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Barbarian (2022 film)

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Wikipedia article




'Barbarian' is a 2022 American horror film written and directed by Zach Cregger. It stars Georgina Campbell, Bill Skarsgrd, and Justin Long. Arnon Milchan, Roy Lee, Raphael Margules, and J.D. Lifshitz serve as producers on the film. The film follows a young woman who finds out the home she rented has a dark secret.

'Barbarian' premiered at San Diego Comic-Con on July 22, 2022, and was theatrically released in the United States on September 9, 2022, by 20th Century Studios. The film received positive reviews from critics.

Plot



Tess Marshall books a remote home in a rundown neighborhood while staying in Detroit for a job interview. She is surprised to find the property is already occupied by a young man named Keith who rented the property through a different app. With a storm raging outside and no hotel vacancies, Tess finds herself with no option but to spend the night in the house with Keith. Initially, Tess is unnerved by Keith's awkward and strange behavior, but she eventually warms up to him. That night, Tess notices her bedroom door has been opened and hears someone moving around the house. She then hears Keith making sounds in his sleep, so she goes to wake him. After another awkward encounter, Tess goes back to her room and falls asleep.

The next morning, Tess awakens to find that Keith has left the house for the day. She goes to her job interview and is warned that the neighborhood she is staying in is unsafe. Upon returning to the rental, she is chased inside by a homeless man who demands she leave the house. Needing to use the restroom, Tess searches the residence for a roll of toilet paper. She ventures into the basement and accidentally locks herself inside. She searches for a way out and stumbles across a hidden door in the basement, leading to a secret corridor. In the corridor, Tess finds evidence that someone was held captive and filmed. Tess flees the basement, being freed from the basement by Keith, upon his return to the residence. When she tells Keith what she has seen, he ventures down to the basement to investigate. When Keith doesn't return, Tess goes back down after him and discovers another subterranean tunnel leading further under the house. Following Keith's screams, Tess finds him claiming that there is someone in the tunnel and that they bit him. As Tess panics, a large, naked, deformed female suddenly attacks the pair and brutally kills Keith, repeatedly smashing his head into the walls of the tunnel.

Two weeks later, sitcom actor AJ learns he has been fired from his show due to rape allegations by a co-star. Pressured to sell his assets to pay for his legal costs, AJ travels to one of his rental properties in Detroit he plans to sell, which is revealed to be the same house where Tess and Keith were staying. He finds their belongings still in the house. Assuming the residence has attracted squatters, he searches for them to no avail. He then goes out drinking with a friend, where he unconvincingly explains that his co-star consented to have sex with him.

Upon drunkenly returning back to the house, AJ inspects the basement and discovers the hidden door and tunnel. He finds a room containing a television playing a video about breastfeeding newborn children before being chased by the deformed woman. Fleeing, he falls into a pit alongside a still-alive Tess. Tess tells AJ to stay calm and that the woman in the tunnels (referred to as "The Mother") wants them to act as her children. The Mother forces Tess to drink milk from a bottle and tends to her. When AJ refuses, The Mother drags him away to the TV room and forces him to breastfeed. Tess takes the opportunity to flee the basement and narrowly escapes the house with the help of Andre, the homeless man she was chased by earlier. Andre warns her to leave the neighborhood before it gets dark, as The Mother goes out hunting at night, and berates her for wanting to go back into the house to save AJ. Tess attempts to explain the situation to a pair of incredulous policemen.

A flashback to the 1980s shows the house's original owner, Frank, stalked and abducted young women and held them captive in the tunnels, raping them and raising the subsequent children.

While attempting to escape, AJ finds a room that The Mother is seemingly scared of. Inside, AJ finds a vegetative Frank as well as dozens of videotapes of Frank raping different women. AJ unintentionally gives Frank access to a gun, which Frank uses to kill himself. Taking the gun, AJ ventures back into the tunnels. Night falls, and The Mother leaves the house to hunt down Tess. Tess, waiting in her car for The Mother to leave the house, runs her over, pinning her to the house and seemingly killing her. Tess returns to the basement tunnel to find AJ, only to be accidentally shot by him in the darkness. The two escape the house with Frank's gun in tow.

Upon exiting the residence, they find The Mother has freed herself from the car. Andre finds the pair and explains that The Mother is a product of decades of rape and incest. The Mother ambushes the group and violently kills Andre before chasing Tess and AJ up a water tower. With no way to escape, AJ pushes Tess off the tower to distract The Mother. The Mother jumps off after Tess, shielding her from the fall. As AJ attempts to apologize to a gravely-wounded Tess, The Mother regains consciousness and kills him by gouging his eyes out. She attempts to bring Tess back to the house and nurse her, but Tess shoots her in the head with Frank's gun. With The Mother finally dead, Tess stumbles away, bloody and traumatized.

Cast



*Georgina Campbell as Tess Marshall, a woman staying in Detroit for an interview.

*Bill Skarsgrd as Keith Toshko, a man who double booked an Airbnb with Tess.

*Justin Long as AJ Gilbride

*Matthew Patrick Davis as The Mother

*Richard Brake as Frank

*Kurt Braunohler as Doug

*Jaymes Butler as Andre

*J.R. Esposito as Jeff

*Kate Bosworth as Melisa

*Sophie Srensen as Bonnie Zane

*Brooke Dillman as AJ's Mom

*Sara Paxton as Nursing Video Narration/Assistant/Megan

*Will Greenberg as Robert

*Derek Morse as Officer 1

*Trevor Van Uden as Officer 2

*Zach Cregger as Everett

*Kalina Stancheva as Young Woman

*Devina Vassileva as Property Manager Assistant

Development



Zach Cregger was inspired by the non-fiction book The Gift of Fear, citing a section that encourages women to trust their intuition and not ignore the subconscious red flags that arise in their day-to-day interactions with men. He sat down to write a single 30-page scene that would incorporate as many of these red flags as possible. Cregger settled on a woman showing up to an Airbnb late at night only to find that it had been double booked as the ideal set-up for this exercise.

He became frustrated during the writing process, fearing the direction of the story was too predictable. So Cregger, with no forethought, decided to introduce a twist that would flip [the scene] on its head.

I just wanted to write a fun scene for myself and it ended up being something that hooked me, and I didnt know where it was going, and then it turned into a feature film.

Release



'Barbarian' was originally scheduled to be theatrically released in the United States by 20th Century Studios and New Regency on August 12, 2022, before being rescheduled to be released on August 31, 2022, and later September 9, 2022. CinemaBlend and AMC Theatres premiered the film at the 2022 San Diego Comic-Con on July 22, where it garnered positive reactions. The film was also screened at the Arrow Video FrightFest on August 29.

Marketing

The first trailer for the film was released online on June 24, 2022, and appeared at the front of theatrical screenings of 'The Black Phone'.

Reception



Box office

In the United States and Canada, 'Barbarian' was released alongside 'Brahmstra: Part One Shiva' and 'Lifemark', and made $3.9 million from 2,340 theaters on its first day, including $850,000 from Thursday night previews. It went on to debut to $10 million, topping the box office; 59% of the audience was male, with 74% being between 18-34. The film made $6.3 million in its second weekend, finishing behind newcomer 'The Woman King'. 'Deadline Hollywood' called the 40% week-to-week drop "pretty spectacular", noting horror films typically see a 65% decline in their sophomore frames.

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 93% based on 115 reviews, with an average rating of 7.5/10. The site's consensus states: "Smart, darkly humorous and above all scary, 'Barbarian' offers a chilling and consistently unpredictable thrill ride for horror fans." Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 79 out of 100, based on 26 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews." Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C+" on an A+ to F scale, while those at PostTrak gave the film a 70% overall positive score, with 54% saying they would definitely recommend it.

References




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