VICIOUS

(director/writer: Bryan Bertino; cinematographer: Tristan Nyby; editor: Ted Dennis; music: Tom Schraeder; cast: Dakota Fanning (Polly), Kathryn Hunter (The Woman), Mary McCormack  (Mother), Rachel Blanchard (Lainie), Devyn Nekoda (Tara), Klea Scott (Neighbor Woman), Emily Mitchell (Aly); Runtime: 103; MPAA Rating: R; producers: Richard Suckle, Bryan Bertino; Paramount+; 2025)

“Dakota’s committed scream performance at least makes the unwatchable pic almost watchable.”

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

A disappointing horror story written and directed by Bryan Bertino (“The Strangers”/”The Dark and The Wicked”).

The 32-year-old Polly (Dakota Fanning) is a troubled suicidal single woman who has a traumatic past. She lives alone in her family house, where she worries about an upcoming job interview.

A mysterious old woman (Kathryn Hunter) visits her on a snowy night during the holiday season and is invited in after asking to make a phone call. The mysterious woman drops off a cursed box that Polly’s instructed to put in it ‘something she hates, something she needs, and something she loves.’ Any wrong choices will supposedly lead to suffocating nightmares or possibly dying.

What follows are “jump scares” (like dead folks coming out of the closets) and a series of torturous psychological games played out that make Polly scream in agony.

The story is incoherent, and the shock ending is a turn-off.

Dakota’s committed scream performance at least makes the unwatchable pic almost watchable.

It played at the Fantastic Fest.

REVIEWED ON 11/13/2025  GRADE: C
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