There are real risks involved in staying at an AirBnB but they're not generally the horrors depicted in 2022's Barbarian. Parts of this film are really effective horror, parts of it are distractingly dumb.
It's a dark and stormy night and Tess (Georgina Campbell) pulls up in her expensive SUV near a cute little house. After struggling with a keycoded box, she's surprised when Keith (Bill Skarsgard) opens the door. It turns out they've been double booked for the same AirBnB.
Gradually, they get to the point in which they share the accommodation--he on the couch, she in the bed. This movie is very much a rumination on MeToo psychology. The first half of the film is from the point of view of a young woman having to decide if she can trust a man in a strange situation. The second half of the film is from the point of view of a famous actor, AJ (Justin Long), who's been accused of rape by a co-star.
The ideas of sexual politics are played with over the course of the film and a vast, weird, subterranean monster's den below the house functions as a nice symbol of preconceptions and preoccupations. It also just works as good, suspenseful horror as we follow Tess getting drawn further in, finding one secret door and then another, going further and further underground with just the light on her cellphone as a guide. The monster's existence doesn't make much rational sense but does make significant thematic sense. It's hard to think of a more appropriate minotaur for this labyrinth.
The section of the story focusing on Justin Long's character is less satisfying. There are hints of complexity and I would have liked if the filmmakers had left it vague as to whether or not AJ is actually guilty of the rape. The climax of the film is stupid both in terms of plot and message but even the third act has some decent moments of tension and suspense.
Barbarian is available on HBOMax and, outside the U.S., on Disney+.
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