Review: The Clever Horror Film 'Barbarian' Subverts Audience, Genre Expectations
DETROIT (WXYZ) - Tom Santilli has been a respected journalist since 2010 and a member of the Critics Choice Association, the Detroit Film Critics Association and the Online Film Critics Association. Tom Kino is the executive producer and host of the syndicated television show. Show Plus has served the metro Detroit and Midwest markets for over 20 years. He is a film critic for WXYZ-TV. Twitter: @tomsantilli, Facebook and Instagram: @filmsurvivor.
Rarely do I start a review by recommending that readers watch the film, but in the case of Barbarian, I don't want to spoil even one bit of the fun. So really, it's okay if you haven't seen it. You don't have to read it if you don't want to. Go to the cinema and come back here.
This is by no means a false assessment, but it is better to be taken without knowing where the barbarian is going. I like the title, even if it all falls apart at the end. It's a great date night or live action movie, and it stands out as much as its moviegoers would expect...and trust me, no one is going to sit idly by.
Category B
The title of the movie makes sense, but only if you think about it after watching the movie. The title itself is catchy and fits perfectly with the rest of the film.
If you want to know, Barbarian is not in the horror genre of torture porn like Saw or Hostel, or say The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. It's not an intellectual horror like Ancestors and it's not diabolical like Hellraiser or Poltergeist. "Barbarian" is unique in many ways. Yes, scary, sometimes sweet. But laughing out loud is also fun. Perhaps it's a spiritual cousin to films like The Cabin in the Woods or The Scream rather than "serious" horror films.
Audience: "Oh no!" and "Don't go there!" or "You've got to be kidding me!" The jumps work for most of The Barbarian, and there are more than a few scenes that elicit nervous laughter, especially after AJ's (Justin Long's) character enters.
I have to admit I was a little disappointed with how the movie ended - the resolution wasn't as exciting as it got there. Many characters make questionable decisions, some threads are abandoned, most of which could have been avoided if all the characters weren't generally stupid.
But Varvara is entertaining enough that it's hard not to recommend it. Go to the cinema with your friends... This movie is more than a warning about the dangers of staying at home too much.
Rating: BGenre: Horror, Thriller. Duration: 1 hour 42 minutes. Rated R Starring: Georgina Campbell, Bill Skarsgård, Justin Long, Richard Brake. Written and directed by Zach Krieger (Civil War on Drugs, Miss Mars).
The Barbarian hits theaters on September 9, 2022.
