Barbarian now on digital

Barbarian now on digital from 20th Century Studios and New Regency. This film is intense, creepy, and mind warping. The funny part is that it totally has a Hallmark film premise had it been set in a quaint town during the Fall season instead of a rainy night in seedy Detroit.

Film Synopsis Arriving in Detroit for a job interview, a young woman books a rental home. But when she arrives late at night, she discovers that the house is double booked and a strange man is already staying there. Against her better judgement, she decides to spend the evening, but soon discovers that there’s a lot more to fear than just an unexpected house guest.

Commentary: The first 20-minutes is one of those guy (Keith) meets girl (Tess) due to a random over booking of an Airbnb situations. They are both young, cute, and with similar interests. The neighborhood is totally sketch which adds to the scare factor. Tess (Georgina Campbell) is a strong independent woman but I am not sure she was given decent parental advise. She makes some of the worst decisions when it comes to safety.

Keith (Bill Skarsgard) is awkward and it is hard to know if you can fully trust him. Tess shouldn’t, but we as viewers have the ability to watch and decide from a distance. He is a tad too nice, and a bit too assuming. When they discover a freaky underground room in the basement all bets are off as to who will survive. The film plays well to our paranoia, claustrophobia, and fear of horrifying situations.

We see in the credits that the film also stars Justin Long. So where does he fit in to all of this? We meet his character AJ about a third of the way through, and initially we have no idea how he fits into what we just witnessed – which was the second craziest scene in the film. AJ has major, self induced problems of his own. Also, it is very easy to not like AJ even though he brings a lot of humor to the story.

AJ ends up at the same bnb a few weeks after Tess and Keith. His character is about as clueless as they get. In fact he is so annoying and unlikable that you worry he is going to survive the whole ordeal.

Barbarian is a super fun film to watch with creative and well thought out scares. It is unpredictable which is appreciated in the genre. Though not wall to wall terrifying – there are a lot of conversations and set ups – when the freaky stuff hits it hits hard. #breastfeeding

BARBARIAN is rated R for some strong violence and gore, disturbing material, language throughout and nudity. This is an intense, adult thriller, and should be viewed by those over 18 regardless of actual maturity level.

Bonus Features*
Featurette

Behind Barbarian – Director Zach Cregger and the cast and crew discuss both the unique and familiar horror elements that make Barbarianterrifying and reveal the inspiration behind the horrific tale.

Deleted Scenes