LM23 Rating: See it. The unknown is the highest standard of scary
I’ve been watching scary movies since I was too young to understand what it was I was watching. I didn’t understand what a theatrical release was versus a direct to video release. For me and my siblings, if the movie cover at the rental store was scary looking, we were totally renting it.
There’s not a lot of scary movies that actually scare me. I’m pretty much immune to zombies, vampires, random monsters, Jason, Freddy, Michael, et al….Any scary movie that has a physical, tangible monster is not considered a true scary movie to me. But the unknown? The paranormal, metaphysical, TBD? YES! Those are the only real scary movies. At least for me. No shade or shame for anyone who disagrees.
After the huge let down of Nope, I was hoping a small film with no big names and budgets like a Barbarian would help me get back on the scary movie track. I have to admit, the movie title bothers me. When I think of the word “barbarian”, I’m thinking it’s a period action movie with guys with muscles and grunts. I don’t immediately think it’s something scary.
But after watching the movie, I understand why Barbarian is a fitting title.
You'll never guess what exactly is supposed to scare you until it does
Barbarian has been getting raves because of how mysterious of a movie it is. None of the clips shown in the trailers gives you a hint of what it’s really about and what’s going to happen. For any scary movie, the longer you can keep the audience guessing at what exactly is happening and where and what the bad guy is, the better. With Barbarian, you don’t know if it’s a monster or something supernatural that’s going to be the antagonist.
The movie spends a very long time dragging out this mystery. But in a very effective way. You got the lack of lighting in the cinematography. The lack of 100 watt lightbulbs seems to always be a given in scary movies. Every house in a scary movie doesn’t have enough lighting. And if there is electricity, the owners are cheap or have sensitive eyes because the lighting is never bright enough to see anything.
The creepy but cozy seeming house on 467 Barbary Street (points for the clever street name!) has lighting that probably doesn’t go above 40 watts. This lack of lighting is very frustrating for me. I hate dimly lit rooms. If a light bulb is burnt out, I immediately replace it with a 100 watt backup. All flashlights and light sources I own are always fully charged with extra batteries and bulbs neatly stored in clear plastic containers.
But it’s this lack of lighting that subtly swindles the doomed Airbnb guest. Tess Marshall has arrived in Detroit in her newer model SUV and is ready to crash for the evening before her big job interview. Things are off to an inauspicious start when the security code to unlock the house key is not working. Things get even hairier when what appears to be another house guest is already in the house. The tall, awkward guy is named Keith and his overly good manners come off just a tad suspicious to Tess.
Every woman can understand Tess and her fears
Every woman is always on high alert whenever they leave the house. Heck even in the house, you’re always on alert. Whenever I stayed in a hotel or someplace by myself, I always put a suitcase and chair at the door of the room and had my phone and something that could be a weapon by my bedside. And in this case, Tess is on super high alert. Despite wanting to find a hotel to stay in and just leave, Keith is insistent that she stick around since it’s raining outside and it’s not exactly a nice neighborhood.
Tess follows the unspoken rules of safety for girls when she declines the offer of tea and wine. Even when Keith assures her that nothing was done to the beverages and she can even watch him make the drinks in front of her.
At this point, my safety bells are all ringing in my head. And all I can think of is just drive to the nearest police station, airport, downtown hotel, hospital, 24/7 McDonald’s, etc. and just stay put for the next several hours. She drove to the house with no issue, so it should be okay to drive to the next landmark okay.
But of course, this is a movie and we’re going to have to check into 467 Barbary. And we’re going to find out what the heck is going on in this house.
The creepy scariness continues but it’s not necessarily the house or even whatever ghost or monster is hiding in the house. It’s just the unknown sounds and things in the house that are creepy. For anyone checking into a hotel room or even a friend’s place that they haven’t been to, everything just seems scary because it’s unknown.
The movie spends a significant time taking us down different roads of fear. We’re with Tess and experiencing her fears for the majority of the first part of the movie. And ironically it’s not a supernatural fear, but just a regular fear of the unknown. We don’t know Keith. And we definitely don’t know what the heck neighborhood the house is in.
The morning light reveals what was hiding in the darkness
When Tess wakes up the next day and rushes out the door to get to her interview, the sunlight exposes the real vibe of the neighborhood her rental is in. Except for 647, all of the houses appear to be abandoned and run down. I’ve seen neighborhoods or streets like this when we took a day trip to Niagara Falls. I don’t know what streets the bus was going down, but I recall this long stretch where I thought we were going through a part of town where scary things probably happen at night. I was horrified at how all of the houses looked like they had been on fire at one point and none of them looked like anything living lived in them.
The houses on Barbary Street looked just like those houses on the way to Niagara Falls. And I’m certain with economic downturns throughout the years, there’s probably many neighborhoods or streets where people couldn’t afford to maintain them or it was just cheaper to abandon them and start over somewhere else.
What’s unique about Barbarian is unlike a lot of scary movies, we’re often stuck in one house or one neighborhood. There’s no feeling of it being present of today with hustle and bustle. It was such a relief in the mood of the film when Tess actually has her job interview with a real person living in the real world. It’s also of note that the woman who interviews Tess is one of the very few in the entire film who warns her of being careful of where she’s staying out.
If Keith isn't the monster, then who is?
And that leads to the overall message of Barbarian and perhaps the meaning behind the title. At one point when Tess is getting to know Keith over wine, they talk about women and men and relationships. Keith even mentions how he’s “not a monster” and that made me sit up on my seat. This statement is part of the overall theme of the movie.
When Tess returns from her interview and makes the fatal mistake that so many characters in scary movies make. The toilet paper has run out, so she rummages throughout the house and finds some downstairs. The door to the basement area of course locks on itself. Rather than staying put or breaking the window to get out, she of course needs to see what else is beyond a hidden door that is opened with a thin piece of rope.
Lucky for Tess, Keith arrives back from wherever he went and gets Tess out of the basement. But Tess is hysterical and freaked out and insists they both need to get out of the house right away as there’s a creepy room downstairs with a bed, bucket and a video camera.
The film slips just a little in its consistency
Here is where the film feels a bit forced and fake in terms of how the characters would act. Keith the day before was very sympathetic and sensitive towards Tess, but now he’s all acting like a typical guy who is doing the whole it’s not me, but you thing with Tess. He does everything he can to stop her from leaving the house and he’s definitely not being scared out of the house.
This is too much of a sudden change in character for Keith. Keith is just there because he’s scoping out new studio space for his band or whatever, and it’s not like he’s attached to the house. If Tess says there’s something bad going on, why wouldn’t he listen to her? Why would he suddenly now be acting like an arrogant male who doesn’t want to believe the house is hiding a deep dark secret? And why the hell would Keith need to go downstairs to see for himself?
This was probably the weakest part of the film. But it also revealed what the real meaning behind the film is. Keith of course gets into trouble, but Tess is a typical female in that we’re loyal and are more likely to work as a team than as an individual. Despite not being able to get help, Tess goes looking for Keith.
The monster is revealed and the film switches gears
And then we see what has been lurking in the house the entire time. A naked zombie thing jumps out of the darkness and bashes Keith’s head. We don’t know what happens to Tess as the screen goes dark and we’re now in California.
This switch in gears doesn’t hurt the movie at all. Instead, we’re about to discover how everything is connected and what the origins of the zombie thing is. Justin Long shows up as some Hollywood actor name AJ. He’s cocky and easygoing that is until he’s told by his agents that an actress in the pilot he’s going to be in has threatened charges of rape. This accusation leads to AJ losing his acting income for a while and so he flies back to one of his Michigan properties (guess which house he owns) to see if he can monetize it further.
AJ enters the house with swagger and confidence or completely the opposite of Tess. Tess was very reticent, careful, and quiet. Even though the house belongs to AJ, it’s still somewhat unknown to him as he hasn’t lived in it for a while. But that doesn’t stop him from marking his territory in each space. And he’s loud and fearless when he sees things that don’t make sense.
Is the monster the true monster of the film?
And this is the heart of Barbarian. It’s a scary movie with a monster in it. But who really is the monster? As Keith said, he’s not a monster. But for a lot of women, and from their experiences and perspectives, men like Keith and now AJ, are the monster. Keith didn’t listen and believe Tess and the way he blocked her from leaving, that was very monster-like. He’s not Freddy Kreuger or anything, but his actions led to his death and Tess being taken.
And now we have AJ who appears to have sexually assaulted a fellow actor and he’s not remorseful or even sees what he did as being monster-like. Instead, he’s certain the actress wanted whatever he did and he’s angry that she got him fired. But of his top concern is being able to afford his lifestyle.
There’s a very hilarious part where AJ, oblivious to the fact that we’re in a scary movie here, takes a measuring tape and starts measuring the additional space he found in the basement. The more square footage means more money for the house. Never mind that this is the same basement where scary things are happening and hiding.
When AJ gets the sense that someone is down there, he preps himself to confront whatever it is by getting his shoes on, a flashlight, and a knife. It’s again so very different from how Tess approached the same situation earlier. AJ comes across Tess who tries to calm AJ down by telling him to take the milk.
The monster is trying to feed Tess and AJ a bottle of milk and only Tess submits. But AJ isn’t having it. AJ is acting like an arrogant male and not wanting to listen and definitely not wanting to submit.
Tess again finds herself being able to escape the house, but against better judgment, she still wants to be a team player and not leave a man behind. Even if the man is unknown to her and we soon find out is quite the jerk.
The true origins of 647 Barbary
We later find out the origins of 647 Barbary as we go back in time to the 80’s when the entire street was well manicured and everyone knew each other. It turns out that the house was owned by a serial killer and rapist named Frank. Frank had children with the women he raped and the children had children. The incest produced the daughter/monster who seems to want to be a mother to the house guests.
As Tess is pleading in vain with some cops for help, AJ comes across a decrepit looking Frank and videos with names on them. AJ plays one of the videos and is disgusted at what Frank has done. AJ is an asshole guy, but he’s not that that kind of an asshole like Frank.
Frank kills himself with a gun which AJ then takes for protection. After the police leave, Tess comes across the monster which she hits at full speed in her car. Rather than escaping to safety, Tess goes back into the house to get AJ.
AJ of course accidentally shoots Tess with the gun. But AJ at least picks Tess up and they both leave the house. Tess notices that the zombie daughter of Frank, who she just hit with her car, is no longer there. They both keep going as Tess says she knows where they can go for help. A homeless man who earlier in the movie tried to tell Tess to get out of there is the same man who can offer them some safety.
The title of barbarian is a toss up
The zombie daughter finds them and kills the homeless man. Now is where we see how the two characters perceive each other. Tess was the team player and willing to sacrifice her safety so they all could be safe. A very typical stereotypical female trait. But AJ runs off on his own, leaving Tess to fend for herself. When it becomes clear they’re boxed in by the monster, AJ sacrifices Tess rather than teaming up with her. This is a very typical, stereotypical male trait.
The ending isn’t what you would expect. The monster is a monster, yes. But funny how the monster jumps over the building to try to save Tess, when AJ tosses her over the railing. We didn’t see AJ do anything to save Tess. The monster actually cushioned Tess’s fall and she is still alive. AJ is relieved Tess is alive and tries to explain why he did what he did. It sounds sincere, but we all probably know he’s only saying this as he doesn’t want any repercussions from what he just did. But at the same time, we can probably understand why. They’re strangers after all and he has no obligation towards Tess.
The real monster or what we think this scary movie considers to be the real monster, then kills AJ in a very horrendous way. But she doesn’t hurt Tess. Instead, she’s mourning the fact that Tess is injured and just wants to bring her back to the house. At this moment, maybe the monster isn’t a monster. She’s scary looking, yes, but she only acted in a way when she was provoked. She's also the product of what a man has done. Tess is not a threat to her, so she isn’t hurting Tess. But Tess isn’t going back to the house and so she shoots the monster.
When it was revealed that it was a monster of some sorts lurking in the basement, I already wasn’t that scared anymore. However, the twist of how the monster came to be and the maybe ambiguous title of who is and what constitutes a real monster is very clever.
I’m split in terms of how I feel about scary movies having a more deeper meaning behind the scariness. I lean more towards scary moves like The Conjuring where it’s a straight up scary movie, but with no social or higher brow commentary. At the same time, I have no issue with Barbarian exploring the true meaning behind barbarian. And in this case, the barbarian can be men like Frank and AJ or it can be the monster daughter of Frank.
See Barbarian if you can. Go in with an open mind and really think about the different approaches in how the males and females reacted and acted in their situations. Is it how you would act if you consider yourself one or the other? Or would you be like me and just check into the closest 4 star hotel or go straight to the airport?
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