Dakota Fanning to Star in Horror Thriller ‘Vicious’

Fanning is set to play a young woman terrorized by a mysterious gift left in the night in the new movie from ‘The Strangers’ writer/director Bryan Bertino.

Emma (Dakota Fanning) reports to Frank what is happening in Italy in Columbia Pictures 'The Equalizer 3.' Photo: Stefano Montesi.

Preview:

Dakota Fanning will star in new horror movie ‘Vicious’.
‘The Strangers’ Bryan Bertino is writing and directing.
The movie is scheduled for release in August next year.

Dakota Fanning certainly seems to be in a horror mood of late. She already has the Ishana Night Shyamalan thriller ‘The Watchers’ headed to screens in June, and now, via Variety, the actor will lead the cast of new chiller ‘Vicious’.

The Watchers

"They are watching."

Not Yet RatedJun 7th, 2024

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When 28-year-old artist Mina finds shelter after getting stranded in an expansive, untouched forest in western Ireland, she unknowingly becomes trapped alongside... Read the Plot

What’s the story of ‘Vicious’?

Fanning will star as a young woman who is left a strange present by a late-night visitor, and quickly realizes she is fighting for her life after slipping down a disturbing rabbit hole contained inside the gift.

Which all makes it sound like a valuable lesson in not accepting gifts from strangers, something every parent drills into their child and, if we’re honest, has been a truth since the days of the Trojan Horse.

Who is making ‘Vicious’?

2008's 'The Strangers.' Photo: Universal Pictures.

The new movie comes from Bryan Bertino, who broke out writing and directing sleeper horror hit ‘The Strangers’ in 2008, which featured other people terrorized in their house by unexpected visitors.

Since then, he has gone on to make 2014’s ‘Mockingbird,’ 2016’s ‘The Monster’ and 2020’s ‘The Dark and the Wicked’. He also wrote and produced a ‘Strangers’ sequel, ‘The Strangers: Prey at Night’ in 2018.

He has had other projects in development, but it appears ‘Vicious’ is jumping to the head of the queue.

‘Vicious’ comes from Paramount Pictures, which has seen success with horror of late, including 2022’s ‘Smile’, which has a sequel on the way this October (so if you see random standing around with creepy grins, you know the promotional campaign has ramped up again) and ‘Pet Sematary: Bloodlines’, which while the prequel to the Stephen King story didn’t get great reviews, it did do well for streaming service Paramount+.

What else has Dakota Fanning worked on?

In addition to ‘The Watchers’, Fanning will be seen in the Netflix adaptation of ‘The Talented Mr. Ripley’, titled simply ‘Ripley’ (out on April 4th) and ‘The Perfect Couple’, which stars Nicole Kidman and Liev Schreiber, and will also be on the streaming service, but has yet to announce a date.

And on top of that, she’s busy as a producer through her Llewellyn Pictures company. Projects include a four-part documentary series called ‘Mastermind’ for Hulu, which chronicles the experience of the legendary Dr. Ann Burgess and her trajectory from nurse to criminal profiler for the FBI, an adaptation of ‘Paris: The Memoir’, and TV series ‘Margo’s Got Money Troubles’, which will star Fanning’s sister Elle.