Barbarian is the least scary most thought-provoking horror gem you’ll see this year. Writer-director Zach Cregger’s tour-de-huh? is one to see with a big audience knowing as little as possible. So if you find this review scarce on details, know it’s for your own good.
Barbarian opens in well-trod horror territory. A young woman, alone in the middle of the night, caught in a storm, finds herself stuck in a situation that she would normally flee. It’s fun and it leads the seasoned horror viewer to a set of expectations. Shortly thereafter, Barbarian meets and promptly destroys those expectations.
You’ll see some familiar faces here, but mostly what you’ll see is a dedicated study in “what if.” Moreso than most genre pictures, Barbarian chases down the ends of its means. It seems Cregger was unwilling to put a single element of the macabre or the gruesome on screen without first applying the lens of a journalist or investigator and asking why and what then until his ideas were rung out. Make no mistake, this is a very good thing.
Barbarian is deeply thoughtful and clever, but not in a way that grates. It is also exhilarating and silly and gross and audacious, but not in the ways you might expect. For this reviewer, at least, it offered no scares. Still, Barbarian haunts in its own way. Hanging in the mind and gnawing at the thoughts, long after it spills its secrets.
Barbarian
Director: Zach Cregger
Writer: Zach Cregger
Rating: R
Runtime: 1h 42mins
Release Date: September 9, 2022