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Posted in: Movies, Paramount Pictures | Tagged: dakota fanning, paramount, vicious
Vicious Director Discusses His Intentional Ambiguity Around One Detail
The director of the new Paramount+ horror film Vicious reveals how one of the film's key details was left unanswered.
Article Summary
- Vicious, a new Paramount+ horror film, features Dakota Fanning in a tense, single-night survival story.
- Director Bryan Bertino intentionally leaves the box’s rules and origins mysterious for viewers.
- The film explores themes of pain and fate as the ominous box is passed between women.
- Early reactions praise the film’s atmosphere but question its narrative clarity and supernatural logic.
Paramount's new horror offering, Vicious, just dropped courtesy of Paramount+, and it arrives with some major genre names attached to it. For starters, the film is written and directed by Bryan Bertino, best known for his work on the infamous slasher film The Strangers, and stars industry powerhouse Dakota Fanning (The Watchers) alongside stage and screen standout Kathryn Hunter (The Front Room) in a story that spotlights a single-night survival setup and sound-driven scares.
The film's premise is also pretty straightforward and creepy. Polly, played by Fanning, receives a mysterious box from a late-night visitor. She is told to place three things inside it, including something she needs, something she hates, and something she loves, or face the consequences before morning. From there, reality (literally) blurs as the rules become trickier to navigate and impossible choices continue to stack up.
Despite the intrigue and the creative team involved, Vicious has not fully connected with audiences so far. Early reactions out of release week have been mixed, with reviews noting a strong lead performance and unsettling design while questioning the clarity of the film's supernatural rules and overall momentum.
Vicious Director on How the Box is Passed
Now, Bertino recently addressed what drew him to the story and how the box "passes on," speaking with Screen Rant about the intentional ambiguity behind it. "I think what was interesting to me about this was you really have a story of different women passing this on to each other, I was intrigued by that," he said. "I was intrigued by how hurt people hurt people, and how pain kind of moves on and on. So the question sometimes for me is like, 'Did the box choose Polly or was it fate that she answered the door?'"
Given his comments, it's evident that the film wasn't intended to set audiences up with easy answers. And clearly Bertino himself isn't even sure of how the box selects its next target, so perhaps viewers should just take the film at face value and (attempt) to enjoy the ride.
If you're still curious about Bertino's return to feature horror or Fanning's strong performance, Vicious is available to stream now on Paramount+.
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