Barbarian

What was that? :D I recommend not researching the film before watching it, because the number of twists is unexpected. The film is divided into three distinct chapters. The clear winner among them is definitely the first one... Combining a rundown house in a grim part of Detroit with Bill Skarsgård looks impressive even on paper. I thoroughly enjoyed the atmosphere in this segment. And the twist at the end hit me like a rag doll. Unfortunately, the pace doesn’t hold up. With the arrival of Justin Long, the film started to lose some of its appeal. It also tried to shock the audience in every possible way. I don’t want to sound biased, but towards the end, it veered more into slapstick territory. And the ending topped it all off. If it had maintained the pure horror aspect of the first third, I would have enjoyed it more. For me, it’s 6/10. (12/30/2022)

I can't deny the film's style, ideas and the great feeling of the unknown I had while watching it. Unfortunately, I have to criticize it for being terribly, terribly long, and the longer it gets, the more bloated and annoying it seems to me. And considering the way it's written, I think it would work much better as a series. At least for me. (10/28/2022)

Sometimes, you can tell within the first five minutes of a horror movie that, despite its seemingly classic slasher premise, there's something different about it. Barbarian is that kind of different — in the best way. It's visually refined, atmospheric, and incredibly suspenseful. Even when it inevitably veers into entertaining absurdity, it keeps you thoroughly engaged the whole time. This is exactly how I imagine a well-made modern horror film. (05/24/2024)

It’s a fine thing that Disney+ is debunking the myth of family VoD and premiering interesting horror movies. But Barbarian is overhyped. Screenwriter and director Zach Cregger enjoys playing with form and he respectably builds up the suspense associated with the unknown in the first third of the film. But the later uncovering of the mystery reveals the creative weakness of merely borrowing key elements from the groundbreaking works of the genre and slides into unintentional self-parody in the climax, while thinking it’s cool. This should have been made by an inventive butcher, ideally with European roots, who wasn’t afraid to exploit the potential of the terrifying content of the videotapes. (11/06/2022)

I find it a bit sad and perhaps unfair that audiences in recent years have given more favorable to horror films that subvert, satirise and mock genre tropes, rather than to some of the attempted serious and atmospheric horror films of the traditional cut, which at best end up with a 58% rating, but at the same time it cannot be denied that Barbarian works well in its subversion and surprise. (12/07/2022)