Barbarian 2022

I watched this after watching Resident Evil (2026), and I can see Zach Cregger’s DNA here. The tense atmosphere, humorous touch, and third person tracking shots that feel like a video game are all present. I think he is the best director for Resident Evil. Both films made my heart palpitate. The cinematography here is too dark, and I’m glad Resident Evil wasn’t. At first, it feels like a satire of the Airbnb system because those kinds of faults actually happen. But as we go along, the film becomes much deeper, literally and figuratively. What I liked most is that the film never settles for being just another scary house movie. It kept surprising me by expanding its ideas in ways I didn't expect, making the horror feel bigger than simple jump scares. I walked away feeling like this is one of the more memorable horror films I've seen in recent years because of how much there is to unpack beneath the surface. ⚠️ Spoilers ahead. From here on, plot details are discussed. Read on if you’ve seen the film. If not, save this post and come back after. ⚠️ When the homeless man, first warns Tess to stay away from the house, I instantly got Get Out (2017) vibes. The movie cleverly plays with our expectations by making us suspicious of the black man who’s acting strangely, when in reality, he’s the only person genuinely trying to help. It’s a great misdirection that preys on both the audience’s assumptions and the horror genre’s usual stereotypes. By the end, I realize he wasn’t the danger at all. He was the only one who knew what true evil was hiding beneath that house. The end of the first act instantly reminded me of that old Philippine urban legend about the Robinsons mall basement, where people used to say that a family member of the owner, a half snake, half human monster, lived underground and unsuspecting women would disappear in dressing rooms because the monster needed to be fed. It gave me that eerie feeling of wondering what could be hiding beneath places we think are safe. Barbarian reminded me so much of Don’t Breathe (2016), thematically and visually. The darkness and deep blacks reminded me of its cinematography. Thematically, both start by making me think the horror is just a man living in a house, only to reveal something far more disturbing hidden beneath it. They both explore the terrifying idea of women being imprisoned and forced into reproduction, but Barbarian takes it even further by showing the horrifying consequences of generations of incest and abuse. It also brought back memories of that old Philippine urban legend about monsters hidden beneath a Robinsons mall. I also couldn’t help but think of Parasite (2019). Both films use an ordinary house to hide an entire world beneath it. In Parasite, it’s a secret basement shelter hidden from the homeowners. In Barbarian, it’s a maze of tunnels concealing decades of unimaginable horror. That’s what makes it so unsettling. The house is a legitimate Airbnb owned by someone who has no idea what’s lurking underneath. It plays on the terrifying idea that evil can quietly exist beneath the places we consider normal and safe, completely unnoticed by generations of owners. The videotapes implied years of systematic abuse. Frank wasn’t acting on impulse. He meticulously documented his crimes, turning decades of kidnapping, rape, imprisonment, and forced reproduction into a horrifying routine. It reminded me of Obsession (2025), where the message felt like “men are trash,” but Barbarian explores that idea in a much more effective way. And even AJ, who spends much of the film trying to convince himself that he is not a terrible person, ultimately proves how quickly that morality disappears when his own survival is threatened. When he pushes Tess off the tower as a sacrifice to The Mother, it becomes another ugly example of a man treating a woman as disposable the moment she becomes useful to him. He may not be Frank, but that moment shows a smaller version of the same selfishness and entitlement the film has been criticizing all along. The real monster isn’t The Mother. She’s another victim. The true horror is the cycle of men exploiting women for their own needs, from Frank systematically destroying generations of lives to AJ sacrificing Tess just to save himself.