By MICHAEL GINGOLD
Starring Dakota Fanning, Kathryn Hunter and Mary McCormack
Written and directed by Bryan Bertino
Paramount
What a shame it is that while the recent underachieving knockoff of Bryan Bertino’s fright fave THE STRANGERS recently scored nationwide release, the latest movie by Bertino himself has been consigned to a streaming (on Paramount+) and digital premiere. Indeed, it’s unfortunate that he hasn’t secured wide distribution in general for his work since STRANGERS, including the superior chillers THE MONSTER and especially THE DARK AND THE WICKED. That said, VICIOUS isn’t quite up to the level of those previous films; it can be chilling to watch but frustrating to think about.
One thing that can definitely be said in VICIOUS’ favor is that it’s a strong showcase for Dakota Fanning, who’s front and center in every scene. She plays Polly, who’s got issues that are established right off the bat as she intones over a black screen, “I don’t want to be. Is that a weird thing to say?” Polly has anxiety problems and, based on some phone messages we hear early on, isn’t getting out much, yet her house contains dead, unwatered plants and a sink cluttered with dirty dishes. (The production design by Jennifer Spence, whose long horror résumé includes numerous CONJURING Universe and INSIDIOUS films, reveals a lot about Polly throughout the movie.) At 32, she’s thinking of going back to school, and her mother still calls her “Babydoll.”
Clearly, Polly is in a fragile place, enacted by Fanning with a great deal of feeling and sympathy. And things get a whole lot worse after an elderly woman (Kathryn Hunter) shows up on her doorstep on a snowy night, needing to make a phone call. It’s not long after Polly takes her in that the woman begins to show a sinister side, and Hunter, who memorably went over-the-top evil in THE FRONT ROOM, dials it down here and has a quieter but no less menacing impact. She leaves Polly with a box and instructions to place in it “something you hate, something you need and something you love,” and fulfilling them will prove to be quite painful both physically and psychologically.
Bertino has (with the exception of THE MONSTER) specialized in housebound tension and terror, and his knack for turning domestic spaces into chambers of horrors is on full display in VICIOUS. Polly winds up in a few different homes over the course of the film, and no good comes of any of these visits, with Bertino, Spence and cinematographer Tristan Nyby (encoring from DARK AND THE WICKED) making each one visually distinctive and, ultimately, equally threatening. Tom Schraeder’s almost nonstop, eerie score (punctuated by maybe a couple too many loud stingers) adds a lot to the disquieting mood, complemented by effectively unsettling use of The Mamas & the Papas’ “Dedicated to the One I Love.” Bertino also does a lot with a little audio-wise at some moments, in particular a scene in a closet that builds tingly suspense through the use of a simple sound effect.
At the same time, VICIOUS features a few seriously squirmy bits of bloody physical damage, and a jolting shock involving one of Polly’s neighbors. For all its scares, though, the movie doesn’t quite hold together on the storytelling/thematic side. The longer Polly’s plight plays out, the more the rules of the game she’s forced to play become muddled, and the lack of a clear purpose behind it gets in the way of engaging with the narrative. Bertino seems to be implying that the awfulness Polly goes through, and in some cases must inflict upon herself, either reflect or grow out of her own emotional instability, but that theme doesn’t really land either. (There have been a few suggestions on-line that the studio compromised Bertino’s intention, and that his original cut was clearer regarding these intentions.)
Even with those problems, VICIOUS is further confirmation of Bertino’s skill at tightening the screws on both his protagonists and his audiences. If the overall experience isn’t as satisfying this time out, the movie remains worth seeing for its unnerving atmosphere, its scares that land and Fanning’s strong and affecting central performance.
