In the past few months, it has been a great time to be a horror movie fanatic. Movies like “X” and “Pearl” have made a mostly carbon copied genre new and fresh. But one movie that has had fans and critics alike raving is “Barbarian.” So, I decided to put this new film to the test and see what all of the talk was about.
First off, this movie is definitely not for the faint of heart. Hardcore fans of horror (especially gory horror) will love this film and anyone else will probably sit in their seat cringing. Many scenes are so off-the-wall that it’s very hard to not gasp or yell out “oh my god” in the theater (because I sure did). The tension in this film is so smartly used, and just when you think that a character is in the clear, another intense situation is posed for them.
One of the best qualities of this movie is how much it exceeds expectations with the plot. This movie poses itself as an AirBbnBb gone wrong, a topic that has been heavily (and I mean heavily) explored in recent horror movies. But this movie takes what seems to be an overdone plot and makes it entirely original and new. In short, the film follows Tess (played by Georgina Campbell) and Keith (played by Bill Skarsgard) who have to deal with a rough situation when their AirBnB home in Detroit accidentally overbooks the two of them. This film also stars Justin Long as the owner of the property who gets caught up in the madness. For a lack of spoilers, let me just say that what happens next is something that you wouldn’t expect.
Another thing that I thoroughly enjoyed about this film is the cast, more specifically the use of well known actors. Georgina Campbell isn’t a very well known actress, but is great in her role. Bill Skarsgard, known mostly for his role as Pennywise in “IT”, plays a pretty normal guy who gets put in a terrible situation. His character even cracks a joke early on in the film saying “Do I look like a monster to you?” Justin Long, known for his good guy roles in movies like “Dodgeball” and shows like “New Girl”, plays a douchy rich television producer. The producers and casting agents of this movie decided to go against their type casting in order to trick the audience. Something else that’s worthy of praise is that, even though Long’s character is a terrible guy, he manages to make his character incredibly funny at times.
My only criticism of this movie is how slow the first forty minutes of the film are. Absolutely no action or horror happens in that time, and for a movie that is only an hour and forty minutes long, that leaves a lot of action for the remainder of the movie.
More recent horror movies often have the issue of feeling too thought out and sensical. In an attempt to make everything make sense completely, all of the horror and shock is taken out of these movies. Not to mention that they sometimes use troupes in an uninventive and boring way. “Barbarian” does the opposite of all this and makes the story so nonsensical that it leaves the viewer on the edge of their seat and always surprised.
Overall, this movie is peak horror while using a subject and elements that are greatly overused. This movie takesuses modern horror troupes and uses themit to its advantage. The gore in this film is also top tier and the unpredictability and wackiness of it adds to the horror. I would say that this movie is a solid 9/10.