Barbarian (2022) - Movie Review

What do you get when you take a familiar premise, an eclectic cast, a relatable setting, and a threadbare script?

One of the best fucking movies of the year, that’s what.

Barbarian is a 2022 horror / thriller brought to us by writer / director Zach Gregger. If you don’t know his name, your parents didn’t pay for the IFC / Sundance package on the family cable package. Gregger was one of the lead performers in the comedy troupe The Whitest Kids You Know. Imagine the kids in the hall meets Upright Citizens Brigade, but not as good as either.

It sounds worse than it is. It was solid, don’t get me wrong.

However, my taste in comedy isn’t at issue here.

The brilliance of Gregger’s writing and directing is.

As someone who has worked and performed in theater for a third of his life and who has worked in the performing arts as a writer, director, producer, and special effects artist—I can tell you, as many others would, that comedians are often the best at going to dark places.

Anyone who’s dated one, you feel me—and I’m sorry.

That’s not to say Gregger’s script is all doom and gloom. Quite the opposite though, but before I go into further detail, let’s see what this is all about.

The film focuses on the plight of Tess (Georgina Campbell) as she arrives into a shady neighborhood during a torrential downpour on the outskirts of Detroit to find that her AirBNB has been double-booked by the handsome and slightly creepy Keith (Bill Skarsgard). With nowhere else to go, she takes Keith’s offer to split the house and sort out the issue in the morning. Once settled she finds that she and Keith have a lot in common and he’s not such a bad guy. Unfortunately, Keith may not be the only person she needs to worry about. Eyes watch her sleep, footsteps patter in the dark, and a secret passage in the basement creaks open. What’s within those depths knows no bounds. It can’t be controlled, can’t be stopped, and now it wants Tess. Will Tess and Keith find their way out of the darkness or will they both be consumed by the barbarity of times past? Find out in tonight’s feature—Barbarian!

This is a perfect movie.

Part of that perfection is the bait and switch tactics used in the marketing campaign. This film was marketed more like a torture porn, French Extreme film. When that couldn’t be further from the truth. I don’t want to ruin the surprise, as that’s what made the viewing experience so special. It’s one of those films with a big reveal that I hadn’t heard or seen anything to spoil. So many movies overshare in the trailers, but this film managed to keep it all under wraps. A big thanks goes out to the studio marketing.

This film has a script with less dialogue than most, but so much more character. Every line feels organic and real. So much of the story is told through non-verbals. Of course it helps when you’ve got a brilliant cast that includes genre vets like the GREAT Richard Brake, Justin Long, and the beautiful Bill Skarsgard. Oh, and the leading lady, Georgina Campbell is a star. She is so good in this movie that it’s honestly unthinkable that they auditioned anyone else. She’s so real and likable. I was worried for her from moment one, but more than that—I was rooting for her.

It’s rare in horror nowadays to get a character so likable. Most horror scripts nowadays are all about the violence and brutality done to women and no longer about the strength and resilience of them.

Tess has to fight off not on the monstrous presence in the house, but also the indifference of the police (super relatable to a lot of us), and the selfishness of celebrity.

I consider this film a dark comedy, not because there’s a bunch of one liners and winks to the audience, but because the situations are so horrific and framed with such aplomb that it makes you laugh. You laugh because this woman shouldn’t be in this believable horror, shouldn’t be dealing with the increasingly gross circumstances. Justin Long though, he flipping deserved that force feeding.

If you know, you know.

This is in my top 5 best films watched for the site this year.

Funny Enough—Richard Brake appears in most of my top films. You flipping Legend, Brake!

I’m not doing a spoiler discussion on this one as nothing needs to be explained. The movie gives you all the answers and leaves nothing to the imagination. It doesn’t rely on ambiguity to create a false mystique. It lays all it’s disgusting cards on the table and leaves you to deal with it.

Also, I would request Georgina Campbell to play Candice Brooks if my Killing Heart books ever get made into a film. She’s just so damn good.

Please support this film. Support the actors and the filmmakers. They did an amazing job.

Barbarian is streaming Exclusively on HBOMAX.