467 Barbary Street
Written and Directed by: Zach Cregger
Cast: Georgina Campbell, Bill Skarsgård, Justin Long, Richard Brake
Swift shot: From the first time I heard of Barbarian, I was wondering about the title. With Psycho, you know at some point in the movie you’re going to meet a psycho, and with Barbarian, you go into it with the same understanding. At some point, you are going to meet this “barbarian” character. Trying to figure out who it is was part of the fun.
Zach Cregger is typically a comedy guy, starting out his career on “The Whitest Kids You Know” and more recently Wrecked (a cheesy parody series of Lost). So, when I heard he was directing a horror film, I was thinking, oh, we got another Jordan Peele, here. And yea, much like with Get Out, Cregger’s first foray into horror is an exceptionally dark and disturbing look at the twisted nature of humanity’s depravity.
Tess (Campbell) is an aspiring filmmaker who needs a place to stay in Detroit as she is in town for a production gig interview. Somehow she manages to book an Airbnb in an area of Detroit clearly just the other side of Satan’s comfort zone!
But when she gets there, someone else is already inside. Keith (Skarsgård) is reluctant to let her in, because he also booked the place, but with a different service. Keith is also “in the biz,” and they end up sharing the place after a cautious, careful respect is established.
It is short-lived.
It’s a very modern problem that could happen to anyone, which is what makes it the perfect horror story. It’s got the classic elements going back to when we told stories on cave walls. A weary traveler needs a place to stay in the middle of a dark and stormy night away from the perils of the unknown. In this case, though, there are two weary travelers in the same boat, so to speak. And as the audience, you aren’t sure whom to trust. Is Keith the “Barbarian” or is it Tess? At this point, I was really enjoying trying to figure out the monster.
Personally, that’s my favorite thing and primary reason for watching a horror movie, trying to figure out the monster’s agenda, what the monster is and how our hero will thwart it. But, I think the added thrill for Barbarian audiences will be the many sleepless nights they’ll endure the next time they stay at an Airbnb. It will do for the home sharing industry what Psycho did to the small family owned hotel industry. And the comparisons to Psycho don’t end there.
***SPOILERS AHEAD***
As you finally find out what is going on at this Airbnb, the movie shifts gears and you’re introduced to some new characters. In this way it was kind of like a reverse Psycho, where the beginning of the movie focuses around a tense getaway leading to the Bates Motel. With Barbarian, you get that in reverse. We see the Airbnb, then we get a new story building to the other one in a most dramatic method with the introduction of AJ (Long) and his plight.
And when you finally get into that story, another character is introduced explaining how everything fits together with the flashback introduction to Frank (Brake) and his “perfect family.”
Perhaps the wisest decision by Cregger is letting our imaginations do the most psyche-scarring damage during one very pivotal, powerful, painful scene. Some questions are best left unanswered. But, I fear (in the primal sense of that word) that we will get a sequel/prequel that will “go there” and explore the true horrors of “467 Barbary Street.”
If you want a thrilling horror that will fuck you up for life, check out Barbarian!
