DAKOTA FANNING UNRAVELS A NIGHTMARE IN FIRST TRAILER FOR BRYAN BERTINO’S VICIOUS

Horror Movies Uncut
Sep 17
2 min read

Dakota Fanning stares at a mysterious box in a still from Bryan Bertino’s Vicious. — Photo Credit: Albert Camicioli; © 2025 PARAMOUNT PICTURES. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Just as we start boarding flights for Austin, Paramount Pictures has dropped the official trailer for Vicious, the new film from The Strangers writer-director Bryan Bertino, starring Dakota Fanning in what looks like one of her most intense roles to date.

In the trailer, Fanning’s character Polly receives a visit in the middle of the night from a cryptic older woman, played by Kathryn Hunter. She delivers a small, ornate box along with three simple instructions:

Place something you need inside.
Place something you hate.
Place something you love.

What begins as an eerie ritual quickly slips into something far more sinister. From what we’ve seen, Vicious wastes no time turning the mundane into the surreal—blurring reality and memory as Polly’s world spirals out of control.

Take a look at the trailer below, and check back for our full coverage following the film’s Fantastic Fest premiere later this week.

Official Synopsis (via Paramount Pictures):

When Polly (Dakota Fanning) receives a mysterious box from an unexpected late-night visitor, it comes with a simple instruction: place three things inside—something you need, something you hate, and something you love. What begins as a strange ritual quickly unravels into a waking nightmare.

Trapped in a shifting reality where time bends and memory fractures, Polly is forced to confront the darkness around her—and within her—before it consumes everything she’s ever known.