Director and writer Zach Creggor kept Barbarian as mysterious as the plot, having no one knowing what to expect. Whether you saw a trailer, promotional art, or heard it from a friend; no one knew what this movie was even about. Not until you saw it for yourself. 

The constant on-edge feeling this movie brings is significant. Not knowing what kind of situation would arise. Demons? Vampires? Cannibals? None of that is revealed until the end, finally explaining what has been pursuing our protagonist. And trust me, it’s a lot worse than what I ever could have expected.

Creggor took a different approach with this story. He introduces a final character, and a whole other part to the story halfway through the movie, leaving us with so many questions until they’re cryptically explained later in the movie. You can feel he had a very specific way he wanted to tell this twisted story.

The movie opens up with tormented screaming, unfamiliar to the watchers, but eventually understood. The main character is renting an Airbnb, where she finds someone already staying the night in. Traumatizing events lead them into the basement, with a secret tunnel. Creeping them closer to their first encounter with the movie’s “monster,” named The Mother.

The Mother is played by Matthew Patrick Davis, in complete special effects make-up. A 7-foot deformed woman, with deadly intentions. Finding out what made her that way was unsettling. It was definitely unexpected, leaving me rethinking the whole movie now with that background. 

Barbarian was suspenseful, eerie and, honestly, discomforting. But that’s what makes a good horror movie. It had the sense of a classic horror, a stranger in a random house, with a creepy basement. But this story takes you in so many directions that you couldn’t guess, making it a must-see horror.