Movies…with a little bit of obscure culture and sports mixed in
“A woman staying at an Airbnb discovers that the house she has rented is not what it seems.” Director: Zach CreggerWriter: Zach CreggerStaring: Georgina Campbell, Bill Skarsgård, Justin Long, Matthew […]
“A woman staying at an Airbnb discovers that the house she has rented is not what it seems.”
Director: Zach Cregger
Writer: Zach Cregger
Staring: Georgina Campbell, Bill Skarsgård, Justin Long, Matthew Patrick Davis, Richard Brake
Release Date: September 9, 2022
IMDB
Barbarian (2022) is bonkers. It is scary, absurd, and unpredictable. Director and writer Zach Cregger creates a horror movie that sticks in your gut like a piece of chewing gum you swallowed back in your youth. Barbarian is a movie that takes giant risks, and credit to everyone involved because they all payoff. The unique character choices, dark humor, and genuine shock value of Barbarian’s key moments make it one of the best horror movies in recent years.
The setup for Barbarian is simple, and it is perfect. Tess (Georgina Campbell) arrives at an AirBnB she thinks hers, but she finds a man by the name of Keith (Bill Skarsgård) staying there already. There is natural tension and distrust, but that is just the beginning. Tess discovers an underground cave below the house in the basement, and based on the blood stains and the creepy dusty video camera, it is not a hospitable place. She asks Keith to take a look when he gets home, and together they discover an evil no one could have expected.
That is the first half of Barbarian, and I can promise you that the second half amps up the thrills ever more. But for the sake of someone reading this who hasn’t seen Barbarian, the plot spoilers will end there. Just know that the character of AJ (Justin Long) is such an interesting choice to put in a victim role, and the worth of Matthew Patrick Davis as The Mother is barbaric.
Zach Cregger takes a lot of chances, but his safest bet was casting Georgina Campbell in the lead as Tess. Campbell plays the worrisome job-seeking youngster with the correct amount of desperation and determination. She is not stupid, and nor does the story treat her like an idiot. Even those who follow all the rules of what you are supposed to do in a horror movie get got by a villain you could never predict or expect.
I am buying all the stock of Bill Skarsgård. It (2017) is one of my favorite horror movies ever, and Skarsgård as Pennywise is the biggest reason. He was undone by some extra CGI in It Chapter Two (2019), but his eeriness still was in bloom with The Devil All The TIme (2020), a underrated character thriller. Now in Barbarian he expands upon the creep role playing Keith. Skarsgård is so goddamn good at being a creep. Perhaps it should be alarming, but one should also embrace their lane when they find it. Run it through its course until the right move to branch out emerges.
Just because there is a lot of Harrison Ford in the air, remember back on his career. He stayed in successful lanes for much of his career. The handsome smooth-talking swash-buckler of space and of artifacts, followed by the common suit-wearing man of Jack Ryan and president James Marshall. Ford had deviations when he went for the awards or for the undeniably paycheck, but he always knew when he was best at.
Skarsgård, take a look at his career, and the success of your family’s and ride it into the sunset.
Now Skarsgård was a major part of the promotional material for Barbarian, but his time within the story is cut short by one bad mama. And I mean literally, one nasty mother.
For all those who care, spoilers ahead.
This is where Cregger drops his pen on the table and stares at his pitch room and waits for them to react. I for one did not have a nude, deformed, female ogre like creature on my bingo card of bad guys. Her emergence from the depths of this AirBnB’s basement is from the nightmare of a child with an overbearing mother. The suddenness of her arrival, followed by the brutalness of her behavior, startles the audience into a surprise game of freeze tag. Cregger makes everyone it but himself, and now he can roam around his viewers minds with no inhibitions and subject to whatever devilish creativity he desires.
Barbarian does take some massive swings, and the results are out-of-this-world unbelievable. But to the movie’s credit, every moment where you say “this can’t be happening” or “this isn’t believable” is earned. It doesn’t matter that Tess should have broken her back, or that the monster should have been cut in half by a car. After Barbarian sets its exposition up normally and then flips the script, all bets on reality are off. You are willing to treat this grandma of Dante’s dreams like she is Jason Vorhees or Freddy Kreuger. Let it keep coming back, and everytime it does we will act surprised and shocked.
What a run it has been for horror movies recently. Ti West opened up a whole new horror world with X (2022) and Pearl (2022), and the Scream franchise continues to be the consistent popcorn entertainment. And let’s not forget about the leap that was The Black Phone (2022), which may be the closest to Barbarian in terms of risk-taking paying off. It has just been a glorious run for us scare enthusiasts of late, and we should all revel in it.
As of early July 2023, Barbarian is streaming on Max.
STANKO RATING: A
Stanko Excel Lists | Movies, Books, Podcasts. TV Shows
Stanko Letterdbox Account
There is a lot happening in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning. One could argue that there is too much going on.
Much maligned as the worst of the Mission: Impossible franchise, Mission: Impossible II doesn’t do itself any favors upon rewatch.
MaXXXine (2024) “In 1980s Hollywood, adult film star and aspiring actress Maxine Minx finally gets her big break. But as a mysterious killer stalks the starlets of Hollywood, a trail of blood threatens to reveal her sinister past.” Director: Ti WestWriter: Ti WestCast: Mia Goth, Elizabeth Debicki, Halsey, Lily Collins, Kevin Bacon, Bob Cannavale, Michelle…
Stanko's Stance 
1 Comment »