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Brian Bertino’s new film Vicious is a nightmarish journey into the darkest parts of our lives and psyches. Everyone has their struggles, and some people struggle more than others. Some people find themselves broken. Without purpose and with no idea how to pull themselves out of the sand they are slowly sinking into. Sometimes we find help at exactly the right moment. Other times, we find something that digs us in even deeper.
Polly (Dakota Fanning) is adrift. She works a dead-end job, doesn’t have many friends, life isn’t making sense, and her family thinks she is a failure. She is about to try to go back to school, but she is unsure if that is even something that she wants or believes that she can do. She is stuck in a malaise. Then, one night, an elderly woman knocks at her door. Polly invites her in out of the cold and offers her some help. After a few minutes of conversation, the woman brings out a wooden box and sets it on the table. She then tells Polly, quite plainly, “You will die tonight” unless the demands of the box can be satisfied. Something she hates, something she needs, and something she loves must be placed inside the box. Then and only then will she be safe.
After the woman leaves, Polly is left alone in the house with the box…and whatever entity accompanies it. She is clearly not alone, and as the presence begins to exert its force, turning her home into a living nightmare, as she struggles to meet its demands.
The film is very tense, with several key scenes offering some incredible scares. As the night wears on and Polly discovers that the box won’t be satisfied by simple sacrifices, she must dig deep within herself to figure out exactly what it wants and what she is willing to offer in order to escape its influence. Dakota Fanning is stellar in the role. She has a few scenes with other characters, but she is largely carrying this film herself. She does a lot to convey what Polly is experiencing and how
The box is something that plays on our weaknesses. It finds the cracks in our armor — our traumas, our failures, our insecurities — and it burrows in. The more cracks you have, the easier it is. The trouble with the story is that, in spite of seeing the way it acts upon Polly, the full nature of the box remains elusive. We see a couple of other characters who are being affected by it as well, but we don’t learn enough about them to really understand why they were picked by the box or how it is impacting them. We get a few clues to indicate that everyone it encounters has a bespoke experience with it, but there are commonalities as well. At one moment, it seems to have defined rules, and at another, none at all. So it makes the hows and the whys of the plot difficult to pin down.
Bertino spoke about how one of his influences here is the fact that sometimes, we don’t completely slay our demons. They stick with us and follow us through life, and this notion is something that is very present within Polly’s story. You can definitely find this read within the text of Vicious, but it’s not something that is going to be obvious with each viewing.
Some audience reactions have pointed to the perceived nihilistic nature of the film and of Bertino’s work in general. I think that absolutely applies to some of his films (The Strangers, for example), but it is too simplistic a label to be broadly applied. He makes films about complex and ever-present issues. Anxiety, mental health, the death of a loved one — these are concepts with no easy answers and can’t always be easily wrapped up with a nice bow. The fact that Bertino comes back to them and is willing to tell stories that are a little messy is a testament to his understanding of the shit that human beings have to slog through every day.
Vicious isn’t a perfect film, but there is a lot that it gets right. The concept is intriguing, the tension builds throughout, and there were a couple of moments that had me watching through my fingers. It doesn’t fully stick the landing, but there is a lot to enjoy along the way. Viewers who are looking for a scary film to watch in the dark when all alone in the house will find lots to enjoy in this one this Halloween season.
Movie Score: 3/5
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