Scott’s Rating:
I’m generally not one for trends, so typically when I’m implored to check something out my response is usually indifference bordering on contempt. Sometimes, however, the mood strikes just right and in the case of Barbarian, I’m rewarded for my efforts. I went into this fully blind- no trailer, no TV spot, nothing. Just a title and the curious timing of several friends from both coasts texting me within hours of each other, apropos of nothing, to tell me they thought I’d enjoy it.
I’m glad for the movie’s sake that I saw it in theaters. For one thing, the atmosphere of a darkened space with surround sound will heighten most things, let alone a horror movie. For another, it’s probably the best-case scenario for a story that otherwise would have withered in the solitude of my own living room. As the premise goes, a woman books an Airbnb only to discover there’s more to it than a simple overnight stay. Where it goes from there is an entertaining, if not always scary, sendup of genre tropes that benefits greatly from a reactive audience.
Writer/director Zach Cregger, of The Whitest Kids U Know comedy series, brings much irreverence and a curious dose of disillusionment to his take on the many groan-inducing bad decisions so often found in these types of films. By playing on attitudes that one could assume of a modern audience, he subverts expectations to curry sympathy for his characters’ questionable choices. It’s a lowkey brilliant ploy, forcing laughs instead of groans as the characters continue to subject themselves to obvious peril rather than escape to safety (as the theater guffawed at the old “why is she going into the basement!” routine, there was equal parts frustration and amusement in the room). It likewise functions well in coloring several would-be saviors with enough justifiable disinterest to keep the plot ambulatory after its momentum gives out. The intersection of sketch comedy and horror ethos also makes for a curious sense of structure as the story bounces suddenly between perspectives. This ping-ponging is slightly jarring, but also provides flashes of noteworthy craft; with each refrain, Cregger is wise to tighten his gait and the resulting emphasis on visual storytelling elegantly and effectively telegraphs beats with a bare minimum of dialogue.
Modest in scale and design, it remains comfortable with its lot as a little-movie-that-could and makes good use of the few elaborate bits of production design it boasts. In the end, its best attributes are all in the script. Aside from those qualities and a few choice bits of performance from the cast, it’s hardly a groundbreaking film that I doubt will grow to reveal any profound universalities. But it’s one that quite successfully makes for a good time at the movies, providing that you know the bare minimum of what you’re walking into.
