By Emily R. Zarevich
We’re midway through October — Happy Halloween! It’s time to whip out the streaming services to scout out that perfect scary movie to put you in the right mood for the season. To make things really interesting this year, how about something disturbingly close to home? Did you know that the action-thriller Becky was filmed right here in Burlington? Now you do. Now the real question is, when you watch it, will you wish you hadn’t?
Becky didn’t have a Halloween release, but it definitely has a Halloween feel to it. It’s gory, vulgar, and blankets everything that is familiar in unease. It came out on video-on-demand and was available for public viewing only at drive-in theatres. It was never screened in big-name theatres, which is probably why you don’t remember being traumatized by it as easily as you might remember being traumatized by A Quiet Place or Paranormal Activity. On June 5, 2020, directors Jonathan Milott and Cary Murnion introduced the film scene to the titular Becky Hopper, a surly and spunky thirteen-year-old girl with the defend-the-fortress instincts of Home Alone’s Kevin McCallister. However, while Kevin relies on silly booby traps to take out the criminals, Becky is granted R-rated permission to resort to violence to take out her nemeses.
The premise of the film itself is pretty standard and relies on the human fear of invasion by unwanted persons to carry it forward. A young girl, Becky, and her father go on vacation at a picture-perfect lakeside house. No danger is anticipated, as danger is never anticipated in these flicks. The father, Jeff, wants to reforge a bond with his daughter following the tragic, untimely death of his late wife and her mother. Rather than heal their lives, though, they’re going to be fighting for their lives instead. Nearby, guards driving a prison van transporting a monstrous alliance of neo-Nazis are overtaken by their own human cargo. Becky, her father, his new significant other, and her young son find themselves the unlucky victims of the escaped convicts’ wrath as they seek out a mysterious artifact of their past.
Becky is played by Lulu Wilson, who has claimed her place in the horror genre for her roles in the Netflix TV series The Haunting of Hill House (2018) and its spiritual sister, 2023’s The Fall of the House of Usher. Here, she takes on the horror trope role of Final Girl against horrifically realistic antagonists. There are no ghosts or demons or aliens here. Just people who, unfortunately, do exist. A surprisingly terrifying villain emerges in the form of Kevin James, momentarily stepping away from his comedic acting life, who adopts a beard and the horrors of racial supremacy for the part. He plays the neo-Nazi gang leader Dominick Lewis, who especially targets the defiant Becky for refusing to cower to him. Joel McHale plays Becky’s well-meaning but unprepared father.
So how does Burlington hold up as the setting of a horror (or at least horrific) thriller like this one? It’s certainly an interesting choice. We’re a picturesque community with all the space and conveniences to make up a film set, but we’re not exactly a notorious hub of crime. We tend to pride ourselves on being a relatively safe city, with a reassuringly low crime rate. AreaVibes gives us a solid B+ rating in terms of general safety. Prepare for Canada, a website brimming with valuable information for newcomers, stands by our city’s credentials as well: “In 2022, Resonance Consultancy ranked Burlington as one of Canada’s 25 Best Small Cities. The city took first place in the Safety subcategory, often a key consideration when selecting a new community.”
Obviously, Milott and Murnion had an artistic vision to see through, and Burlington was selected as the ideal place to do it. A happy, peaceful place, violated. Becky and Jeff thought they would enjoy a serene father-daughter weekend together, at a perfect waterfront abode, but that’s not what fate had planned for them. It’s unsettling to think of Burlington, known for its family-friendly atmosphere, being transformed into the backdrop for such a violent story, a stage for an invasion narrative that taps into deep fears about safety and security — but how much of our city is recognizable in this film?
At the beginning, Becky, her father, and the prison van drive down different empty country sideroads that look like they might be off of Highway 5, also known as Dundas Street. Their journeys parallel one another. One is bound for a secluded lake house, the other for a high-security prison facility. Only one destination will be reached.
Both roads are eerily deserted — save for one unlucky driver who encounters the criminals — as if the rest of the commuters could somehow sense the danger and steer clear of those routes that particular day. Have you, as a Burlington driver, ever felt a bit nervous while driving alone down one of those potentially ominous tree-lined roads that lead in or out of the city? That’s exactly the aura that is evoked with these shots. These scenes are executed effectively in that they help establish the sense of isolation that is imperative to the tone of the film. Right away, the heroes are on their own against their adversaries. No one is going to be around to help them when the two parties eventually meet.
When the two parties do meet, it’s within the confines of Burlington’s lush greenery, which has its moments of being aesthetically pleasing but is mostly employed in the film to conceal the action from the outside world, in true horror-thriller fashion. The house where most of the action takes place is presumably one of the grand, spacious homes that line Lakeshore Road. While driving or walking by, have you ever gotten the sense that one of those places, so far from the suburban clusters and the downtown, might be concealing a dark secret or two? That’s what Becky goes for, one of those dark secrets being carried out, with only Lake Ontario as a witness. Without giving away spoilers, both the house and its surrounding forests make a hideously gruesome bloodbath. It’s not the real Burlington. But, if you know, it’s still Burlington. If you want to watch the film, prepare to feel profoundly anxiety-ridden, especially for young Becky, who is supposed to be safe here but isn’t.
Becky is currently maintaining a 71% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. There was a sequel too, made in 2023 and called The Wrath of Becky, but Burlington was overlooked as a setting that time around, with the production team moving things across the border to New Jersey. Burlington was utilized sufficiently, though, and it did its part to make the first movie happen. To watch Becky now, there are the following options for streaming: Vudu, iTunes, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, and Google Play. The film is currently not available on Netflix.
