When Commentary Collapses Into Cruelty

Read Time:5 Minute, 11 Second

MOVIE REVIEW
The Vindicator
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Genre: Horror, Thriller
Year Released: 2025
Runtime: 1h 29m
Director(s): Luca Patruno, Brandon Sherrill
Writer(s): Cameron Duckett, Luca Patruno
Cast: Anna Greene, Dez Cuchiara, Adrianna Licitra, David W. Rice, MacCallister Byrd
Where to Watch: on UK digital January 19, 2026

RAVING REVIEW: What happens when a story mistakes cruelty for insight and noise for tension? THE VINDICATOR sets out to interrogate the ethics of true crime obsession, but quickly reveals that it’s far more interested in staging punishment than in examining the culture it borrows from. The result is a film with a provocative hook and very little clarity about what it wants to say once that hook is in place.

On paper, the premise feels intriguing. A serial killer hijacks a true crime livestream and forces its hosts into a series of escalating challenges designed to expose their moral failings. The idea promises commentary on voyeurism, exploitation, and the thin line between justice and entertainment. In execution, however, THE VINDICATOR struggles to move beyond its concept, leaning on repetition and shock rather than building something more than the sum of its parts.

The film’s opening suggests a deeper movie than the one that we ultimately get. There’s an initial confidence in how it frames the podcasting environment, capturing the performative nature of online outrage and self-branding. Unfortunately, that confidence fades as the narrative settles into a predictable pattern. Each new “task” feels less like an escalation and more like a remix, draining tension instead of intensifying it. There was something here, but I think it ultimately needed more to really pull all the ideas together.

Anna Greene does what she can with the material, grounding her performance with a seriousness the film itself rarely earns. She commits to the emotional stakes even when the script undermines them, and her presence is one of the few reasons the film remains watchable. The supporting cast is competent, but underwritten. Characters are introduced with the promise of complexity, only to be reduced to functions of the plot rather than people whose secrets genuinely matter. This is one of those films that you won’t be mad you watched, but likely not something you’ll ever feel the need to revisit.

The central problem is perspective. THE VINDICATOR wants to critique true crime culture while simultaneously indulging in the same sensational impulses it claims to condemn. The killer’s morality and framework are never dissected deeply enough to feel purposeful, and the film seems unsure whether it wants you to fear him, agree with him, or simply watch him work. That ambiguity could have been far more powerful; instead, it feels more like indecision.

Structurally, the film feels longer than it is. At nearly 90 minutes, it overstays its welcome by repeating thoughts, ideas, and moments without adding enough new insight. The pacing drags because nothing happens, and what does rarely changes the film's emotional or thematic angle. The story keeps moving forward without actually progressing. Almost as though we’re trapped in a will they/won’t they loop.

THE VINDICATOR is serviceable but uninspired. The staging favors blunt impact over atmosphere, opting for harshness where subtlety might have served the material better. There’s little sense of escalation in how scenes are framed or composed, which contributes to the film’s flatness. Horror thrives on anticipation; this film prefers confrontation without buildup. Again, a film that isn’t bad in any traditional sense, but also nothing jumps into your memory.

Where the movie falters most is in its relationship to consequence. The idea of exposing “darkest secrets” suggests moral reckoning, yet those revelations rarely land with the weight that you’re expecting. The film gestures toward accountability without committing to it, leaving its supposed critique hollow. By the time the story reaches its final act, the revelations feel arbitrary rather than earned.

There’s a version of THE VINDICATOR that could have worked. With sharper writing, fewer characters, and a clearer point of view, the film’s premise might have supported a genuinely unsettling exploration of voyeurism and guilt. Instead, it settles for surface-level provocation, mistaking discomfort for depth. I would be curious to see what the original script for this read like. I feel like there was a story with a lot of ideas here, but maybe they just didn’t translate the way the team wanted.

THE VINDICATOR never feels like a film lacking effort or ambition, but it never combines its elements into something with lasting impact. It’s a film that wants to punish its characters without understanding them, and critique a culture without truly engaging with it. The hook may be enough to spark initial curiosity, but the execution doesn’t justify the time it asks from its audience. I would suggest watching this with a group; there are a lot of moments that a communal viewing would enhance.

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[photo courtesy of MIRACLE MEDIA]

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