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Barbarian’s layered secrets make it horror-movie catnip

The fall’s first buzzy horror film offers more than just twists

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by Joshua Rivera

The horror movie Barbarian is best approached by an audience that knows as little as possible about it. The film’s trailer encourages this to a degree that may turn some viewers off: It divulges little beyond the film’s initial setup. Even in our spoiler-phobic times, keeping secrets makes sense for a horror movie — it’s simply scarier if viewers don’t know what’s coming. But the true test of a well-constructed movie comes when there are no surprises left. At the end of its 102-minute run time, with its secrets laid bare, Barbarian still has so much to offer. And part of that is something for viewers to be scared of beyond its initial ominous portrait of the quiet terror that can lurk inside a house when two strangers are forced together on a dark and stormy night.

Written and directed by Zach Cregger (formerly of the sketch comedy group The Whitest Kids U’ Know), Barbarian starts off simple enough. Tess Marshall (Georgina Campbell) arrives at an Airbnb in the outskirts of Detroit, where she discovers it’s been double-booked and that a man named Keith (Bill Skarsgård) is already staying there. Stuck in a storm with no other options readily available and an important job interview in the morning, Tess makes the risky decision to stay the night.

[ Ed note: While this review preserves most of the movie’s surprises, some minor setup spoilers follow .]

Tess is a great modern horror-movie protagonist — doe-eyed but not naive, a guarded but kind young woman who just wants to land a good job and go back to wherever she’s from. Her bad decisions — the kind every horror protagonist has to make, from staying in the house to exploring its depths — mostly stem from her kindness and wanting to believe the best about others.

Keith, to his credit, is aware of how all this looks. He’s savvy enough to know that Tess has no reason to trust him, and every reason to expect the worst. And he tries to ameliorate that awareness by going out of his way to make sure she’s as comfortable as she can be. There’s nothing he can really do, though; the weight and history of too many women threatened by too many men hangs heavy in a situation like this, and casts a shadow over Barbarian as a whole. Even as Keith continually attempts to put Tess at ease, she — and the audience — can never really trust him. (Even if Skarsgård sans makeup isn’t recognizable as the man who played Pennywise in the recent It movies , the unsettling energy is still there, and put to good use.)

This is where Barbarian begins: as a suspenseful tale about two strangers forced to ride out a storm together, told from the perspective of a woman who must constantly worry whether the man she’s sharing a house with is dangerous. Even with the modern Airbnb spin, this is classic horror-movie stuff, enough to support a quick-and-dirty exploitation film. But Cregger merely uses the premise as a foundation for something more ambitious, delivering a lean, surprising film with effective thrills, while also giving viewers plenty to contemplate afterward.

No filmmaker makes any decision lightly, but every creative choice made in Barbarian is astoundingly well-calibrated in a way that rewards close watching, while also not detracting from a more casual, thrill-seeking experience. From its Detroit setting — initially arbitrary, but eventually given reasons beyond aesthetic decay — to the sharing-economy snafu that gives the film its initial premise, there’s a methodical execution of setup and subversion that’s just subtle enough to shift away from what viewers might expect. Still, it’s never so dramatic that Barbarian ends in a wildly different place from where it began.

That’s the film’s greatest strength: For all its twists and turns, Barbarian is more a movie about recontextualizing what’s on screen than about big reveals. Its script never calls attention to that dynamic, but it is constantly toying with viewer sympathies. It quietly poses questions, goading the audience into defending their assumptions at every turn. Is Tess in danger from Keith? Are they both in danger from the house? If they are, whose fault is that? Does it matter whether you think they’re good people? Is your gendered view of the world warping your perception?

Barbarian ’s visual simplicity gives the mind freedom to wander. The Airbnb home Tess and Keith are in is dingy and dimly lit. With a little grace and imagination, the house doesn’t even look that bad — but why would anyone watching a horror film be that gracious? Especially when presented with the familiar iconography it hides, from a seemingly endless dark tunnel to a rooms that looks like something horrible happened there.

These are familiar images, and Barbarian uses them as fuel for speculation that fills the first viewing with dread, and orients further viewings around the characters. While Tess, Keith, and the few others they encounter are archetypal, they aren’t blank slates in a nondescript nightmare town. They’re characters visiting Detroit for a reason, and the history of that city — and its late-20th-century turn toward decay, as it was abandoned by a wealthy white community that could no longer mold it to their idyllic middle-class vision — is an unspoken weight on the film and its horror. Like Skarsgård and Campbell, who deftly convey quiet shifts in the energy of a scene with the smallest facial expressions, Cregger’s camera reminds viewers of Barbarian ’s setting with small, careful shifts, gesturing at the whole of a place by carefully regarding a narrow slice.

This is where Barbarian transcends its secrets. Twisty stories are hard to calibrate for; knowing a film has one or more hard left turns coming can goose expectations, which are often rooted more in what any given viewer wants, not in the storytellers’ ultimate goals. Barbarian ’s shifts, fortunately, are subtler and scarier. As the film sinks deeper into the house it begins in, its best trick is one of the oldest in cinema. Cregger makes sure the biggest scares are in your head, and in what you might learn about where your sympathies ultimately lie.

Barbarian debuts in theaters on Sept. 9.

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‘Barbarian’ Review: Knock, Knock. Who’s There? A Ratched New Horror Classic

A simple premise involving a double-booked vacation rental gets downright demented as it goes along in Zach Cregger's unpredictable and thoroughly enjoyable debut.

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Imagine showing up for an Airbnb rental, only to discover that another guest is already there. What would you do? Check in anyway and hope for the best? Or take the mix-up as a sign and get the heck out? In “ Barbarian ,” Tess (Georgina Campbell) makes the wrong decision. It’s already late, and she decides to stay — this despite the fact that the stranger sharing the house is played by Bill Skarsgård (the actor who embodied Pennywise in the recent “It” remake). For audiences, this casting is a clue Tess is in for a scary stay. But it would be wrong to think you have “Barbarian” figured out.

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That first night, Tess notices a door at the end of the hallway that seems to open by itself. The next day, against her better judgment, she opens it to discover an ominous basement untouched by whatever cozy attention their hosts put into the main house. Downstairs, there are hallways, tunnels and secret passages probably best left unexplored — not that it stops her from investigating. Around one dark corner, Tess discovers a detention room of some kind, abandoned except for a dingy cot, old camera and grimy handprint on the wall. What kind of nightmare fodder happened here? If she gets out alive, should she mention the torture chamber in her guest review?

Just as audiences are starting to feel attached to Tess and Keith, Cregger abruptly cuts to the Hollywood jerk who owns the house, AJ ( Justin Long ), smugly driving along the California coast. While on the phone with his reps, he’s suddenly hit with the thing 21st-century males seem to dread most: accusations of sexual misconduct. Everything was going great in his career, and now, faster than you can say “canceled,” all his projects are on hold. Even his manager is cutting ties. Cregger was clever to enlist Long for such a role, since the actor is enormously likable but doesn’t shy away from playing creeps (as in suspended-educator drama “After Class” or Neil LaBute’s toxic masculinity comedy “House of Darkness”).

For a time, Cregger abandons Tess’ story to focus on AJ’s arrival. The tonal shift from someone we cared about to this tool is alarming, deliberately so. Here, instead of worrying about what will become of the character, audiences may find themselves rooting for something terrible to happen. Cregger sets up all kinds of complicated feelings as AJ’s escalating douchebaggery takes the place of the smarter, subtler opening act. Rest assured, he fully intends to pay off those frustrations, bringing the two storylines together via a third — a Brian De Palma-style flashback set decades earlier, in which a predator preys on local women.

Cregger’s instinct for suspense is so effective, it’s hard to believe that before “Barbarian,” the helmer worked largely in comedy (he was a member of the Whitest Kids U’Know sketch team). Then again, a deliciously twisted sense of humor runs beneath the surface. In fact, the image of someone (or something) running beneath the surface is one of the film’s most outrageous thrills. Audiences may be expecting something supernatural, but here too, “Psycho” seems to be the reference point, as “Barbarian” builds shock upon shock, giving viewers another mother they won’t soon forget.

Reviewed at Frank G. Wells Screening Room, Disney Studios, Burbank, Aug. 1, 2022. MPA Rating: R. Running time: 102 MIN.

• Production: A 20th Century Studios release of a Regency Entertainment presentation, in association with Almost Never Films, Hammerstone Studios, of a Boulderlight Pictures, Vertigo Entertainment production. Producers: Arnon Milchan, Roy Lee, Raphael Margules, J.D. Lifshitz. Executive producers: Yariv Milchan, Michael Schaefer, Natalie Lehmann, Danny Chan, Alex Lebovici, Bill Skarsgård.
• Crew: Director, writer: Zach Cregger. Camera: Zach Kuperstein. Editor: Joe Murphy. Music: Anna Drubich.
• With: Georgina Campbell, Bill Skarsgård, Justin Long, Matthew Patrick Davis, Richard Brake, Kurt Braunohler, Jaymes Butler.

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Barbarian Review

28 Oct 2022

Barbarian  is best experienced with little foreknowledge. Writer-director Zach Cregger packs his first horror outing with the same twists and turns as are found in the bizarre sketches of his TV comedy troupe,  The Whitest Kids U’ Know . Where a typical  WKUK  segment stretched and contorted its joke far past the point of absurdity, so too does  Barbarian , with its tale of a homestay in a ravaged Detroit suburb which might be housing something sinister. When the story begins, a torrential downpour forces Tess (Georgina Campbell) to spend the evening with Keith ( Bill Skarsgård ), a mysterious tenant who supposedly double-booked her Airbnb.

Tess seems to be running away from someone who once hurt her, and Keith doles out his own advice on the topic — over a bottle of wine he seems adamant on opening. But as her stay wears on, Tess finds herself facing an increasingly disturbing scenario.

Cregger maintains a gripping intensity,  while piling up surprises and cranking up aesthetic and spatial absurdities in the process.

Who owns this fancy house? What secrets are hidden behind its walls? These and many other questions are answered in wildly unexpected fashion. Cregger maintains a gripping intensity,  while piling up surprises and cranking up aesthetic and spatial absurdities in the process. The movie’s daring swings, however, remain rooted in surprisingly thoughtful themes, from urban decay to the thorny nature of toxic relationships.

A tricky film to advertise without revealing its conceit — even its distributors have largely avoided disclosing the nature of Justin Long ’s role —  Barbarian  plays like a midnight festival darling, bucking expectations while maintaining artistic finesse. Everything from the music cues (from composer Anna Drubich) to its lens choices (courtesy of cinematographer Zach Kuperstein) serves the gear-shifts, which transform it from a run-of-the-mill spooky-house saga into a beguiling, borderline stream-of-consciousness romp.

The film’s rapid swinging between styles can be distancing at times, with shifts in narrative focus that often arrive just when the tension begins to crescendo. But these mildly jarring resets are part and parcel of the film’s devious game of tonal hopscotch, and Cregger knows exactly how and when to twist each screw, reminding the viewer how funny, intense and disturbing a movie can be, all at the same time.

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Twisty, scary, funny – Zach Cregger’s horror debut is a terrifyingly good time

Time Out says

This is the sort of horror movie that’s best to go into almost clueless. If you prefer it that way, just know this: Jesus Christ , it’s terrifying. And funny. And you’ll never guess where it’s going. Take someone who won’t shout at/sue/divorce you if you crush their hand to mush in fear.

If you can stand to know a little more, Zach Cregger’s movie, already a sizeable sleeper hit in the US, is one of the most thrilling horror debuts in years – inventive, constantly surprising and so pant-spoilingly, throat-shreddingly frightening that we can only recommend it to those of either a robust constitution or a love of hiding under chairs.

It begins innocuously enough, with a young woman, Tess (Georgina Campbell) arriving in Detroit for a job interview. She gets to her Airbnb, late at night in the pouring rain, and discovers there’s been a double-booking. Keith (Bill Skarsgård), a handsome location scout, is already inside. As Tess has nowhere else to go and Keith doesn’t seem dangerous, the pair agree to share the place. Then something happens in the basement…

This is where I’ll leave you, plot-wise, but whatever you think is going to happen, you’re probably wrong. Cregger plays brilliantly with your expectations throughout. The characters constantly make the wrong choices – peeking round dark corners, going back to check out a noise – but those choices don’t go in the usual directions. Cregger isn’t smug or sly about that. He isn’t winking at the audience. He’s using your horror knowledge against you by rarely giving you what the genre has conditioned you to anticipate.

Take someone who won’t shout at you if you crush their hand to mush in fear

Cregger’s background is in comedy – he’s part of a successful sketch group called ‘The Whitest Kids U’ Know’ – which makes sense the longer the film goes on. It has plenty of well-timed laughs, mostly following up some massive screams, but it’s just as much in the way his entire structure shows impeccable timing, a deep knowledge of how long to let a yarn go on, when to flip it all on the audience and when to call back to previous events.  If he doesn’t 100 percent land the final punchline, letting things get a touch conventional at the end, it’s a small criticism of an otherwise spectacularly well-made horror. In Barbarian , you won’t know what’s coming from one minute to the next, but you’ll almost certainly come out eager to see what Cregger does next.

In UK cinemas Oct 28 . Streaming on HBO Max in the US now.

Cast and crew

• Director: Zach Cregger
• Screenwriter: Zach Cregger
• Georgina Campbell
• Bill Skarsgård
• Justin Long
• Matthew Patrick Davis

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Flickering Myth

Geek Culture | Movies, TV, Comic Books & Video Games

Movie Review – Barbarian (2022)

December 13, 2022 by Robert Kojder

Barbarian , 2022.

Written and Directed by Zach Cregger. Starring Georgina Campbell, Bill Skarsgård, Justin Long, Matthew Patrick Davis, Richard Brake, Kurt Braunohler, Jaymes Butler, Sophie Sörensen, Rachel Fowler, J.R. Esposito, Kate Nichols, Kate Bosworth, Brooke Dillman, Sara Paxton, Will Greenberg, Derek Morse, Trevor Van Uden, and Zach Cregger.

SYNOPSIS: 

A woman staying at an Airbnb discovers that the house she has rented is not what it seems.

Filmmakers seem to have a new favorite go-to plot device with countless recent movies (spanning multiple genres) that set up their story through accidentally double-booked Airbnbs. Barbarian (written and directed by Zach Cregger, marking his first feature-length work without his regular collaborator Trevor Moore) might be filled with more insanity than all of the others combined.

This is boosted by also being unpredictable in every sense of the word, for better or worse. This movie doesn’t throw curveballs, it throws knuckle-curves on a consistent basis, as Zach Cregger fiddles around with structure and clashing tones that further befuddle the mind of what is happening and what can possibly happen next.

Rather than discuss the characters first, considering such a thing becomes a spoiler in itself beyond the first act, it feels more fitting to address the setting and location of Barbarian . The aforementioned Airbnb sits in a dumpy part of Detroit. At least that’s how the white characters describe the area Tess (Georgina Campbell) happens to be staying in while taking up a job interview as a researcher for an upcoming documentary.

They don’t elaborate, but from the look of things, the houses are falling apart and the community is heavily Black. There is a story about gentrification, incompetent law enforcement, sexual abuse, horrifying basement secrets, and morality here told through gonzo madness that, while it certainly tests logic and credibility, marks the arrival of an unfettered, deranged mind.

Surprising the audience is Zach Cregger’s modus operandi, as Barbarian doesn’t actually have much to say about the social issues it incorporates into its narrative. They are still effective and slide into the story nicely, but given the all-over-the-map trajectory, there are some aspects that get under one’s skin as creepy and disturbing but never quite a shellshock.

If anything, Barbarian functions as a weirdo horror funhouse that zigs just when you think it’s going to zag. There is also a healthy amount of tension since the film has no interest in settling down in one scenario or dynamic or even one genre (the second act is more of a comedy surrounded by all this terror).

Also, credit the entire ensemble game enough to roll with every decision grounded in madness. Georgina Campbell plays Tess with resourceful awareness, especially as a woman that has arrived at an Airbnb already occupied by polite oddball Keith (Bill Skarsgård), justifiably on guard staying the night with a stranger.

Justin Long is also a hoot as a self-absorbed misogynistic doofus that owns the home. Without disclosing the role Michael Patrick Davis plays, it deserves to be noted that his performance is exceptionally freaky and that the makeup and prosthetics department deserves applause. Richard Brake also shows up for a few minutes, effectively slimy and gross in a manner that ties much of the story together.

Zach Cregger shows a lot of promise in terms of twisted imagination, but that doesn’t mean every screenwriting choice he makes is a winner (it’s hard to buy into that anyone would willingly book this house for a variety of reasons, which is a gripe that becomes an afterthought considering the crazy places this movie goes).

There are plenty of red herrings and misdirection here that feel cheap, even if the end result is an easily recommendable nutty ride resulting from some of those swerves. At this early stage of his career, he is a more talented director capable of consistently engaging an audience through mystery, tracking shots, turning clichés on their head, creating a sinister atmosphere, and operating under uncomfortably dark themes.

Mileage will vary for Barbarian depending on how much thought one puts into each ludicrous reveal, but it is so chaotically unhinged everyone should see it at least once.

Flickering Myth Rating  – Film: ★ ★ ★  / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★

Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check  here  for new reviews, follow my  Twitter  or  Letterboxd , or email me at [email protected]

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Barbarian Review: A Genuinely Shocking (And Fun) Descent Into Horror

It has been a pretty darn good year for horror fans so far. We've had everything from the return of beloved franchises with "Scream" to the return of Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill, the duo behind "Sinister," with the genre hit "The Black Phone." But oftentimes, it's the things that nobody sees coming that can shock and delights horror fans the most. And believe me when I tell you that shock is coming in the form of "Barbarian." You are not ready for the absolute unpredictable roller coaster of craziness that is about to happen to you when this movie hits theaters. It is the unexpected surprise of the year.

Writer/director Zach Cregger's latest centers on a young woman named Tess (Georgina Campbell) who is traveling to Detroit for a job interview and, as so many of us do these days, books a rental home rather than a hotel. However, she discovers upon arriving late on a rainy night that the house has been double booked, with a strange man named Keith (Bill Skarsgard) already staying there. Against her better judgment, Tess decides to spend the evening, after much convincing from Keith. Unfortunately, she quickly finds that there is much more going on in that house than an irritating double booking.

A deceptively simple premise

One of the most surprising things about "Barbarian" is that it lures the viewer in with a deceptively simple premise. Plenty of horror lurks around the corner when one is in a new city with a stranger staying in the house that was supposed to be yours. Naturally, there is an added element with that stranger being a man and the late arrival being a woman. Cregger knows the simple conceit is enough to get people curious and plays with that masterfully. The movie is predictable, sure, until it absolutely isn't. Believe me when I tell you, nobody can guess where this movie is going once the train starts barreling down the tracks. It's ten different kinds of shocking.

It is at this point where I must do the annoying thing that always seems like a cop-out, but it must be said: go into this movie blind if you can. The less one knows about "Barbarian" heading in, the better the result. Credit where credit is due to Disney with the marketing on this one, as they've kept a tight lid on the surprises contained within. The experience is far richer for it and it cannot be overstated just how much moviegoers will be rewarded for putting some faith in this one. Just go along for the ride. Honestly, if you're lucky enough to see it in a packed theater of like-minded individuals, ride truly is the best way to describe it.

I don't make the comparison lightly, but this reminded me of James Wan's "Malignant," in that it has the same genuinely surprising nature to it, even if the movies couldn't be more different from a story and execution standpoint. But the sheer shock and audacity of it feels cut front the same cloth. I am also reminded of "From Dusk Till Dawn," a movie that is not a vampire movie and has no hint that it's going to be one until it very much is.

Scary delights best left unspoken

There are no great, direct comparisons that I have for this movie — but the key here is that it's hiding something rich (and scary!) underneath its misleadingly simplistic surface. It all felt pretty singular and refreshingly original to me. One huge reason for that is because Cregger does not forget to have a sense of humor about it all — in between bouts of extreme tension and horror, that is. "Barbarian" is a genuinely funny movie at times, but not so much that it distracts from the point — and the point is that this is a straight-up scary, unsettling movie.

"Barbarian" ends up being a masterclass in tension and unpredictability. It is scary without leaning too hard on tropes, making for a truly entertaining film. It is a damn good-looking movie anchored by great performances all around. It is the kind of movie that makes you want to yell at the screen, demanding a bit of rowdiness from the audience. While it may not be for everyone, those who it is for are going to absolutely love it, this I believe deep in my bones. With any luck, we'll be talking about this one for a long, long time.

/Film Rating: 8.5 out of 10

‘Barbarian’ messes about ingeniously with horror film tropes

It’s a scary movie that’s predictable and yet impossible to predict..

An Airbnb rental is less than accommodating for guest Tess (Georgina Campbell) in “Barbarian.”

20th Century Studios

“Barbarian” starts at night with a heavy downpour and a thunderclap. So far, so good, for what seems to be a classic horror movie. Hold onto your ponchos.

Some two hours later you will have seen virtually every horror convention — from doors slamming on their own to weird monsters with mommy issues and subterranean torture rooms — ingeniously messed with. Even the title is a misdirection.

“Barbarian” marks the auspicious feature film debut of director-writer Zach Cregger, someone well-versed in film tropes and with a subtle skill at social satire approaching Jordan Peele levels. He will also somehow make you laugh hard in oases of humor before the dread reappears.

It starts on a rainy middle-of-the-night street of a half-ruined section of Detroit when a young woman (Georgina Campbell) finds her Airbnb-rented house weirdly occupied by a stranger (Bill Skarsgård.) “I don’t know what the protocol for all this is,” he tells her. Their little awkward dance — checking booking receipts, offering to sleep on the couch — seems to point to a tiny tale of gender roles and microaggressions. Yet somehow it will evolve into a hair-on-fire horror flick with eyeball-gouged skulls.

Make no mistake: Cregger is playing with us every step of the way. Casting Skarsgård as the is-he-a-sweetie-or-not comes colored by his role as Pennywise in “It,” and even the film’s setting is a sleight of hand — a bombed-out section of Detroit with the Airbnb home in its center was actually filmed in Bulgaria.

Later, the arrival of Justin Long — playing a slimy TV figure from a new show tellingly called “Chip Off the Block” — clouds things further, his being an actor long associated with good-guy comedy. Cregger is somehow leaning into Hollywood conventions even outside his own movie.

As good as the casting is, it is the house that is the real star, nicely appointed but cookie-cutter, in a sea of torn-up and decaying homes. It has an alarming basement with a horrific room that has a soiled bed, a bucket and a camera. But there’s more: An even creepier cavernous space below. You can almost hear Cregger cackling as our heroes face TWO horror-ready basements. “You’re safe,” says one. “I don’t think I am,” another replies. (They’re not, by the way, of course.)

Campbell spends so much time trying to escape the house and yet smashing her way back into it moments later that more than one person in the audience at a recent screening loudly implored her to get into her Jeep Cherokee and just drive away.

All along are reaches for real social issues — redlining, misogyny, character redemption, gun accidents and police misconduct, among them — that elevate the film from genre-gazing silliness. There may be a monster inside the house, but forces outside that structure keep that monster firmly inside.

“Barbarian” is firmly of its time — online house rental bookings, smart-phone flashlights and real estate square footage listings — and yet timeless, like an arm ripped off and used as a club. It was predictable and yet impossible to predict. It’s worth booking one night soon.

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Barbarian review: The endless twists in this Airbnb horror film are a central part of its funhouse charm

A sleeper hit in the us, this is a movie that consistently turns the tables on its audience’s expectations, article bookmarked.

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Dir: Zach Cregger. Starring: Georgina Campbell, Bill Skarsgård, Justin Long. 18, 107 minutes.

In life, every chance is really a risk. And for women, every risk is a potential danger. That’s the tension that the horror film Barbarian so expertly exploits, all before it unfurls into a chaotic monster movie that consistently turns the tables on its audience’s expectations.

Tess Marshall (Georgina Campbell) arrives in Detroit for a job interview, only to find a man – Bill Skarsgård’s Keith – already staying in the Airbnb she’s rented for the week. The property, somewhat suspiciously, is the only intact home in one of the city’s many abandoned stretches, a mark of its industrial decline. Placed in a vulnerable position, Tess finds even green flags start to read as red. Why is Keith so insistent that he opens the house’s bottle of welcome wine in front of her, even though she’s already declined a glass? Isn’t it an odd coincidence that he’s seen the one low-budget documentary made by the woman Tess is interviewing for? “There’s a lot of bad dudes out there,” he tells her, so sincerely. What makes him think he has the authority to tell her that? There’s a smart bit of casting here: Skarsgård is a charismatic performer, but if you didn’t already distrust him because he most famously played Pennywise the Clown in the It remake, you might distrust him because he kind of looks like a Tim Burton claymation figure come to life.

I’ll withhold from sharing any more specifics. Barbarian ’s many twists are a central part of its funhouse charm. Debuting writer-director Zach Cregger, a member of the sketch comedy troupe The Whitest Kids U’ Know, has also mastered this film’s sense of space: the camera hovers at the top of staircases; it slides down corridors as if drawn to some unspoken doom; it peers around corners, steadying itself for a scare.

As a filmmaker, Cregger seems conscious of embracing and then twisting an audience’s expectations, leaning into certain tropes of the genre before forcefully pushing towards something far more realistic. Cops here don’t act like cops in the movies do. The fear of a woman’s ageing body – common in horror and inevitably laced with misogyny – doesn’t play as straightforwardly as you might think. Tess may not always make the right decisions, but she’s smart when it matters. Campbell has a great handle on Barbarian ’s shifting tone, which makes room for humour without veering into a realm of outright horror-comedy.

At one point, Jeeper Creepers star Justin Long turns up as AJ Gilbride, a sitcom actor accused of sexual assault. What the film chooses to do with him, versus what we might assume it will do with him, is both surprising and smart. In all the chaos, Barbarian makes an important point: women are always left to pay for men’s cruelty.

‘Barbarian’ is in cinemas from 28 October

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Barbarian review.

If you've heard anything about Zach Cregger's " Barbarian " ahead of its release, it's probably that you should go in knowing nothing about the plot. Of course, that's true, so we will keep it brief here; but, yes, you should definitely go see "Barbarian" knowing nothing about it because Cregger finds interesting turns to surprise his audience along the way.

The movie begins like it's using a horror-thriller template, which could feel deflating right off the bat. Tess (Georgina Campbell) is sitting in her Jeep on a dark and stormy night, scrolling through her phone to confirm all the details of the Airbnb she reserved in Detroit. She's in town for a job interview as a researcher for a documentary film. She collects all of her belongings, approaches the house, and opens the key box to find no key in there. She can't get hold of the person who booked the house, but suddenly a light goes on and Keith (Bill Skarsgard) is at the door, sleepy and confused as to what she's doing. As it turns out, Tess and Keith have booked the same house through different third parties

Cregger finds an effective balance of keeping the pace slow and tension high in the first act. It's tricky to pull off because people might see promotional marketing for "Barbarian" and expect a slam-bang thriller from the get-go. That's not what Cregger has done with his screenplay. He keeps the opening of the film mundane in its dialog but unnerving in the way he captures the scenes. Something as simple as showing repeated close ups of Tess locking doors behind her in the house creates a sense of paranoia that might not come through when she's talking about her job prospects with Keith.

Film writers are often guilty of constantly paraphrasing or butchering Roger Ebert quotes when reviewing a movie, but "Barbarian" calls to mind one of his most famous sayings: "It's not what a movie is about, it's how it is about it." That comes to mind with Cregger's movie because not everything works or adds up in a satisfying way in "Barbarian," but the movie works because of how he goes about telling it. Cregger plays with the film's structure in interesting ways, and how he has pieced the movie together feels like a breath of fresh air. Horror movies are often undone with a PG-13 rating, so it can find a larger audience. For that reason alone, the R-rated "Barbarian" is something to relish.

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Barbarian Review

In a world full of monsters, barbarian calls them all out to play..

Barbarian hits North American theaters on Friday, Sept. 9. It will become available on HBO Max on Oct. 25.

Zach Cregger's Barbarian exists to be abrasive and uncomfortable. It wants to eviscerate audience boundaries and bathe in their mortified gasps. Cregger architects raucously horrific sequences that embrace exploitation and introduce detestable characters to serve over-the-top just desserts. Barbarian can feel like two different movies stitched together with Leatherface's craftsmanship — one an accomplished thriller with shocks abound, the other a clumsier approach to Hollywood cancel culture — but at the end of the massacre, it's a savage commentary that properly incinerates comfort zones.

At the onset, Barbarian addresses modern companies like Airbnb and Uber that depend wholly on blind trust between users and either renters or drivers. Tess (Georgina Campbell) and Keith (Bill Skarsgård) are individuals who've had the same rental double-booked outside Detroit in a dilapidated, impoverished neighborhood. Without options, Tess and Keith share the night as Tess rightfully approaches the situation with buckets of apprehension — despite Keith's assurances that he's another good guy. The established gendered tension is authentic as Keith attempts hospitable gestures like inviting Tess inside or pouring her tea. Cinematography conversely accentuates Keith's looming outline in doorways or Tess locking every door whenever in a new room. It's only the beginning of Tess' nightmare after discovering a secret door, hidden bedrooms, and a tunnel system beneath the home.

At its best, Barbarian uses quaint suburban dressings to hide an otherwise abhorrent underbelly from whence thunderous horror entertainment slithers. Cregger's screenplay is rather brazen in pacing and throttles forward with awe-striking surprises that you don't see that often in today's horror releases. A meaner-than-Myers streak propels the evolution of Cregger's story and keeps us enthralled because of how abruptly chaos descends or how swiftly the narrative pivots. Barbarian convinces us that anything can — and will — happen, which serves its genre accents magnificently as everything from kidnapper traumas to creature-feature craziness (shout out to The Hills Have Eyes) morph tones by the minute.

Then Justin Long's television director "AJ" is introduced, and searing commentaries presume violent punishments are a fair trade for divisive thematic introductions of "he said, she said" politics.

Which horror movie has your favorite twist?

Appropriately, Barbarian advocates for nothing in AJ's personality nor does it demand you sympathize with pitiful protagonists. Cregger doesn't make a spiritual Dashcam successor that's all bad-faith bluster. It's hard to articulate peak and valley criticisms because anything beyond trailer reveals shouldn't be spoiled. AJ's there for us to hate, and we do — vehemently — since storytelling beats revel in his misogyny and despicableness with a heavy-handedness that can become an overt distraction. Barbarian has nothing new to say about #MeToo movements and believing women, yet it also unleashes repugnant catharsis unto Weinstein and Ratner idolizers. Cregger fearlessly weaponizes traumas that will undoubtedly drive away audiences who won't want to stomach such spotlights. Still, Barbarian isn't here to grant passes or shoehorn taboos without fulfilling bloodthirsty judgment — there are risks with writing a movie like Barbarian, which seemingly doesn't bother Cregger.

So wages a psychotic battle for survival that splices multiple horror subgenres, from serial killer thrillers to beastly cave-dwelling escapes. There's a scumminess and repulsive sleaze as Tess encounters unbelievable terrors that recall everything from [REC] to The Descent , as Barbarian keeps daring you to let your guard collapse. It's the kind of horror that spits on the audiences, rubs our faces through toxic muck, and rolls the credits with no apology — which is morbidly refreshing? Apologies for the phrasing, but Barbarian is the most royally f@*ked up horror flick in some time and revels in its grotesque presentations. The danger feels electric, and the effects from deformed creature costumes to mutilated bodies transport us back to 2000s titles about hulking evils, violent demises, and all the ickiest feelings.

Along the way, Cregger's screenplay does take swings that favor unpredictability over structural stability. Tess' anxiety-riddled introductory segment about Keith's suspicious nice guy routine is just that, an opening that's smash-interrupted by AJ's takeover in the following act. Storytelling jumps time passages forward and backward, focusing on characters in diverse periods that chronicle a Detroit suburb's whitewashed beginnings to ramshackle and impoverished becomings. Some might say Barbarian incites without insight by the way AJ handles his "unfair" situation, while others will struggle with Cregger's bounce-about execution that's like a rollercoaster with no safety bar. It's all valid, but that's also why others will adore the renegade and full-throttle nature of Barbarian — the thrill of holding on for dear life.

Best Horror Movies So Far In 2022

Barbarian is barbaric, comedically brutal, and the antithesis of contemporary horror trends. Some will despise exactly that, but it’s the risk of challenging viewers to reach or surpass their boundaries in one sitting. Zach Cregger embraces extremism in horror cinema that is a sensory overload of hyper frights, grindhouse lawlessness, and the ugliest characterization of society this side of 2022. It's not always sublimely successful and doesn't waste time on subtlety in a way that's a bit too much, but as a horror fan, my chin had to be peeled from the floor multiple times. Fire this one with a crowd and howl the night away — Barbarian comes out swinging and never stops.

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Conan the Barbarian

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Though Conan may take itself too seriously for some, this adventure film about a former slave seeking vengeance is full of quotable Schwarzenegger lines and gritty action.

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Tv/streaming, collections, chaz's journal, great movies, contributors, conan the destroyer.

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What you can see in "Conan the Destroyer", if you look closely, is the beginning of a movie dynasty. This is the film that points the way to an indefinite series of Conan adventures -- one that could even replace Tarzan in supplying our need for a noble savage in the movies. Tarzan was more or less stuck in Africa; Conan can venture wherever his sword and sorcery can take him. The first Conan movie, "Conan the Barbarian", was a dark and gloomy fantasy about the shadows of prehistory. This second film is sillier, funnier, and more entertaining. It doesn't take place before the dawn of time, but instead in that shadowy period of movie history occupied by queens and monsters, swords and castles, warriors and fools.

There's more Prince Valiant and King Arthur than " Quest for Fire ."  

And Conan is defined a little differently, too. He doesn't take himself as seriously. He's not just a muscle-bound superman, but a superstitious half-savage who gets very nervous in the presence of magic. Arnold Schwarzenegger , who plays Conan again, does an interesting job of defining his pop hero: Like James Bond, Conan now stands a little aside from the incessant action around him, and observes it with a bit of relish. The story this time involves the usual nonsense. Conan is recruited by an imperious queen ( Sarah Douglas , looking vampirish) to take a virgin princess (Olivia D'Abo) on a mission to an enchanted crystal palace guarded by a monster, etc. He will be joined on his quest by the head of the queen's palace guard (Wilt Chamberlain). And along the way he rescues a savage woman warrior ( Grace Jones ) and earns her undying gratitude.

Let's face it. The Conan series does not require extraordinary acting ability, although Schwarzenegger provides a sound professional center to the story, and the film would be impossible if he couldn't carry off Conan. The characters around him, however, are basically atmosphere, and that frees the filmmakers to abandon the usual overexposed Hollywood character actors and go for really interesting types like Chamberlain and Jones. And Grace Jones is really sensational. She has all the flash and fire of a great rock stage star, and it fits perfectly into her role as Zula, the fierce fighter. Sarah Douglas provides the necessary haughty iciness as the queen, Chamberlain gives a good try at the thankless role of the turncoat guard, and only D'Abo is a disappointment: Her princess seems to have drifted in from a teenage sitcom.

"Conan the Destroyer" is more cheerful than the first Conan movie, and it probably has more sustained action, including a good sequence in the glass palace. Compared to its predecessor, which was rated R for some pretty gruesome violence, this one is milder. That's part of the idea, I think: They're repackaging Conan as your friendly family barbarian.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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