Barbarian review: A twisty horror movie that goes beyond its well-kept secrets

horror film savage It is best approached by an audience that knows as little about it as possible. movie trailer Encourage this to the extent that it may turn off some viewers. It divulges very little beyond the film’s initial setting. But the real test of a well-constructed film is when there are no surprises left. At the end of the 102-minute screening time when the secret is revealed, savage We still have a lot to offer. And part of it is what viewers are scared of, beyond the first ominous portrait of the silent horrors that lurk inside a house when two strangers are forced to be together on a dark and stormy night. It is

Written and directed by Zach Cregger (formerly of sketch comedy group The Whitest Kids U’ Know) savage Easy enough to get started. Tess Marshall (Georgina Campbell) arrives at her Airbnb in the Detroit suburbs to find it’s been double-booked and a man named Keith (Bill Skarsgard) is already staying there. With no other options readily available and stuck in a storm with an important job interview in the morning, Tess makes the risky decision to stay the night.

[Ed note: While this review preserves most of the movie’s surprises, some minor setup spoilers follow.]

Tess is the great protagonist of modern horror movies. She’s discerning, but she’s not naive, she’s a cautious but kind young lady who just wants to get a good job and return to where she came from. Her bad decisions — the kind all horror protagonists have to make, from staying in her house to exploring its depths — are mostly her kindness and wanting the best about others. arises out of desire.

Keith, to his credit, knows what all this looks like. He is savvy enough to know that Tess has no reason to trust him and every reason to expect the worst. But there’s nothing he can really do. The weight and history of too many women threatened by too many men weighs and overshadows this situation. savage as a whole. Keith is constantly trying to reassure Tess, but she and her audience can’t really trust him. (Even if Skarsgard without makeup makes him unrecognizable as the guy who recently played Pennywise) this The movie, the unsettling energy is still there and put to good use.

Here is savage It begins: As a suspenseful tale of two strangers forced to weather a storm together, from the perspective of a woman who must constantly worry if the man she shares her home with is dangerous. Told. Even a modern Airbnb spin, this is classic horror movie stuff, enough to support a quick and dirty exploitation movie. It serves as a lean and surprising film with effective thrills while also giving viewers plenty to ponder later.

No filmmaker makes decisions lightly, but every creative choice savage It’s remarkably well-tuned in a way that rewards up close viewing without detracting from a more casual, thrill-seeking experience. Given the reason — to the sharing economy snafu that gives the film its initial premise, there’s a methodical execution of setting and subversion subtle enough to stray away from what viewers might expect. not. savage It ends in a completely different place than it started.

Photo: 20th Century Studios

That’s the film’s greatest strength. savage It’s a film less about the big reveal and more about recontextualizing what you see on screen. Its script never draws attention to its dynamics, but it constantly plays with the audience’s empathy. Is Tess in danger from Keith? Are they both in danger from home? If so, whose fault is it? Does it matter if you think they are good people? Is your gender-based worldview distorting your perceptions?

savage‘s visual simplicity gives the mind the freedom to wander. His Airbnb house with Tess and Keith is dingy and dim. With a little grace and imagination, a house wouldn’t be so bad, but why would anyone watching a horror movie be so graceful? All the more so when the familiar iconography is hidden even in the seemingly empty room.

These are familiar images, savage Use them as speculative fuel to fill your first viewing with terror and direct more viewing around your character. Tess, Keith, and a few others they encounter are typical figures, but no blank slate in a nondescript nightmare city. They were the ones who came to Detroit for a reason, and the latter half of the 20th century was headed for decline as the city’s history and its abandonment by a wealthy white community that could no longer shape its idyllic middle-class vision. I’m here. — is an unspoken weight on the film and its horror. Like Skarsgard and Campbell, who deftly convey the quiet shifts in scene energy with minimal facial expressions, Kröger’s camera reminds the viewer that: savageA setting with small and careful shifts, gesturing the whole place with careful consideration of narrow slices.

Here is savage transcend its secrets. A twisty story is hard to adjust. Goose hopes may be high when he’s in the movie one or more hard he left he knows his turn is coming. This is often rooted in what a particular audience wants rather than the storyteller’s ultimate goal. savageLuckily, the shift is more subtle and frightening. As the film sinks deeper into the house of beginnings, its best trick is one of the oldest in cinema. Kregger makes sure that your biggest fears are in your head and that you may learn where your sympathies ultimately lie.

savage Debuts in theaters on September 9th.