Barbarian Review!!! Sleeper Hit, And One Of The Best Horror Movies Of The Year!

It’s Halloween season, and you know what that means…candy, trick-or-treating, and scary movies! One that I almost missed out on, is called Barbarian. Directed by Zach Cregger, and starring Georgina Campbell, Bill Skarsgard, and Justin Long, the film involves three people staying at an AirBNB in Detroit. While staying, they discover a hidden room in the basement that hides a creature that will either capture you and pretend that it’s your mother or kill you!! It becomes a battle for survival, against “The Mother” and other devious individuals! SPOILER ALERT!!!! CONTINUE AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!

So, this movie starts slow, letting us know why characters Tess and Keith (Campbell and Skarsgard) are sharing the same house. At first, it seems like Keith is up to something, which is why we see Tess take precautions when sharing the house with him. But upon time passing, Tess is the first one to discover something very wrong with that house. After red flag after red flag, Tess discovers a hidden chamber, deep underneath the house. Telling Keith what she found, they both go down to investigate, only to have poor Keith get his head smashed by a naked deformed woman, who takes Tess as her “baby”! A two-week time jump shows us that AJ (Long) is going through a sexual assault case from one of his co-workers. While trying to save face, he goes to the same Airbnb that Tess and Keith were in. Discovering that people were there before him, he investigates and finds the same chamber and is taken by “The Mother” we get a flashback during the 80s of a man who owns the house. The owner, Frank, is a serial rapist and has kidnapped young women, never letting them out. He now lives underneath the house in a vegetative state. Back to the present, AJ and Tess attempt to escape “The Woman”. With Tess getting out and finding the police (who think she’s a drug addict), being fed up and running “The Woman” down with a car, they both escape to a water tower. Upon learning from a homeless man, Andre, (who saved Tess, earlier) that “The Woman” is a product of decades of rape and incest. “The Woman” catches up with them, killing the homeless man. After racing up the tower, AJ does the unthinkable and PUSHES Tess off the tower!! As “The Woman” follows suit, they both fall to the ground. As AJ attempts to “save” Tess, “The Mother” crushes AJ’s head! Trying to save Tess, “The Mother” tries to move her, but Tess is too weak. Taking a gun, the shoots “The Mother” leaving horrified after everything has played out.

Alright, this film has a BUNCH of red flags in it. Not “this movie is bad” red flags, but “why is she still in that house, why is he such a punk-ass, why are the police so useless?” red flags! I was yelling at the screen, asking rhetorical questions about characters’ actions and that’s a good thing. As I said, this movie has that “slow burn” in the beginning. But during the second half, it picks up. Justin Long, to me, really plays a despicable character so well. From the film vaguely telling us that AJ really did commit sexual assault on a co-worker to throwing an injured woman (whom HE injured, by the way!) he deserved everything he got. Campbell’s character, Tess, just keeps ignoring all the signs that she should just call her weekend a loss and get out of town! However, I AM glad that she overcame the “damsel in distress” phase quick and took matters into her own hands. Next time, listen to the ancestors, girl! Just as it was shocking to see the creature of the movie, what’s more shocking is its origins and how almost no one discovered that for years women in Detroit have been kidnapped, never to be seen again! But, with how the cops quickly dismissed Tess, I’m not really surprised. The jump scares and gore is present, as well, feeling organic instead of forced. While this film has been out for about a month, I don’t remember seeing many advertisements for the movie. It’s only to the service of HBO Max, that saw it and I’m glad I did. (Although, this does re-open the debate with streaming vs theater releases). An 8 out of 10. Post your comments below, and till next time, fellow blerds!