I bought a ticket for “Barbarian” by Zach Cregger yesterday afternoon, which I missed when I was in Toronto.
Reviews are good, a 79 on Metacritic and a 93 on Rotten Tomatoes. It’s a pretty smart, dark, and sometimes horrifying ride. However, let’s all calm down to crown this one for best horror movie of the year…
“Barbarian” has a young woman (Georgina Campbell, so good) who books an Airbnb, but, upon arrival, discovers the house has been double-booked and a mysterious man is already staying there. After much persuasion, she decides to stay the evening, but soon regrets it.
The plot doesn’t go where you think it does, and that’s more than enough for me to recommend “Barbarian,” especially since the jerks here are delivered in an unpredictable way. The film’s main plot even stops halfway through to inventively introduce us to another main character. I loved it. There are actually four stories told here and we don’t even realize it.
“Barbarian” is absolutely exploitative in its jump scares, improbable in its gain, and that’s perfectly fine as it continues to evolve and morph into different creations as it goes. Cregger skilfully structures his film. The setting, dilapidated Detroit, is also utterly relevant and brutally authentic.
However, much like “X”, it can’t help but veer into genre tropes by its conclusion and that means it doesn’t deserve its placement with the great neo-horror movies of the last 10 or so years (“It Follows,” “Hereditary,” “Get Out”) Also, for my money, this is NOT the best horror movie of 2022, that honor goes to Chloe Okuno’s “Watcher.”
The 10 Best Horror Movies of 2022: ‘Watcher’, ‘The Black Phone’, ‘Fresh’, ‘Pearl’, ‘Barbarian’, ‘Speak No Evil’, ‘Dashcam’, ‘The Innocents’, ‘X’ and “Prey.”
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