Getting back to the movies has been nice but I still hadn’t seen any scary movies during the October season, which had to be rectified. Barbarian modernizes some familiar set-ups but does so with self-awareness and balances its tangible fear elements with an adept sense of humor for a uniquely weird and enjoyable experience.
A mix-up with an Airbnb reservation puts a desperate young woman in an uncomfortable position as she has to confront the other renter who is already inside the house, but the awkward encounter turns out to be just the tip of the iceberg.
I had heard a lot of good things about this movie, even before it was officially released, so I made sure it was the first horror movie I went to see during the season. Fortunately, it was still in a couple of theaters even though it was released at the end of August. Despite hearing its name pop up many times since then, I somehow managed to avoid any spoiler knowledge outside of what I had seen in the trailer and was able to experience the film as intended.
Although the film is called Barbarian, I don’t quite see it lining up with the identity of the film. Writer/director Zach Cregger uses subtextual tactics to manipulate the audience’s anticipation. That may sound like a negative but it’s not. Going into the movie you should know there’s a creepy house, an ominous meet-cute, and a bunch of bad shit that’s about to go down. All of that happens but in a way that was able to circumvent my expectations. There is a tendency with certain kinds of horror films (and mysteries in general) to try and figure out what the “it” is but Cregger did a great job staying off the center line here and it allowed me to just experience the film as a viewer rather than an amateur detective.
When our lead, Tess (played by Georgina Campbell), first arrives at the creepy house in question the subtlety of the fear elements does an excellent job of building anticipation, which I have long championed as the key to good horror. The neighborhood is completely dark except for one street light illuminating an abandoned vehicle and the porch lights from the rental house and Cregger makes sure to focus on that. It’s raining, the key is missing, the booking agent isn’t answering their phone, and there is already a stranger staying in the house that she had reserved. All of those things make her very vulnerable and desperate.
When Keith (Bills Skarsagård) opens the door, neither Tess nor the audience knows what to expect from him. He’s probably most famous as the murderous demon clown from the IT remake, and Cregger knows we know that. The awkwardness in his character writing was very smartly executed because heightens the existing tension when the audience can’t tell whether or not he’s sincere. Our instincts (conditioned by horror history) are ringing alarm bells and Gregger plays that hand well.
The characters are both well aware of the suspicious nature of their encounter and having them openly address it helps to keep the audience reactive instead of proactive. The friction there is obvious but the subtext of race relations and sexual violence are especially powerful themes given the history of the horror genre and letting it exist in unspoken space made it more noticeable for me.
I always appreciate visual storytelling and Zach Kuperstein’s cinematography was one of my favorite parts. It announces its presence right away with the lighting techniques in the rainy neighborhood. His framing was excellent and, considering the film does have to move through some familiar plot beats, things never felt stale. As things move along and get progressively creepier the camera work adjusts to take advantage of its changing surroundings, especially in the most low-light moments. Maybe fun isn’t the experience that is supposed to be associated with a horror movie, but I had a lot of fun with the viewing experience thanks to Kuperstein.
Although Campbell is the lead and Skarsgård is her prominently featured co-star (and they are good in their performances) their characters were intentionally a bit generic. However, I respect Cregger for taking his gloves off and getting his hands dirty in writing AJ. Played by Justin Long, he doesn’t even enter the picture until halfway through the film and it was a wise choice not to make him the protagonist because he’s despicable. The scenes written around him are quite funny, intentionally so, which plays to Long’s strengths as an actor. However, it’s an interesting creative juxtaposition because it makes the audience laugh, and enjoy his time on screen, even though the character himself is quite loathsome. I like bold choices and giving Long a role that’s opposite his established brand was a great subversive choice and he nailed it.
The film takes another tonal when Richard Brake takes center stage as Frank in one long flashback sequence. He has a great screen presence and could have easily been the lead in a film built on his character but that segment of the movie provides some history of the world that Cregger built and the location where the film takes place, while also allowing for some different creative choices. It’s almost three different story identities in one, each with its own tone and set of horrors, but they all tie in together nicely in the end.
The horror genre is fertile soil, but I reward points for creativity and have a greater appreciation for story ideas that are willing to take new risks rather than relying on name-brand to succeed on nostalgia. In just 2022 alone, we saw a ton of remakes/retellings of existing properties including Hellraiser, Halloween Ends, Prey, Firestarter, Scream, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Hocus Pocus 2, and the damn Munsters. There is clearly room for both, but the market is oversaturated as a result. Ultimately, I am just glad a film like Barbarian can exist on its own merit but there is a reason it had to release at the end of August instead of October. Happy Halloween!
Recommendation: See it if you enjoy horror filmmaking and for its use of the familiar to craft something new, but if you are loyal to establish genre brands only you may want to skip it.
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