just inadequate man-babies, and they're played well by Michael Sirow, Aaron Dalla Villa, Angel (wearing a third hat that allows him to join in with the fun in front of the camera), and Courtney Gains. Seann William Scott is the leader of the group, and he also does good work, and Jill Larson manages to make a hell of an impact with her few minutes of screentime.

There are so many immensely satisfying moments in this that I just want to describe them all, but I won't. It's a real treat to watch, easily summarised as a young girl exacting revenge upon violent neo-Nazis, but feels especially heartening when we are surrounded by news and media that seems intent on refusing to call out the disturbing rise of these ideologies as they constantly mistake dangerous bothsidesism with fair and balanced reporting. It's perfectly okay to be intolerant of intolerance, it should be okay to call a neo-Nazi a neo-Nazi (especially if it walks like a neo-Nazi and talks like a neo-Nazi), and The Wrath Of Becky reminds everyone that it's always acceptable to punch any kind of Nazi in the face. In fact, it's almost a duty.

8/10

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Pledge (2018)

As we all know, how you react to movies can depend on many different factors. Your own personal life experiences, what other movies you have seen (that may have influenced, or been influenced by, whatever you're watching), and even just what mood you are in on that particular day. Pledge is a horror film based around the fact that some young men are so desperate to get into an exclusive fraternity that they will let the experienced frat members put them through hell.

I hated this movie, and I can pinpoint why I hated it. I am, for better or for worse, one of those people who agrees with the motto that "I wouldn't want to join any club that would have me as a member". Fraternities, and the act of pledging to them, embody that notion arguably more than anything else I can think of. It's such a major thing for so many American students, and I am not saying that if I was a young American that I would be able to avoid the peer pressure, but I've always been majorly averse to the idea. That doesn't mean I cannot enjoy that rite of passage being used in movies, from the MANY enjoyable comedies that make use of it, to the silliness of something like The Skulls (remember that movie about the secret society that had a building with their insignia high up on their building for all to see?). But a horror movie showing people trying to stay happy while they're abused and tortured, all because they want accepted into such a shitty little "club"? No thanks.

I don't need to summarise the plot, I've basically done that already. So let's just cut to the chase, which is the part where I complain about nothing else in the movie doing anything to lift the material.

Writer Zack Weiner, who also gives himself a lead role, seems to have done no more than come up with what he thought was a great idea, and then made sure he had a place for himself in it. The characterisations are thin, nobody is believable, the plotting is so silly that it makes it impossible to suspend your disbelief for more than a few minutes at a time (I almost lasted a whole five minutes without questioning everything happening onscreen, but it turned out I was almost dozing off, so I had to rewind the film and watch parts of it again).

This is the third feature from Daniel Robbins, and nothing here makes me want to see anything else from him. That may be a mistake, however, as the summary for his previous film, Uncaged, doesn't sound too bad (I am sure some of my friends can give me a yay or nay on that one). Perhaps he found his hands bound too tightly by the script, or perhaps he just thought, like Weiner, that the central concept was strong enough to make up for the many failings. Both of them were very wrong.

I'll mention Zachery Byrd, playing Justin, as a bit of a highlight, but I don't even want to bother namechecking the others. Those trying to pledge are shown as whiny weaklings, while the posh "kids" have all the power and enjoy abusing it throughout most of the runtime. Nobody is necessarily terrible, but nobody is given any shading to their character, despite moments that look to be heading that way.

Unless I am misremembering something, this is probably the worst mainstream horror movie I have seen in the last few years. And that includes The Nun.

2/10

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