Review of Barbarian (2022) by Moviemitch96 — 10 Sep 2022

This horror flick sees a young woman (Georgina Campbell) renting an Airbnb, only to discover that it has mysteriously been double booked and another man (Bill Skarsgard) is already there renting it as well.

Soon she discovers a hidden door in the basement where she makes a horrifying discovery and becomes trapped. I didn't have many expectations for this one, what would this being the kind of film that I don't normally get too excited for, several positive reviews it received didn't quite sell me on this one, but I decided to check it out nevertheless.

And while I will say that it does have a genuinely frightening atmosphere to it throughout most of the film, along with some tense moments (particularly in the first half), and the performances from Campbell, Skarsgard, and even Justin Long (who doesn't show up till about halfway through) are all sufficient enough, in the end, it's still mostly felt like just another creepy basement/tunnel thriller to me.

There was nothing too extraordinary to set it apart from other similarly-themed films within the subgenre. Even falling back on an old trick or two (such as shrinking the aspect ratio for a brief period flashback sequence 3/4 of the way through the film) didn't do much to help make things feel any fresher or unique, instead just making the film's editing and pacing feel disjointed.

The drawn-out final act also left me feeling a little underwhelmed when all was said and done. So overall, though it starts out tense, eerie and atmospheric, and offers some great scared as hell performances from its three main stars, it all quickly starts to feel more and more generic and all over the place by the second half and especially the last quarter or so of the film.