Barbarian

Barbarian (2022)

93% on Rotten Tomatoes (out of 108 reviews)

Runtime: 107 minutes

Directed by: Zach Cregger

Starring: Georgina Campbell, Bill Skarsgard, Justin Long, Matthew Patrick Davis, Richard Brake

From: 20^th Century Studios

Note to self: Look up the address on Google Maps THEN confirm the Airbnb reservation.

Before a few days ago it wasn't even certain that I'd ever see this movie, let alone on the big screen. Only once did I see the trailer, which didn't reveal much and thankfully the viewing happened without any spoilers beforehand. What swayed my opinion: it was more than just the high Letterboxd ratings as to be honest, often I don't agree w/ the ratings that many have for modern films. It was hearing the rumblings that it was “wild” and “wacky”, which made it sound like this year's Malignant; as I loved Malignant for being such a bizarre fun time, my expectations were high for this. Regrettably, it seemed more along the lines of all those pretentious horror movies that have come out in the past 10 or so years that I don't like as much as everyone else.

I won't say much about the plot as I don't want to be a spoiling SOB for that haven't gotten around to this yet. I'll just state that this takes place in the Detroit suburbs, the film starts off with an Airbnb residence being double-booked (the girl uneasy of having to stay at that place, as the guy in question is Bill Skarsgard... look at the characters he's played) and Justin Long is also involved. I was not expecting a modern horror actor beloved in some circles in a supporting role, let alone what the movie was actually all about. It is rather bizarre and decidedly not expected from a major Hollywood player-20^th Century Studios-or something that played on all the Premium Large Format screens this week. Was it fun for me? I'd say no; Malignant was much more enjoyable. All the surprising moments weren't enough.

The setting certainly was chilling, as was the score, some imagery and one character's behavior. Unfortunately, at least in my eyes this did not make much sense at all. There were many questions I had as to how everything worked and how certain things could possibly have happened. What it's all about: I have issues with that and especially with how the film concluded; satisfied, I was not. A shame, as I can't complain about the performances from the small cast, the positive attributes I just mentioned, or how a certain character was treated because of their actions. The first act started off so well then in the final act it became ludicrous in a bad way. I'm glad that most love it and those reading this who haven't made it to the cinema yet, you'll probably agree with the majority. Something like this is preferable to Halloween Ends-there is something I have next to zero expectations for-but again, Barbarian ultimately made no sense to me.