By George & Josh Bate
From the writer and director of the original The Strangers, the Fantastic Fest premiere Vicious squanders its promising premise and committed lead performance from Dakota Fanning with a messy story that refuses to end.
Vicious stars Fanning as Polly, a young woman, who, on the night before a big interview, receives a visit from a mysterious late-night visitor (played by Andor’s Kathryn Hunter). The stranger introduces Polly to a box that comes with a simple instruction: place three things inside the box – something you hate, something you need, and something you love. What is initially dismissed as the rantings of an unwell woman becomes far more insidious and reality-bending for Polly as she is forced to play the game and reckon with physical and psychological turmoil.
Writer/director Bryan Bertino’s film begins strongly. Bertino certainly knows how to cultivate a spooky, cozy atmosphere for a horror movie as he situates his lead character Polly alone in a dimly lit house on a dark, snowy night. When Polly is visited by Kathryn Hunter’s stranger, a palpable suspense enters the fold as we know that something about this woman is not right. Unfortunately, after the premise establishes itself, Vicious progressively devolves in craft and narrative intrigue scene-by-scene.
Dakota Fanning gives herself over to Vicious, delivering a powerful, physical, and emotional performance suited for a far better movie than this. While the concept of the box is introduced succinctly and clearly at first, the film fails to allow the box to open the door to an interesting examination of Fanning’s character. Instead, the box’s primary utility comes in the form of making Fanning do some pretty gnarly things in scenes that, while well-shot and certainly visceral in their intensity and brutality, lack any semblance of emotional weight behind them.
In a strange story decision, Polly doesn’t quite engage with the box and doesn’t always play along with its rules. Rather, the film seems less interested in the psychological game posed to its main character and more interested in putting Polly through a series of situations that range from terrifying to torturous. It seems that Polly has been tasked with a game that is impossible to truly beat as the rules continue to rewrite themselves and she gets beaten down scene-after-scene for over 90 minutes. The scares along the way are ineffective and unoriginal, while every turn the story takes diminishes interest and investment piece-by-piece.
Vicious becomes an even more grueling viewing experience in its final act. After progressively losing steam over the course of the runtime, Bertino’s film simply does not know when to wrap things up. Every moment of the last 15-20 minutes or so seem to be on the precipice of a true ending and the final credits, but then, much to our dismay and frustration, the film drags the story along for yet another scene. What thankfully ends up being the final scene tries to shock and pose an extension of the film’s premise, although, at this point, it is difficult to care about anything or anyone.
VERDICT: 4/10
The Strangers writer/director Bryan Bertino’s latest film Vicious squanders a promising premise and committed lead performance from Dakota Fanning with a dull, convoluted story that refuses to end. A strong start that interestingly sets up the film and an admittedly spooky atmosphere throughout do little to offset a narrative that erodes scene-by-scene. Even as Fanning delivers a compelling performance deserving of a far better movie, Vicious drags as the film seems more interested in scaring and torturing Fanning’s character for 90+ minutes, rather than having her actually play the twisted game she is introduced to. Bertino’s movie becomes even more grueling as it simply does not know when to wrap things up. Eventually, when it does, Bertino tries to shock and pose an extension of the film’s premise, although, at this point, all interest and investment in the story and characters have diminished. Vicious lives up to its name, albeit unintentionally, in being a viciously dull and arduous viewing experience.
Vicious streams October 10 on Paramount Plus
