Vicious (2025) opens with a haunting premise: Polly (Dakota Fanning), alone in her large, somewhat isolating home, receives a strange late-night visitor who delivers a black box and a chilling demand, she must place three items into it: something she hates, something she needs, and something she loves. What seems like a bizarre game soon spirals into distortion, reality bending around Polly, and a nightmarish trial of mind, memory, fear and self-loathing.
One of the strongest pillars of the film is Dakota Fanning’s performance. She anchors the movie’s emotional weight with a palpable sense of dread and vulnerability. As the supernatural and psychological layers stack, Fanning carries the viewer through Polly’s internal struggle, her anxiety, guilt, and desire for redemption, even when the narrative becomes murky.
Visually and atmospherically, Vicious has moments of real effectiveness. Bryan Bertino’s direction leans into dread rather than outright spectacle: the house feels like a character in itself, shadows and silence loom large, and the sound design (jumps-cares included) amplifies tension. These components work well, especially in the first half, creating a sense of unease that lingers.
However, the film struggles with consistency. The rules of the box and the logic governing the horror are never entirely clear, which undermines the story’s power. As the plot pushes forward, many of its scares and revelations begin to repeat or feel derivative. The ending, rather than bringing clarity, leaves many threads unresolved—resulting in more frustration than catharsis for some viewers.
In the balance, Vicious is a mixed bag. It has a compelling lead in Fanning, and when it leans into atmosphere and psychological tension, it is genuinely unsettling. But blurred logic, narrative inconsistency, and a final act that fails to fully deliver dampen its impact. Fans of slow-burn, atmospheric horror will find things to appreciate; those looking for tight storytelling and fully explained supernatural rules may walk away dissatisfied.
Some of the best lines / quotes from the 2025 horror film Vicious.
“I don’t want to be me. Is that a weird thing to say? It’s true. So tired of feeling like none of it matters.”
“I try so fucking hard. I bang my head against the fucking wall. Every minute. Every second. But nothing changes.”
“You’re going to die. Tonight. Unless…”
“You can be sad. You can be scared. You can be a lot of things. It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t change the truth.”
“This belongs to you now.”
“It chooses us because we are broken.”
“You have to do things. It never, never stops.”
