BARBARIAN

Name: BARBARIAN
Item: BARBARIAN
Author: Gaby Gaduh

"Gruesome, Hopeless Horror"

Family Content: -4 Intentional blasphemy, evil, gross immorality, and/or worldview problems. (To be avoided)

Entertainment Quality:

	None	Light	Moderate	Heavy
Language
Violence
Sex
Nudity

Credits →

What You Need To Know:

BARBARIAN is a strange horror thriller about horrific secrets hidden in the basement of an Airbnb. Tess discovers that the Airbnb she rented is already taken by a man named Keith. The two agree to share it for one night. The night is awkward, and the two strangers don’t trust each other, but Tess makes it to morning without any danger. In the morning, Tess wanders into the basement, where she finds a secret room with evidence of evil. When Keith goes to investigate, they realize the dark secrets of the house go much deeper than they could have ever imagined.

BARBARIAN is a well-produced but bizarre horror movie marred by excessive gore, strong foul language, and disturbing images. The worldview presents a hopeless outlook on life, with no examples of good and an empty ending that leaves audiences only with the shock and awe of extreme violence and thrilling moments. There is brief commentary on how America lets an entire city fall into disrepair. The hopeless worldview in BARBARIAN, coupled with the movie’s graphic, disturbing content, is abhorrent and excessive.

Content:

(PaPaPa, LLL, VVV, S, NN, AA, MM):

Dominant Worldview and Other Worldview Content/Elements:

Very strong pagan worldview stresses evil above good and leaves viewers with a hopeless story that lacks any substance aside from its disturbing content

Foul Language:

At least 27 obscenities (including many “f” words), several strong profanities and several light profanities, plus a character vomits after getting drunk

Violence:

Not only is the violence pervasive, it’s also intensely gory, such as character bashes another character’s head against a wall until they’re unrecognizable, tapes are found that indicate the torture of women and other acts of sexual violence towards women like rape, the “Monster” in the movie gouges character’s eyes and rips skull apart and rips arm off, plus one character is shot, another character shoots themselves in the head off-screen, and intense atmosphere with lots of jump scares and peril

Sex:

No depicted sex, but there are discussions surrounding sex, always in a violent context

Nudity:

“The Monster” appears to be a nude woman throughout the movie, it is later revealed that the nudity is a latex costume, but the costume is still explicit Alcohol Use/Abuse: Characters visit a bar and get drunk

Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse:

No smoking or drugs; and,

Miscellaneous Immorality:

Aside from its obvious excessiveness in violence and gore, the real concern comes from the movie’s overall lack of hope, goodness or virtue of any kind.

More Detail:

BARBARIAN is a new horror thriller that stars Bill Skarsgård, known for his role in IT, and Georgina Campbell, known for the controversial series BLACK MIRROR. The story follows a woman and a man who separately rent an Airbnb in an impoverished Detroit neighborhood, then discover a secret room in the basement, whereupon a horrific truth of the house begins to unveil itself to the unlikely duo. BARBARIAN is a well-produced but bizarre thriller marred by excessive gore, strong foul language, disturbing images, and an empty, hopeless ending.

A young woman named Tess rents out an Airbnb in a rundown area of Detroit. Upon arriving at the Airbnb, Tess can’t find the key to let her inside. She soon discovers that whoever owns the Airbnb double booked the space, but Keith, the current resident, allows her to spend the night.

The night is awkward, and the two strangers don’t trust each other, but Tess makes it to morning without any danger. However, while she’s looking for the bathroom, Tess gets stuck in the house’s basement. While there, Tess discovers that the basement is not the bottom floor of the house, but that it goes deeper.

Upon some brief investigation, Tess is appalled to find that the hidden room appears to have been a place of torture and evil. Keith goes down to investigate with Tess but is separated from her. As the two discover the darkest depths of the house, they discover they aren’t alone and the house’s horrors seem to be endless.

BARBARIAN is a bizarre, well-produced horror movie marred by excessive gore, strong foul language, and disturbing images. The worldview presents a hopeless outlook on life, with no examples of good and an empty ending that leaves audiences only with the shock and awe of extreme violence and thrilling moments. There is brief commentary on how America lets an entire city fall into disrepair. Due to its immoral content and hopeless worldview, MOVIEGUIDE® deems BARBARIAN as excessive and abhorrent.