Writer/Director Bryan Bertino (The Dark and the Wicked, The Strangers) is back this Halloween season with Vicious, a mysterious new horror movie that promises one night of hell for star Dakota Fanning‘s character.
Vicious will be released on Paramount+ and Digital on October 10, following its world premiere at Fantastic Fest later this week, with the trailer set to debut tomorrow.
In Vicious, Fanning plays Polly, a woman facing the unthinkable when a stranger gives her a box in the middle of the night. It’s not just any ordinary box, either, but one that will unleash pure terror unless Polly follows three simple rules: give it something you need, something you hate, and something you love. If you’re familiar with Bertino’s work, then you’re already anticipating just how cruel the box’s surprises will get for poor Polly.
Dakota Fanning stars in Paramount Pictures’ “VICIOUS.”
Bertino, speaking with Bloody Disgusting ahead of the film’s world premiere, warns that Vicious does adhere to his style of mean horror, a nasty piece of self-contained horror conceived during the pandemic. Safety is never guaranteed for his characters, by design. “I always say that it’s like if you wake up in the middle of the night and you hear a sound and you think there’s somebody in your house, you don’t think ‘I can’t wait for the happy ending that’s going to come.’ You know? What scares you in those moments is that something horrible will happen, that you will get hurt, that someone you love will die, or, you know. It’s always just made sense to me in the films that I grew up with, that I responded to as a kid, were ones that weren’t afraid to take it to a certain dark place. I mean, The Exorcist, I love that movie, and you don’t feel safe when you watch it.”
That also means that audiences will discover what type of horror awaits as Polly does over the course of one harrowing night.
“It’s very perspective-based, a lot of my stories are very perspective-based,” Bertino says. “You know what the character would know in that situation, and so unless someone’s giving them a lot of exposition, then you’re not going to get a lot of exposition. Part of that is just really wanting to ground the story with the main characters. There’s a simplicity to it, but those three questions ask a lot of you. But really, I think it’s about Polly having to look deep in herself to think about what those questions mean.”
It’s a demanding role, not just in terms of the horror but in that Fanning fills nearly every frame, and Bertino only has the highest praise for lead star Dakota Fanning.
Writer/Director Bryan Bertino, left, and Dakota Fanning on the set of Paramount Pictures’ “VICIOUS.”
“Dakota is fantastic in the movie. I think that she carries the film in a way that most actors don’t have to. Because she is alone a significant portion of the story, and honestly, she was just an amazing partner for me. I, like a lot of people, have grown up watching her from when she was a little kid. I even remember hearing stories about this young actress who was an amazing person on set and was almost like a grown-up. So, I was so excited about the chance to work with her because I feel like you instantly connect to her as someone that you know, because you have spent so much time with her.
“Then, getting on set, it really was my favorite experience ever working with an actress, because she was so giving and so in command of what she is capable of doing. I can’t speak highly enough of her. She’s just one of the most fantastic actresses working today. I think that people will watch this movie and really be blown away at what she’s capable of. I’m so excited for her and where she’s going, as she is moving to this next stage of her career. She was a true gift for this movie.”
Bertino’s horror tends to put his characters through an absolute gauntlet of visceral pain and terror, physically and psychologically, which certainly applies to Vicious. The filmmaker’s praise means even more considering the horror that Fanning’s Polly will endure.
Dakota Fanning stars in Paramount Pictures’ “VICIOUS.”
“I said to [Dakota], as we started this, my actors, it’s not a fun experience in the sense I really push people in all of my movies, whether that was Liv [Tyler] or Marin [Ireland], and now Dakota. It’s like you’re going through it, and you’re going to be pushed on an emotional level. Every day on set is a draining experience in that sense. But I think that what was really cool about it was that my cinematographer, Tristan Nyby, and I had worked together on Wicked. And then with Dakota, we ended up forming this team that was really exciting, and it reminded me of almost being in film school in the sense that even though we were surrounded by all these people, it was three people talking and getting to create together and feeling like we were all partners. It was a really cool experience, I think, for her, for me, and I know for Tristan. It was kind of a once-in-a-lifetime experience in that way.”
While much of Vicious rests entirely on Fanning’s shoulders, look for Kathryn Hunter (Poor Things, The Front Room) to make the most of her limited screen time, a Hunter specialty.
Dakota Fanning, left, and Kathryn Hunter star in Paramount Pictures’ “VICIOUS.”
Bertino agrees and sought Hunter out. “[Joel] Coen’s The Tragedy of Macbeth, she’s in that movie for 10 minutes, and it was one of those things where I instantly saw her and was blown away. That night, I dove online and started looking her up, learning all about this woman who has done so much on the British stage. I just knew instantly that that’s who I wanted. I was so blown away to get a chance to work with her, and she’s such a force at 4’11” and 80 pounds, but really is in such command of who she is and what she does. I was stunned on a daily basis to have a chance to work with her. The scenes between her and Dakota are so amazing.”
Though we’ll have to discover what’s in the box when Vicious releases next month, Bertino leaves us with a warning that his latest will earn its title.
“I wanted this movie to be emotionally challenging, psychologically challenging, spiritually challenging, and physically challenging,” Berino teases. “I wanted Polly to experience a certain amount of viciousness in all of those directions. As the bar continues to get raised in different ways in horror and what is allowed, what is not allowed, what is pushing the envelope, I’m always eager to make things feel as visceral as possible. I certainly don’t think that I’m looking at creating stuff just for shock value. I wanted to try to capture something that would be an extreme test of what someone might go through.
“So, Polly certainly experiences one horrible night.”
Writer/Director Bryan Bertino on the set of Paramount Pictures’ “VICIOUS.”
Look for the Vicious trailer to arrive tomorrow, and stay tuned for more on Bertino’s latest out of Fantastic Fest later this week.
The post Bryan Bertino Previews Visceral ‘Vicious’ Ahead of Fantastic Fest World Premiere [Exclusive] appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.
