By HOWARD MCQUITTER II
20th Century Studios 2022
Horror
Barbarian is a very well-rounded horror film that, with its unpredictability and contradictions, is genuinely scary. For what seems like a normal house with normal trappings, below it is a house of horrors. Prepare to squirm in your seat when you see Barbarian.
Tess Marshall (Georgina Campbell) is in Detroit (1980s) for a major convention. Finding hotel space full to capacity, discovers her Airbnb service has been double-booked at a “nice” house in a rundown neighborhood. It is night and pouring rain. Such a perfect setting for scares, a perfect place to be in the wrong places. She rings the doorbell to find another occupant is there. His name is is Keith (Bill Skarsgård, who played the murderous Pennywise the Clown) and he is as puzzled as she. He invites her to get out of the rain as everything seems to be “normal” inside the house. Understandably, Tess is wary of Keith; and Keith nervously tries to make her comfortable. He’s a perfect gentleman, offering her to sleep in his room while he sleeps on the couch. In the middle of the night, she awakes to find her door open. She moves from the bedroom to the darkened hallway while calling for Keith and getting no answer. Strange house, strange happenings, she walks slowly, not knowing where to go. What she finds going down to the basement is a marked contrast to the upstairs. What’s more, there are unbelievable discoveries below too frightening to elaborate on…no spoiler’s alert!
Another piece to this scary adventure by director Zach Creggar (comes from a comedy background) is not scary in itself– but a part of the story anyway. The owner of the house AJ (Justin Long) may have to sell the house because he faces sexual harassment allegations on his job as an actor and he is trying desperately to find lawyers to defend him.
Cast: Georgina Campbell (Tess), Bill Skarsgård (Keith), Justin Long (AJ), Matthew Patrick Davis (The Mother), Richard Brake (Frank), Kurt Braunohler (Doug), Jaymes Butler (Andre), Sophie Sorensen (Bonnie), Rachel Fowler (Meg), J. R. Esposito (Jeff), Kate Nichols (Catherine), Kate Bosworth (Meslisa), Brooke Dillman (A J’s Mom), Sara Paxton (Nursing Video Narration), Will Greenberg (Robert), Derek Morse (Officer # 1), Trevor Van Uden (Officer # 2), Zach Creggar (Everett), Devina Vassileva (Property Manager Assistant), Kalina Stancheva (Young Woman), Julian Stanishkov (Gas Station Clerk).
Director: Zach Creggar.
Screenwriter: Zach Creggar.
Cinematography: Zach Kuperstein. Music: Anna Drubich.
Running time:102 minutes.
