Movie Review

Film Review: BARBARIAN (2022): An Entertaining, Scary Horror Movie That Will Leave Audiences Breathless

Georgina Campbell Barbarian

Barbarian Review

Barbarian (2022) Film Review, a movie written and directed by Zach Cregger and starring Georgina Campbell, Bill Skarsgard, Justin Long, Matthew Patrick Davis, Richard Brake, Kurt Braunohler, Jaymes Butler, Sophie Sorensen, Rachel Fowler, J.R. Esposito, Kate Bosworth, Brooke Dillman, Sara Paxton, Will Greenberg, Derek Morse, Trevor Van Uden, Zach Cregger and Devina Vassileva.

Zach Cregger’s new scarefest, Barbarian, is a twisted roller coaster ride that is absolutely relentless in nature. It stars a terrific actress named Georgina Campbell in the film’s lead role as a young woman named Tess who shows up at an Airbnb which has been overbooked and is currently being occupied by a mysterious man named Keith (Bill Skarsgard, always reliable). This is the same opening concept of the story line of Katie Holmes’ latest picture, Alone Together but Cregger’s movie takes a whole new direction after a couple of minutes paralleling the same exact romantic plot of Holmes’ movie from this past summer.

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Tess and Keith start to warm up to each other when Keith suggests that Tess stay at the Airbnb until, at least, the next day. Tess doesn’t like to sleep on dirty sheets, though, so Keith washes them so she can take the bed to sleep in. Keith will sleep on the couch. Tess has a job interview with a filmmaker the next morning and when Tess tells Keith about that movie maker’s last picture, Keith knows a bit about the film which makes Tess and Keith automatically bond. I didn’t know whether to trust Keith or not and that is how this movie reels the viewer in. It hooks its audience by hinting that there may be a shady side to the character of Keith.

The movie surprises the viewer even more when Tess actually makes her interview the next morning after discovering the houses surrounding the place she has just slept in are dilapidated, to say the least. There is a basement in the Airbnb which Tess goes down to get toilet paper when she returns to the place. Keith is not there but has asked her to leave the key for him. This is a ridiculous scenario because any normal person after seeing the neighborhood would never return to it. Granted, she has luggage there but still. Nevertheless, filmmaker Zach Cregger finds a way to make the audience keep watching. How does he do this? Well, Tess walks around the basement and finds a grungy bed with a bucket near it. It looks like someone suffered there. The audience will eagerly want to know who, exactly, if anyone, was tortured in the basement.

Keith returns and helps her get out of the basement but when Tess tells him that there is some freaky stuff going on in the cellar, Keith insists on going down there. The rest of the plot shouldn’t be revealed because what happens next is certainly going to shock and engage the viewer.

Into the middle of this scarefest comes a character who is a famous celebrity called AJ (Justin Long of Jeepers Creepers). It seems AJ is being accused of rape by a woman he was intimate with which is causing him to lose his showbiz contract and, also, pretty much everything he owns. He has a property of interest, however. AJ ends up at the same Airbnb and, well, I’ve already said too much.

There are plenty of gruesome, edge of your seat, sequences but they would all be much less exciting without the presence of Georgina Campbell who commands our attention and she delivers one of the most relatable horror movie heroines of all-time. She has a willingness to help people which makes her different from the typical character who would walk away in the face of danger.

Skarsgard’s role is intensely intriguing and the actor capably keeps us intrigued for the duration of the actor’s screen time in the movie. Long is almost like a breath of fresh air when he comes on because he’s hysterical as he goes down the basement with measuring tape thinking he can make more money on the place if he gives details regarding the square footage of the property.

I don’t know how else to write this review. I’m compelled to discuss the effective nature of some of the more disturbing sequences of the film but I don’t want to give away major spoilers. What does not work so well about the movie is the sudden changes of the plot’s location as the movie shifts at one point to a character named Frank (Richard Brake) who puts on a handyman suit and enters a beautiful young woman’s home. Jaymes Butler as Andre, however, stands out considerably as a character from the neighborhood of the Airbnb who tries to help Tess.

Cregger is an effective filmmaker who knows just what to do to keep the intensity of the plot intact throughout the movie even if he tries too hard by throwing in one too many plot twists willy nilly at the end. By the time the credits roll, you’ll have had an amazing good time if you see this film with an audience. I can just imagine an audience for this movie talking back at the screen in regards to some of the decisions the characters make throughout.

Ultimately, Barbarian is a very good frightfest that could just inspire some people to avoid going down a basement ever again. And, that’s ingenuity at work. Even if the plot twists get too wild and elaborate, you’ll never forget the experience of watching this terrifying exercise in film making which is bound to make your heart skip beats throughout. If you can handle it, go see it!

Rating: 8/10

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Thomas Duffy

Thomas Duffy is a graduate of the Pace University New York City campus and has been an avid movie fan all of his life. In college, he interviewed film stars such as Minnie Driver and Richard Dreyfuss as well as directors such as Tom DiCillo and Mark Waters. He is the author of nine works of fiction available on Amazon. He's been reviewing movies since his childhood and posts his opinions on social media. You can follow him on Twitter. His user handle is @auctionguy28.
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