Barbarian

Barbarian begins with a typical horror trajectory, playing on the well-worn trope of the lone woman in a questionable and potentially threatening situation. Without giving too much away, the film continually looks to subvert expectations, taking us on a gripping journey through expected beats before veering wildly away from convention into surprising caveats.

Made for going in blind, the initial responses from audiences were almost unanimously positive. Cregger provides sharp writing that’s not without prescience and social commentary, but it’s not hammered over your head like some larger studio films. There’s plenty of wry humour, but it never gets too winky for its own good.

Whilst Barbarian has clever twists from genre convention, it still delivers all the scares, tension, and holy crap moments horror fans will lap up. It’s impeccably shot with a very retro aesthetic, evoking 70s and 80s horror in particular, and the settings within the film are grimly atmospheric.

Finally, the ominously droning score by Anna Drubich sneaks into proceedings when the tension builds — and it’s very effective.

The Key Characters

As the woman who books the Airbnb, Tess has to contend with exhaustion, paranoia, and the inherent societal fear driven into young women about the potential dangers of being alone with strange men. She begins to do things against her better judgment, and we can see that conflict written across her face.  She’s played by Georgina Campbell, a fine British export who has seen her career rise sharply of late, and will surely be catapulted further after this.

Keith is the awkwardly affable man who has double booked with Tess. Is it an act of subterfuge? Is it genuine? He’s pitch-perfect as we wait for a flip we deem inevitable. He’s played by Bill Skarsgård, we’re talking the guy who played Pennywise the clown here, a member of the Skarsgård family who were almost preordained to play oddballs or antagonists. Cregger probably cast him because of this, as it naturally puts the audience immediately into a tense state from the moment he appears.

AJ is an actor who’s about to see his career torpedoed with rape allegations hitting the press. Just whether he fully acknowledges his prior behaviour and whether he wants to better his attitude is a major part of his arc, and again, I won’t spoil where this takes him. He connects to the main story in an interesting if slightly contrived way. Justin Long’s portrayal of an arrogant fool is great; he’s comical but doesn’t overplay it as the morality of his character is constantly brought into question. Just whether he fully acknowledges his prior behaviour and whether he wants to better his attitude is a major part of his arc, and again, I won’t spoil where this takes him. But Vanity Fair has touted long as an Oscar contender for this role.

What’s it really about:

The film touches upon a few relevant topics through an interesting timeline within it. We get classism, gentrification, and the objectification of women, and Cregger also turns his microscope on the jock mentality and the notion that a woman’s ingrained response to being alone with a man should be fear. With AJ’s arc, it certainly speaks about the ‘#MeToo’ era as well.