NOTHING is as it seems in Barbarian, and there isn’t a film released this year that comes close to it, where attempting to talk about the film without spoiling its story is akin to navigating a minefield.
The film follows the style of other great horror films released this year, such as Ti West’s X and Pearl, and Jordan Peele’s Nope, where the films are director-driven and not studio-driven. Cheap horror gimmicks are tossed aside in favour of better storytelling, deployment of visceral horror and vision-fueled.
In Barbarian, director Zach Cregger seeks to subvert expectations and turn the genre on its head, which is first done through its narrative structure.
There are three stories in Barbarian that occur on their own before converging halfway into the film. Having a solid foundation and not clumsily slapped together out of contrivance, these three stories could also be extrapolated and made into three separate films based purely on how differently they’re directed, shot and written.
No solace at home
The first is the story of Tess Marshall (Georgina Campbell) and Keith Toshko (Bill Skarsgård).
Driving into Detroit on a rainy night, Tess arrives at the Airbnb house that she has booked, only to find Keith already in the house. Due to a mix-up, their bookings were double-booked, or was it?
Realising she has no other options, Tess decides to spend the night in the house and Keith is amicable to it; she will take the bedroom, he will take the couch.
Everything should be fine, right? Sure, but Keith, a complete stranger, seems a little “off”. His height towers over Tess. He’s making weird suggestions.
Or is it just our perception, molded by other horror films, playing tricks on us? Could the tall, white, handsome guy be a serial killer? If it’s not him, could it be house itself that seems off?
Cregger plays the volatile unpredictability of the awkward situation to really tense levels, and Skarsgård – who played Pennywise the Clown in the It remakes – turns up both the creep and charm factors impressively as the first part of the film progressively spirals into insanity.
Then the film shifts gears.
Where roads intersect
Justin Long’s AJ Gilbride takes over during Barbarian’s middle portion. An actor, Gilbride chooses to “run away” from a very real problem he caused.
Through Long, Cregger – who is also a comedian – injects humour into Barbarian, because by the time Gilbride becomes a component in the story, levity and dark comedy on his part becomes crucial.
The comedic timing of how Gilbride reacts to the film’s wild reveals helps provide “breathing room” for Barbarian’s tense sequences.
At some point, the film shifts perspectives again, almost 40 years to the past, to Frank (Richard Brake), a man out shopping for supplies and preparing for something secret.
Eventually the film comes full circle, with Barbarian putting its major players within the same story.
Keenly aware of tropes in terrible horror films, Barbarian intelligently navigates those pitfalls and weaponises the viewer’s expectation and predictions against them.
This review won’t do justice to Cregger’s solo directorial debut, because a self-aware, smart horror film like Barbarian, with its labyrinthine amount of heel-turns and plot twists, rarely comes along.
Barbarian is currently streaming on Disney+ Hotstar.
