Barbarian

Barbarian is without exaggeration one of the most difficult films to review that I have ever had the opportunity to see. It combines several "sub-films" that are qualitatively very different, and this makes the whole result impossible to rate. For me, the first part is without a doubt the event of the year. A woman arrives at an Airbnb accommodation, but there is already one visitor staying there, and so begins a strange night that takes her to a situation no one would envy. It’s an excellent and original idea, with great acting, perfect dialogue and atmosphere, and a masterful build-up, it all makes the first act an unbeatable part that escalates ad absurdum, and I couldn’t even breathe during its finale. But from that point on (which is about halfway through), the story turns 180 degrees elsewhere and the whole hitherto masterful film collapses like a Ferrari hitting a speed bump at 180 km/h. A whole new story and a new character that replace a very intense film with intelligent characters with a disastrous line with an worse protagonist that seems to have come from the hands of a completely different director. And the film follows the same note until the end. The whole thing feels terribly contradictory, towards the end the film lacks logic and idea, throwing one piece of nonsense after another and doesn't know how to go on. I loved the great horror in the first half, when I was chattering in bliss over the film of the year, I hated the ending and I’m disappointed by the unfulfilled potential at the same time, and actually I don't know how to perceive the end result at all, because combining such diametrically opposed two parts in one film is perhaps not even realistically possible... (2022-09-13)

Postpartum psychosis under the stairs. Just like in It Follows or when the Freaky Blinder Stephen Lang is wreaking havoc, the eerie setting of an abandoned suburb in Deathroit works, but after a carefully built atmosphere of uncertainty in the first part, it gradually begins to fall apart. The rather amusing finale merely alternates between easily predictable moments and those that try to be original at all costs, and I was just waiting for the survivor to be hit by a car from the local department that neither helps nor protects a second before the credits rolled. I would be cautious about calling it the horror event of the year. At best, it's quarterly. By the way, Bill Skarsgård, with his appearance and lack of confidence, is like a young Steve Buscemi. (2022-11-01)

Sometimes, you can tell within the first five minutes of a horror movie that, despite its seemingly classic slasher premise, there's something different about it. Barbarian is that kind of different — in the best way. It's visually refined, atmospheric, and incredibly suspenseful. Even when it inevitably veers into entertaining absurdity, it keeps you thoroughly engaged the whole time. This is exactly how I imagine a well-made modern horror film. (2024-05-24)

I find it a bit sad and perhaps unfair that audiences in recent years have given more favorable to horror films that subvert, satirise and mock genre tropes, rather than to some of the attempted serious and atmospheric horror films of the traditional cut, which at best end up with a 58% rating, but at the same time it cannot be denied that Barbarian works well in its subversion and surprise. (2022-12-07)

It’s a fine thing that Disney+ is debunking the myth of family VoD and premiering interesting horror movies. But Barbarian is overhyped. Screenwriter and director Zach Cregger enjoys playing with form and he respectably builds up the suspense associated with the unknown in the first third of the film. But the later uncovering of the mystery reveals the creative weakness of merely borrowing key elements from the groundbreaking works of the genre and slides into unintentional self-parody in the climax, while thinking it’s cool. This should have been made by an inventive butcher, ideally with European roots, who wasn’t afraid to exploit the potential of the terrifying content of the videotapes. (2022-11-06)