Vicious (2025) horror movie review - Pandora’s Very Empty Box

Welcome to Knockout Horror. Bryan Bertino’s feature length debut, The Strangers (2008), was something of a surprise hit back in the mid-2000s. People still cite it as one of the scariest horror movies of recent years. In my review, one thing I noted was the immense patience that Bertino showed when it came to setting a scene and creating a genuinely tense atmosphere.

When it comes to his latest horror offering, Vicious (2025), I am fairly sure he has leaned into that trait just a little too hard. This is a movie that is all atmosphere and absolutely no substance. Let’s take a look at this Dakota Fanning horror movie to see if it’s worth your time. Oh, and before we begin, this movie is set at Christmas and features festive themes like Christmas songs, decorations, etc. With this in mind, you can bet your ass it’s going in our Awful Advent category. Check out our list of 31 Days of Christmas Horror for an Xmas themed horror movie every day of December.

A Hard Lesson in Stranger Danger

The plot follows a young woman called Polly (Dakota Fanning) who is just a little down on her luck. In desperate need of a job, she is home alone preparing for an interview when an elderly lady shows up at her home in what appears to be a standard creepy mystery person horror setup.

Polly, not wanting to be rude, invites her in only for the woman to leave her with an hourglass and a mysterious box with simple instructions: place three items inside (something needed, something hated, something loved) or face death before the sand runs out.

The concept here is fairly interesting. I mean, we all love the idea of a “mystery box”, right? Even when said mystery box hides something extremely sinister for our protagonist. It’s a concept that writes itself. What’s in the box? Where did it come from? Is it supernatural?

The creepy old woman with a suspicious ulterior motive is somewhat reminiscent of Drag Me to Hell. Bertino has also tried to integrate elements of cursed object movies like Ringu (1998) while adding in just a dash of It Follows (2014) and The Box (2009) for good measure.

Vicious is a big mash up of horror themes all presented over one single night of time warped anarchy. As the hourglass empties, Polly’s sense of reality begins to distort and it becomes less and less clear what is real and what is fake. The box demands increasingly violent sacrifices of her and, in her desire to save herself, we gradually learn just how far she is willing to go.

A Concept, Not A Story

The inclusion of Dakota Fanning makes Vicious all the more intriguing. She’s a fantastic actress; I thought she made The Watchers (2024) infinitely more enjoyable with her solid performance. Her character here, however, isn’t all that well developed outside of being a bit of a perennial loser… Bad tattoos, can’t kick her smoking habit, can’t hold down a job etc.

It’s almost difficult to actually invest in Polly’s predicament because she is so lacking in character. We know virtually nothing about her outside of those initial negative traits and are never really allowed to warm to her as the timeline is far too short to afford her any real development.

I am sure you can appreciate when I say that Polly’s lack of character development wouldn’t be a problem if the story was strong. That’s where the problems really start to come in, however. The story here is even more underdeveloped than the characters that take part in it.

This is about as thread bare of a plot as I have ever seen in a fairly big time supernatural horror movie. It is more of a concept than a story. A loose collection of horror scenarios all brought together with the loosest of narratives. This is one of those movies that would have made a perfectly fine short but is bafflingly over-stretched as a 102 minute feature film.

There’s virtually no backstory to give us an opportunity to dig into the lore and it’s enormously frustrating. Imagine if there was never any investigation into the history of the video tape in Ringu and all we got was the random deaths as a result of watching it. That’s kind of where Vicious is at. There’s nothing to invest in and absolutely nothing of substance at all.

Masterful Tension, Tedious Pacing

Full disclosure, I think Bryan Bertino’s back catalogue is pretty mixed. The Strangers is still enjoyable while Mockingbird (2014) and The Monster (2016) are both pretty dire. To be honest, I really didn’t enjoy The Dark and The Wicked (2020) nearly as much as a lot of people did, either.

One thing that I think Bertino really excels at, however, is creating a genuinely unsettling sense of atmosphere and tension. That’s present in spades in Vicious. The first thirty minutes are a veritable banquet of slow panning shots, moody lighting, and pitch perfect scene setting.

Bertino proves that he can apply his very deliberate style of film-making to supernatural horror in a way that convinces you there is something troubling afoot. I’m always impressed by his patience when it comes to letting the moment develop. He’s never in a rush to get to the jump scares which is an admirable trait in this world of fast thrills.

It’s just not enough to make Vicious a compelling watch, however. After the initial scene setting is done, everything that follows just feels like predictable repetition. Within the first 30 minutes, Bertino has completely shown his hand and has absolutely nothing new to offer. Scary person turns up in the house, sinister voice calls Polly on the phone, Polly engages in some bodily mutilations, rinse and repeat.

It’s like a trip through a fairground haunted house attraction. Sure, five minutes would be enjoyable but would you really want to spend nearly two hours in there repeatedly being hit with the same scares over and over? I don’t think so. Vicious runs out of steam fast and never manages to pick back up once it has stalled.

Beautiful to Look At, Hard to Care

On the plus side, as mentioned earlier, Bertino is a skilled director who makes truly gorgeous horror movies. Vicious (2025) is no exception. It looks fantastic, cinematography is stellar, and the haunting ambience is immensely effective. The house, despite being in a crowded street, feels isolated and desolate. Lending the movie an almost gothic-horror feeling that is quite unexpected.

There’s a certain retro vibe to it, as well, thanks to the shot choices and some of the set furnishings. It’s a great looking film. Had the scares lived up to expectation and the story had a little more development, it would have been hard not to completely buy into the atmosphere. It does draw you in very quickly, it just doesn’t manage to offer enough to hold you there.

Dakota Fanning is decent, as she typically is. She’s not given much in the way of motivation here other than obnoxiously sucking on cigarettes and crying a lot. She does manage to convey the horror of the situation well, though. Again, her character was just crying out for some actual development. Something to allow her to exercise her significant acting chops with.

There’s a couple of moments of body horror that are pretty well done. It’s nice to see someone having to work to cut through bone, if you know what I mean. It all feels a bit “extra“, though. Like a vain attempt to add a bit of visceral nastiness to spice things up.

Our Scoring Philosophy: A Fair Fight

Horror is a genre that thrives thanks to indie film makers and low budget creators. At Knockout Horror, we firmly believe that every movie that we review deserves a fair fight. That's why we grade on a curve. Our star ratings are all about context, judging a film on what it achieves with the resources it has.

A 4-star rating for a scrappy indie horror made for $10,000 is a testament to its ingenuity and raw power. A 4-star rating for a $100 million blockbuster means it delivered on its epic promises. We don't compare them side-by-side; we celebrate success in every weight class, from the back-alley brawler to the heavyweight champion. Please keep this in mind when considering star ratings.

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