So, I have a mental list in my head of movies from 2022 I want to see before the year ends, and Barbarian certainly qualified. I remember the trailers. It looked good and creepy. Then it came out to rave reviews, but there also was the feeling that there was more going on than the trailers suggested. Curious, I looked into it a bit and learned a bit more about the plot, essentially deciding that I would probably prefer to watch that one at home.
Well, it is on HBO Max now, and it is on my mental list. Would Barbarian live up the hype?
Tess (Georgina Marshall) is visiting the city of Detroit for a job interview. Her airbnb was, somehow, double-booked, and she finds a man named Keith (Bill Skarsgard) already in the house she was supposed to staying at. Keith seems to be accommodating, and the pair opt to stay in the house together. But is Keith really trustworthy? How did the house get doublebooked? And what is there to explain all the odd things happening in the house as Tess tries to settle down to sleep, to say nothing of that mysterious tunnel in the basement.
OK, normally I would use this second paragraph to expand a bit on the plot. However, Barbarian is such a crazy horror movie in many ways that it works best if the viewer knows as little of the movie as possible. The above description is basically what the trailers cover and is maybe only the first half hour or so of the movie at most. But this is a movie that works well with playing up expectations, and casting the onetime Pennywise Skarsgard as the guy staying at the house is a good way to go. Whatever you think this movie is, you are probably wrong.
As it is, the movie plays with the idea of toxic masculinity. Keith is well aware that Tess is in no position to trust him, and she takes some steps accordingly to protect herself. But there are a lot of problematic men in the movie, and writer/director Zach Cregger has a few more interesting casting choices up his sleeve to play up the unpredictability of the movie itself. The movie actually thrives in part because, well, whatever you think this movie is before you see it, it most certainly isn’t.
That plays out as the movie reveals itself. Tess is told the neighborhood her airbnb is in isn’t very good, but she doesn’t find out how bad it is until the sun comes up since she arrived at night in the rain, but even then there are clues to what’s going on that may get overlooked by the audience as much as they are by Tess. Likewise, there’s no help coming, but not for the reasons one might assume. Even the things that initially scare Tess are often not as scary as the things she isn’t seeing. And when the blood starts flowing, it doesn’t seem likely to stop easily. This is a good, spooky movie that will keep the audience guessing in a good way.
Grade: B+
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