Dakota Fanning stars as a young woman all alone in a big empty house when one night a seemingly confused and lost little old lady (Kathryn Hunter) rings her doorbell. She quickly takes pity on the woman and invites her inside. After some chitchat, the woman gives her a mysterious box and informs her she’s going to die if she doesn’t put the things it craves inside.
It’s a solid set-up for a horror story. Writer/director Bryan Bertino knows how to set the stage, which makes sense since he also made The Strangers. Like that film, he gets a lot of mileage out of someone alone in their house (or at least thinking they are). He does variations on the famous scene in The Strangers when the heroine can’t see someone is standing behind her, but the audience can. However, that winds up being the only trick up his sleeve and he goes to that well a few too many times over the course of the film. He also overuses The Mamas and the Papas “Dedicated to the One I Love” for ominous effect.
I liked The Strangers a little less than the general consensus. I tried to give this one as much leeway as possible since Fanning is quite good, especially since this is a one-woman show for a good chunk of the running time. Ultimately, I had the same major problem with Vicious that I had with The Strangers, which is that this may have worked as a short, but when stretched out to feature length, it quite often tests your patience. In fact, the longer it goes on, the weaker it gets. (The subplot late in the game when Fanning tries to pawn off the curse on someone else is clunky and feels tacked on to pad things out.)
A sturdy first act and a strong performance by Fanning aside, Vicious just seems more like an exercise than an actual experience. It’s set at Christmas, so if you’re looking for a holiday-themed horror flick this winter, this might fit the bill. Die-hard horror fans will probably be left unimpressed though. Other than a decent bit involving self-mutilation, there’s little here to live up to the title.
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