Film Review - Barbarian
Images courtesy of 20th Century Studios Publicity.
As horror fans, it can often feel like we're spoiled for choice. Not only is there a massive back-catalogue of verified classics and their various less-than-classic sequels, there's also subgenres to suit every taste imaginable. From creature features, to horror-comedies, to slashers, to psychological or even "elevated" horror (and every mish-mash in between), there truly is no end to what we're willing and/or able to subject ourselves to in pursuit of entertainment on the darker side. And then recently, almost as if as a cultural counterpoint to the prestige offerings from the likes of A24, we have mainstream studios attempting slightly wider and gnarlier swings (after all, a scary movie should be scary, right?) - key examples being The Empty Man, Malignant, and Don't Breathe.
Welcome the newest contender to the ring, Barbarian, a film whose title comes with a big asterisk that says "don't spoil it!" (and I won't, seeing as I also had to dodge spoilers for a month and a half while waiting to see if we would get an Australian release date). I'd heard off-the-cuff comparisons to Malignant, and while I don't believe it goes quite as far off the deep end (it also has a mere 10% of that film's budget), I will say that Barbarian's approach to storytelling and tone is both the ace up its sleeve and its ultimate shortcoming. Starting with the basic premise of an Airbnb mishap, the film introduces us to Tess (Georgina Campbell) and Keith (Bill Skarsgård), two strangers brought together by circumstance. Harbouring surprisingly great chemistry between its two leads despite how off-kilter their initial interactions are, the film also does an excellent job of playing off expectations based on gender roles and skirting around the numerous flashing red flags that seem to pop up wherever Tess goes. Before too long, though, there's a creepy basement, and things going bump in the night - and Barbarian slowly begins to show its hand.
Where Justin Long's character comes into play, I'll leave for viewers to discover themselves, although I will say that as it veered further into more obvious dark humour, the film kind of lost me. As a screenwriting exercise, it's brilliant, and I really have to commend the writers for throwing the book out almost entirely (the script initially started as a single scene inspired by a self-help book). It's just that outside of the execution, I found the core mystery to be a little underwhelming, even if the scares are pulled off with a certain slick menace that makes films like this so appealing, despite being somewhat undercut by the film’s comedic edge. Largely, the budget seems to hold it back from going as off-the-walls as it wants to - for example, there's a certain practical gag at the end that we only get to see the back of, and most of the violence is in rapid, dimly lit outbursts.
Like the dark, labyrinthine, underground tunnels at the film's core, Barbarian is a wild ride full of twists and turns, sure to light a fire under the butt of hardened horror fans and would-be screenwriters alike. It's just a bit unfortunate that for all the focus it puts on shifting gears, it sometimes does so at the expense of momentum.
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Barbarian is screening in cinemas from Thursday 20th October. For tickets and more info, click here.