Barbarian

Did I see a different movie than everybody else? This movie has people slobbering all over it like it reinvented cinema, and, uh, I just don’t see it. The first half builds up suspense pretty well, but it goes completely off the rails in the second half as it leans on a bunch of stock bad guys to give the movie an antagonist. The atmosphere is cool, and the acting is well done, but the movie itself is really paint by numbers. I’m just not seeing why everybody is all “go in blind, it will blow you away”. I’ve seen everything this movie has to offer done in other movies. Not saying it doesn’t do what it does well, but it doesn’t do anything special either, certainly nothing to warrant the unending praise. The biggest problems are the decisions made by the characters and the sheer unoriginality of it all. With the former, characters not only make stupid decisions, they make GOOD decisions moments before changing their mind to make bad ones. And I know horror movies=characters making dumb decisions is a common equation, but when they literally see a dangerous situation, say "nope" and walk away, and then 30 seconds later do it anyway? No. That's just bad writing. There's a scene where a landlord discovers under his rental property is an underground series of tunnels, like mineshafts. Is he alarmed? Terrified? Nope, he's curious about the square footage. WTF BARBARIAN THIS IS NOT HOW ANYBODY WOULD ACT!!! ***SPOILERS AHEAD*** But the bigger sin is that this movie is unoriginal and does nothing new with the elements it borrows. It's basically The Hills Have Eyes, with a touch of 8MM, but in tunnels under a house in Detroit: an inbred, feral woman hunts people to be her "baby", and if they put up a fight, she kills them. How did she get down there? Psychopath who kidnapped and raped women in his dungeon, fathering babies and fathering babies with the babies. Even if you haven't seen HIlls or 8MM (or, for that matter, CHUD, or The People Under The Stairs, or a dozen other movies this cribs notes from), it's obvious where things are going. They do a good job building tension with great atmosphere and lighting, but the story itself is so standard issue, this might as well be called Generic Horror Movie #34,317. And the ending is beyond infuriating, as it not only asks for suspension of disbelief, but the suspension of the laws of gravity. Atmosphere and acting is all it has going for it, and for me, it isn't enough to warrant the "movie of the year" and 10/10 scores I keep seeing. Hooptober 2022 movie #27/31