“Do I look like some kind of monster”? Keith (Bill Skaarsgard)
I may be at the point when a horror/thriller character goes into the basement, I walk out because of that common cliché’s boredom factor. Yet, I’m glad I stayed for Barbarian, a slick horror film satisfying an urge to see privileged 20 somethings face doom for their arrogance and stupidity.
More than my low-level schadenfreude is the comic use of the horror/thriller formula, whose elements are preserved from time-immemorial with just enough freshness to keep audience interest and themes intact. Tess (Georgina Campbell) has rented an Airbnb bungalow in run-down Detroit for her job interview the next day. When the lockbox contains no key, it’s the first sign of trouble from writer/director Zach Creeger.
Keith is inside the house, for he has rented it through another company. Given he is played by Bill Skaarsgard of Pennywise “It” fame, we downright know she’s in trouble. To make things the worst, he gets lost in the basement, and she goes through its labyrinthine tunnels to find him! Mercy me, no one should go there, even smart-ass young’uns. Underneath this shabby house and hood lurk pale creatures like cave dwellers in The Descent.
At any rate, enough gory material is offered for those who like that stuff and enough heady material for those who dive deep into psychology such as seeing a parallel with Hitchcock’s Psycho. Yes, Bill could remind you of Anthony Perkins and Georgina could Janet Leigh, and all are affected by the hotel business, so to speak.
Thematically, Barbarian is solid with its reliance on the suffering and the horror of being poor, including a deformed mother (Matthew Patrick Davis), who longs for her baby, beating up the inexperienced young folk.
If you don’t believe someone is so clueless as to explore a basement in a rental, see Barbarian, for you will never rent again anyway.
Barbarian
Director: Zach Cregger (The War on Drugs)
Screenplay: Creeger
Cast: Georgina Campbell (All My Friends Hate Me), Bill Skarsgard (It)
Run Time: 1h 42s
Rating: R
John DeSando, a Los Angeles Press Club first-place winner for National Entertainment Journalism, hosts NPR’s It’s Movie Time and co-hosts Cinema Classics as well as podcasts Back Talk and Double Take out of WCBE 90.5 FM. Contact him at JohnDeSando52@gmail.com.
