Bryan Bertino, Writer-Director of The Strangers, Explains the Ending of Vicious

Image: Paramount Pictures

The 2025 horror film Vicious follows Polly (Dakota Fanning) as she is relentlessly tormented by an obscure, malevolent force. Pressured into committing horrific acts to survive, Polly endures escalating violence, terror and physical harm as the film progresses.

Although the ending of Vicious simultaneously closes one storyline and hints at another, the final beats are more nuanced than they first appear. At Fantastic Fest 2025, writer-director Bryan Bertino (who wrote and directed the 2008 original The Strangers) discussed his intentions for the film and what the closing moments mean for the characters.

Ed. note: Spoilers for Vicious follow.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=tSx8ubSBFN8%22+frameborder%3D%220%22+allow%3D%22accelerometer%3B+autoplay%3B+encrypted-media%3B+gyroscope%3B+picture-in-picture%22+allowfullscreen+style%3D%22position%3Aabsolute%3Btop%3A0%3Bleft%3A0%3Bwidth%3A100%25%3Bheight%3A100%25%3B

Much of Vicious centers on a mysterious wooden box that arrives with a stranger (played by Kathryn Hunter, who recently appeared as Syril Karn’s mother on Andor). After the box is in Polly’s possession, an unseen presence begins contacting her by phone, issuing cruel commands that force her to destroy pieces of her own life and then pass the box along to another unsuspecting person.

Tara (Devyn Nekoda) becomes the next person Polly targets when she’s desperate to transfer the object’s burden. By the film’s conclusion, Polly learns from Hunter’s character that handing the box off doesn’t cut its tether; the compulsion can return and will demand further sacrifices. She also discovers that ignoring the calls — refusing to surrender to the fear they provoke — is one way to blunt the entity’s control. Whether that counts as a true victory is left open to interpretation.

“There’s a lighter note in this film that I haven’t had in some of my earlier work,” Bertino told Polygon, while adding that the movie’s core idea is uncomfortable but plain: you rarely completely escape certain things, so you learn to keep moving forward.

Speaking after the premiere, Bertino said part of Vicious grew out of his own struggles with anxiety. He described how panic attacks changed his perception of everyday sensations and inspired him to recreate that sensory overwhelm on screen — to immerse both the audience and the central character in those disorienting moments.

Although Polly gains a measure of agency by the end, the film intentionally suggests her ordeal isn’t finished, mirroring the chronic nature of anxiety in real life.

“When you picture her standing on the road, hearing the phone ring and knowing it will keep coming, she’s still making decisions,” Bertino said. “We rarely fully vanquish the things we contend with; more often, we keep fighting.”

At one point, Polly returns to Tara’s house to reclaim the box, willing to shoulder the consequence herself in an attempt to stop the object from harming others. Tara, however, outwardly denies any knowledge of what Polly describes. Later we discover Tara has already followed the box’s instructions — killing her parents — and chilling messages scrawled on the walls warn her against trusting anyone.

“That ending speaks to how we try to advise people we care about, only to realize everyone must confront their own fights,” Bertino said, explaining Tara’s fate.

Bertino also cited Tobe Hooper’s 1974 classic The Texas Chain Saw Massacre as an important touchstone for Vicious. He compared Polly’s battered survival to that film’s final image — a bloodied figure who escapes with her life but is irrevocably altered by trauma — and asked whether survival itself can ever feel like a true victory.

Vicious is streaming on Paramount+ and is available to purchase from major digital retailers.

Source: Polygon