THE PREMISE:

"A woman staying at an Airbnb discovers that the house she has rented is not what it seems."

OUR MOVIE REVIEW:

What is there to say about Barbarian? Well, there’s a lot to say about the film; a lot of great things, actually, but I’m going to echo a lot of the voices coming out of this movie and say Barbarian is a film best experienced going into mostly blind, but the film’s first trailer does sell you wonderfully on the hook - Tess and Keith (Georgina Campbell and Bill Skarsgard) have accidentally been double-booked in their rental house, and in an attempt to move past the incident they find their house has deeper and darker secrets. That is all you need to know heading into Barbarian; a genuinely smart horror film that’s gnarly, shocking, hilarious, and a massive blast all around.

I think what attracted me most about Barbarian though is its director, Zach Cregger who is best known for being one of the members of the comedy troupe The Whitest Kids U’ Know, and other than directing a couple of comedies, this is an entirely new step for him. Much like Jordan Peele, it was exciting to see a new voice in horror from a mostly comic background. Honestly, I think he may have made a hit. Cregger really knows how to entertain his audience with the constant twists and turns that Barbarian makes. It is a genuinely scary and thrilling movie, but Cregger’s background in comedy also pays off here as he makes something that is at times also genuinely very funny. It’s a display of horror filmmaking I really admire. Something that’s got that little hint of madness that I can tell was a blast to make, but it’s also going to keep me up at night because of what’s going on in this movie. Its horror is unnerving, but there still remain aspects that are very funny, and blended together creates this fascinating off-beat experience.

I always get a certain kind of rush when a horror movie keeps my head spinning after watching it, and oh, did Barbarian deliver that rush. I feel like it’s a horror that belongs on a particular shelf of the genre - like some forgotten VHS tape but also completely new. It’s not perfect; It’s got some blemishes, sure, but it’s a movie I’m so excited that it exists and I’m eager for others to discover what’s going on deeper inside Barbarian. Like I said, there’s a lot of great things to say about it, but I haven’t even gotten into my favorite aspects of the film here. I’ve really had to be super vague here in order not to give things away due to the many surprises in its clever and twisted script. Not only am I excited to see it again, I’m excited to see the discussion on it grow larger and larger.