As I’ve said a few times lately, 2022 is turning out to be an extraordinarily strong year for the horror genre, even if the strongest films are various hybrids of the horror category (or because of?)
Barbarian, unfortunately named and easily confused with Barbarians or even Conan the Barbarian, is not just about scares, but about a fun kind of movie-making; twists, turns, blood, and backstory.
But it starts out with Tess (Georgina Campbell) who has come to Detroit for a job interview. It’s already after dark in an even darker neighborhood, but her Airbnb looks cute enough at a glance and the light is on. Discovering that their key doesn’t work, the door opens to reveal a well-dressed, normal guy (Bill Skarsgard from It!)
Holy Crap!
I am going to be careful not to spoil things, I’ll say that you think you’re going to see one movie, but then you end up seeing another, and possibly a third, before all is said and done. Remember When a Stranger Calls, where the opening sequence is scary as hell, but also not necessarily where the rest of the film ias going? Writer/ Director Zach Cregger’s version is much scarier, and does a neat trick with a callback to that opener.
That means I can’t really tell you much about A.J. Gilbride (Justin Long) an actor who we learn is being blacklisted in Hollywood during #MeToo and comes to, yes, Detroit, for his own reasons.
I really don’t want to say more about the plot—you can find full synopses online. Unlike most horror films, when the characters do things they aren’t supposed to ( “Do NOT open that door,” Do NOT go to the basement”) it’s not because they’re idiots. Cregger’s having fun with that part of the genre, but his characters are intelligent people of differing moral values.
Campbell is a good example – a very smart woman who, nevertheless, is going to find that her curiosity is going to bite her in the butt a time or two. Long is great as a guy who seems as jovial as Long is himself, until the layers are peeled away.
So, good scares, good performances and maybe the best of the year within the Horror genre. There will be blood, lots of it, and jump scares and such.
But trust me, the less you know in advance, the better.
Barbarian is Rated R | in theaters | 3 ½ out of 4 Stars
