Barbarian features a warped premise that could have been amazingly terrifying and unique, but which doesn't quite click, despite a decent cast and solid direction from Zach Cregger, who also wrote the film. I think my issue is that the basic set-up offers opportunities to go to some seriously dark and twisted places, but the final product only goes part of the way.
Georgina Campbell plays Tess, who books an Airbnb in Detroit so that she can attend a job interview; however, when she arrives in what appears to be very bad neighbourhood, the property is already occupied by a young man, Keith (Bill Skarsgård), who claims that he has also rented the house. With nowhere else to go, Tess accepts Keith's offer for her to stay the night. Tension and uneasiness is established, Keith's behaviour seemingly off.
Keith, as it turns out, isn't the danger, for unbeknownst to either of the occupants, hidden behind a secret door in the cellar is a network of rooms and passageways, home to a hideous inbred mutant mother who captures people to keep as her 'babies'.
That sounds messed up, and it is, but Cregger's script doesn't fully exploit it's potential. At it's weirdest, disgraced Hollywood actor AJ (Justin Long), owner of the house, is forced to suckle from the mutant mother's breast (Long sure picks 'em!), but I wanted much more from the film: the mother should have been seen putting AJ in a diaper, spooning disgusting food into his mouth, putting him in a cradle etc. AJ is such a slimeball that he deserves to suffer more.
I would also have liked to have seen more of the backstory: a flashback shows weirdo Frank (Richard Brake) preparing for the birth of one of his children by shopping for baby goods, but the film glosses over how he abducted women and used them to bear his kids in his underground lair, and how these children grew up to have more children, until the result was the deformed mutant we see in the film. The comparisons to Josef Fritzl are interesting and it would have been good to have seen them explored further.
However, when all is said and done, Barbarian is still a fun ride, with plenty of atmosphere, another enjoyable turn from Long, a great 'creature', and a bit of gore, so I doubt horror fans will come away disappointed. I just wanted it to be crazier.
6/10.
Georgina Campbell plays Tess, who books an Airbnb in Detroit so that she can attend a job interview; however, when she arrives in what appears to be very bad neighbourhood, the property is already occupied by a young man, Keith (Bill Skarsgård), who claims that he has also rented the house. With nowhere else to go, Tess accepts Keith's offer for her to stay the night. Tension and uneasiness is established, Keith's behaviour seemingly off.
Keith, as it turns out, isn't the danger, for unbeknownst to either of the occupants, hidden behind a secret door in the cellar is a network of rooms and passageways, home to a hideous inbred mutant mother who captures people to keep as her 'babies'.
That sounds messed up, and it is, but Cregger's script doesn't fully exploit it's potential. At it's weirdest, disgraced Hollywood actor AJ (Justin Long), owner of the house, is forced to suckle from the mutant mother's breast (Long sure picks 'em!), but I wanted much more from the film: the mother should have been seen putting AJ in a diaper, spooning disgusting food into his mouth, putting him in a cradle etc. AJ is such a slimeball that he deserves to suffer more.
I would also have liked to have seen more of the backstory: a flashback shows weirdo Frank (Richard Brake) preparing for the birth of one of his children by shopping for baby goods, but the film glosses over how he abducted women and used them to bear his kids in his underground lair, and how these children grew up to have more children, until the result was the deformed mutant we see in the film. The comparisons to Josef Fritzl are interesting and it would have been good to have seen them explored further.
However, when all is said and done, Barbarian is still a fun ride, with plenty of atmosphere, another enjoyable turn from Long, a great 'creature', and a bit of gore, so I doubt horror fans will come away disappointed. I just wanted it to be crazier.
6/10.