The average person has no idea who Zach Cregger is, but those of us who do likely have fond memories of The Whitest Kids You Know, a sketch comedy show that he helped create and was a part of for all five seasons. We will also sit back and reflect on what horrible people we are for finding the offensive jokes in the show as funny as we do. While he has done some movie work since then, Barbarian is his first outing as both writer and director, and it’s quite clear that his talent lies in comedy and not horror.
Tess Marshall (Georgina Campbell) has travelled to Detroit for a few days for a job interview and reserved an Airbnb for the trip. She arrives at the house and learns that it was double booked as the shy and somewhat off-putting Keith Toshko (Bill Skarsgard) has already settled in for the night. With all the nearby hotels full for a convention, the two decide to share the house for the brief time they will be there. Alone the next day, Tess wanders into the basement and discovers a secret passageway to an obvious murder room, and when Keith returns, she proposes they leave immediately. He insists they explore further into the passageways beneath the house, and the two discover a living nightmare that could trap them forever.
While I have a lot of complaints about this film, I do want to highlight what it did well. First off, the actors are fantastic. Georgina Campbell, Bill Skarsgard – and later, Justin Long – are absolutely perfect for their roles, and while their characters are tropes, they nail them. Nothing in this movie will stand the test of time, but their performances are almost worth the price of admission.
The way it plays with darkness and fear of the unknown also adds to the dread and uneasiness that pervade it. In that aspect, Barbarian is reminiscent of Dario Argento’s Suspiria, and while it comes nowhere close to that classic, the tension built using these techniques is a fitting homage.
The problem is that this is nothing new and almost seems like they’re checking off boxes instead of even trying to be original. Investigating a strange noise in the basement? That works! Escaping the house and then going back to save someone because you’re a good person? You got it! Throwing in a random, brief flashback to the 80s for no reason other than to kind of explain how we got here? Let’s do it! It’s not bad, but it’s not nearly as edgy as it thinks it is.
Like a lot of horror, it’s also a message film, but it’s not content to let its point subtly sink in as it constantly bashes you on the head and screams how important it is. And the themes are important! Gaslighting, ignoring women’s experiences, toxic masculinity, and racial inequality are things that continue to need to be addressed, but this is just too heavy handed. Anyone who has seen Get Out knows exactly what Jordan Peele was trying to get across, and he did it wonderfully. Cregger probably should have watched that a few more times while he was writing Barbarian.
For a directorial debut, this isn’t a complete loss, and there are a lot of moments that make it worth watching (including a few hilarious and over-the-top moments of violence that would even impress Troma). If Cregger learns from this and develops as a writer/director, I’m interested to see what he will do next. Until then, wait until this hits streaming, revisit The Whitest Kids You Know, and continue to be ashamed of yourself for how hard it makes you laugh.