Becoming (2020) Movie Review
Written by: ML
Edited by: Grave Reviews Staff
Film Information
Director: Omar Naim
Producers: Gabrielle Whyte Hart, Glen Reynolds, Michael Philip, Cole Payne
Writers: Omar Naim
Date Released: March 6, 2020
Cast:
Toby Kebbell as Alex Ferri
Penelope Mitchell as Lisa Corrigan
Jeff Daniel Phillips as Glen Hemming
Stephen Rider as Justin Moore
Melissa Bolona as Annie Hemming
Beth Broderick as Angela Corrigan
Jason Patric as Kevin Lee
Rating = 2/5 Graves
***May contain some spoilers***
Synopsis
The story is about a newly engaged couple going on a cross country road trip to meet family and friends for their wedding. In one of their stops, they encounter an evil entity that transfers to Alex’s body and begins to slowly take over his persona. As the changes happen, the real Alex starts to disappear and an evil being fully takes control of his mind and body. Lisa, the fiancée, learns about Kevin Lee, a survivor of the same incident that happened to his family when he was a kid. Throughout the years, Kevin learned how to stop the evil entity from transferring hosts. Unfortunately, he died thinking that Alex was his dad. It was up to Lisa to defeat the entity and be a survivor. In the final face-off, Lisa was able to inject Alex with the formula that Kevin was talking about. There was no information as to what happened to the entity or to Alex.
Gore Factor
The opening scene was tragic and shocking. A family massacre and a suicide happened. There were jump scares around the start when Alex was undergoing his transformation. The scariest ones were during a dream scene when he was sleeping faceless, the laundry reflection, and the faceless baby. Though there may be some moments of physical violence at some parts in the movie, they were not really visually depicted. The most blood spill was the quick scene at the parking lot, but the notable deaths include Justin’s head pushed to a hook and the messy throat slit towards the end.
The Grave Review
The best part of this movie is the actual plot or underlying theme. This is something new in terms of possession. Though the movie failed to explain the true identity of this entity, whether it is a demon or a ghost, it is something worth watching.
During the first parts, it can be a bit dragging with all the road travels and motel stopovers. It gets exciting when they reach Glen’s house where the entity currently resides. Weird things start to happen which might be a bit difficult to decipher without the movie having to explain what was going on.
In connection to that, there may be a lot of things lacking in this movie. There was no further explanation about this entity. Though it has existed since the 1800s, the only idea given to the viewers was from that short scene in Kevin’s trailer. The only part when viewers can get an idea that a possession was happening was when Alex’s eyeballs get weird, plus Toby Kebbell’s acting prowess.
Speaking of acting, Toby Kebbell really had the creepy vibe. He was an effective protagonist/antagonist. He carried the whole movie. Without him, it would be trashy with the bland acting of the other actors. This is especially demonstrated during the confrontation scene after Alex learned that Lisa was pregnant and had given him aspirin to trigger his allergy. That entire sequence up until the dad’s body was taken away was cringe-worthy.
The open-ended final scene where Lisa was talking about how she became a survivor still left the audiences with a mystery. Until nobody can figure out what happened to Alex or where the evil entity transferred, the case is still not solved.
Overall, Becoming (2020) will catch anyone’s interest in terms of the overall theme of body snatching and parasitic entity taking over a person. A prequel or a sequel is definitely a good idea.
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