During a pivotal scene in Vicious, the latest horror film from The Strangers director Bryan Bertino, I was reminded of Pinhead’s simple declaration in Hellraiser: “The box. You opened it. We came.” Hellraiser’s demons are, with few exceptions, summoned by people who think they want what the Cenobites offer—people who deserve what’s coming to them. It’s a concept that’s easy to grasp, and one that makes the resulting torture all the more twistedly satisfying to watch. The same cannot be said for whatever resides in the box at the center of Vicious, which seems as confused as the audience about what it wants or who it targets, resulting in a watch that, for all its scares, leaves an odd taste in the mouth.
Never Open the Door to Strangers
Vicious stars Dakota Fanning as Polly, a 30-something woman who seems to have lost her way in life. She’s single and childless (the worst possible things a woman could be!) and seems to be existing in a state of depression-induced disconnection from the world, as evidenced by her lonely evenings spent bumming around an empty house with a cigarette hanging out of her mouth. Her attempts to break out of this state feel half-hearted and aching with hopelessness as she slowly tries on outfits for an upcoming job interview. Her only anchor point is her young niece, whom she clearly loves, but even her own sister seems to be coming to the end of her rope with her.
Polly’s inertia is shattered by the arrival of a mysterious old woman (Kathryn Hunter) on a wintry night. Feigning senility, the woman eases her way into Polly’s home, where she suddenly flips from helplessness to steely resolve as she utters the eerie line, “I’m going to start now.” Placing a box on the table in front of her, the woman informs Polly that she must place three things inside of it: something she hates, something she needs, and something she loves. Sounds simple enough. But when the woman is gone and Polly is left alone with the box, her quiet evening quickly descends into a waking nightmare.
Vicious Goes for the Jugular, but Seems Uncertain With What It Wants to Say
With The Strangers, Bertino relied heavily on unsettling his audience with behavior happening just out of sight of his characters before confronting both with a gut-punch conclusion. His 2020 comeback, The Dark and the Wicked, was a deeply atmospheric chiller that descended into nerve-jangling jump scares. Vicious tries to do a little of both, leaving the rattled Polly initially unaware of the evil settling in for the night shift before hitting her (and the viewer) with an unrelenting barrage of horrors for the rest of the runtime. There are a few subtle frights to be found here, especially those involving the floor-to-ceiling mirrors in the living room—Bertino has a real knack for making homes feel unsafe and haunted, even with a cozy fire crackling in the hearth—but for the most part, Vicious isn’t subtle about trying to scare you. Polly is attacked by her mirror self, knives and other implements plunge into fleshy parts, and her phone rings constantly as the entity calls to taunt her using the voices of the loved ones she’s pushed away.
But What Does the Box Want in Vicious?
Dampening the potential scare factor, though, is the itching sensation that none of what you’re watching makes a whole lot of sense. In his Q&A after the film’s world premiere at Fantastic Fest, Bertino mentioned that Vicious began life as a one-sentence idea, and it feels like it didn’t evolve much from there. That’s a problem for a film as unnecessarily complicated as Vicious, leaving Polly—and, by extension, the audience—scrambling to figure out rules that even Bertino seems unclear on. What does the box actually want? How do you win, and is winning even possible? Days after seeing Vicious, I’m still not sure.
Worse, I’m left scratching my head over what Bertino actually wanted to say with his underdeveloped themes around mental health. “I don’t want to be me,” Polly informs the audience in the film’s opening moments. That’s abundantly clear, and dealing with the box certainly feels like an opportunity to confront one’s inner demons and gain perspective on what matters in life—but if that’s the case, what is the audience supposed to take away from the box’s habit of forcing self-mutiliation? The reveal of the box’s next victim further muddies the water and will make you wonder if the themes were intentional at all.
Open the Box (Or Hit Play) for Dakota Fanning
As its name suggests, Vicious isn’t afraid to get nasty, delivering crowd-pleasing moments of wince-inducing gore. These are bolstered by a fully committed performance from Fanning, who pivots from apathetic numbness to screaming horror in a heartbeat. However, the fuzzy rules and mixed messages ending make for a more befuddling than satisfying watch, ultimately lessening the impact of the scares. It all feels a little like a first draft—and perhaps a good reminder to check in with your therapist, even if the movie won’t.
Vicious debuts on Paramount+ on October 10 as part of the platform’s Peak Screaming collection.
