In case you haven’t heard of it yet, Barbaric is a new horror movie from writer/director Zach Cregger (whose background is mostly comedic) with Georgina Campbell (black mirror, Broadchurch), Bill Skarsgard (This, stone castle) and Justin Long (Jeepers Creepers, Accepted).
And he has a very nice poster, by the way:
Of course, before I start here, I want to let you know that there are spoilers ahead, and this movie is HONESTLY best seen without knowing NOTHING in it. So take this as you will and proceed with caution!
Thus, the film follows a woman named Tess (Campbell) who arrives late at night at her Airbnb on the outskirts of Detroit to find that someone else is already occupying it. 🚩🚩🚩
The person already occupying Tess’ Airbnb is a man named Keith (SkarsgÃ¥rd). Considering Bill SkarsgÃ¥rd tends to play spooky/horror-related, *cough cough* Pennywise roles, it’s no surprise that Keith gives off some uncomfortable vibes for both Tess and the audience.
Keith doesn’t help himself by being clumsy and doing weird things like insisting Tess stay the night (all the hotels are full because there’s a convention in town!) and then offering her drinks .
Tess, you see, like most of us sane people would rather just go to bed (door locked) and hope that this very uncomfortable situation will be over as soon as possible.
What’s funny is that Tess and Keith’s meeting feels a lot like a cute meeting, and if the music and vibes were a little different, heck, I’d say it was the start of a little rom-com funny… but trust me, it’s definitely not.
Keith and Tess got along well; she’s in town for a job interview with a documentary filmmaker, and Keith, in fact, is an expert on the subject the documentary will be about! (Cute, right?)
Tess survives the night (although strange things happen), does her interview, and when she returns to the Airbnb, Keith isn’t there. Despite all the horror movie rules, Tess eventually finds herself in the creepy basement that leads to horrifying discoveries. And what she finds will make you say, “Noooo, no, no.”
After Tess’ horrific discovery, that’s when Barbaric takes an even more surprising twist and pulls a move from the psychology playbook going in a really unexpected direction.
We’re introduced to AJ (Justin Long), a D-list actor in Los Angeles who finds himself in hot water. And AJ, it turns out, actually owns the “Airbnb of Horrors”â„¢ in Detroit.
Due to an impending lawsuit, AJ needs to find some quick cash, so he flies to Detroit to check out his revenue property with the intention of selling it. And of course, AJ is also involved in the previous nightmare that Tess and Keith found themselves in earlier.
Now I’m not going to spoil the rest of the movie for you because you really should just go see the movie to get the full effect. But I 100% guarantee you’ll never guess what’s going on because it’s a whole lot of unimaginable horror.
While Campbell and SkarsgÃ¥rd give solid performances that are worthy of a horror movie, Long definitely steals the show here. To his credit, AJ’s performance is hilarious. Yes, AJ is an absolute jerk, but I found myself laughing at almost every ridiculous thing he did and said. There is one particular scene with a measuring tape that had the whole audience laughing.
Oh, and you should also know that, if you’re claustrophobic, you’re PROBABLY going to hate, like, half of this movie, LOL. Sorry.
But, for my money, Barbaric is a completely fun and SUPREMELY wild ride that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very end. If you’re a fan of horror movies, you’re in for a treat. With Barbaricwriter-director Cregger is clearly able to strike that rare balance of scares, shock, and humor that makes this refreshing new horror flick 100% worth watching.
And, I can’t stress enough that seeing it with an audience is an absolute must. 10/10 would recommend!
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