Spoilers ahead!!

Possible trigger warnings: rape, kidnapping, incest

This weekend, I got the chance to watch the newly-released Barbarian. Based on the trailer, I was expecting the stereotypical cheesy-jumpscare-demon-possesses-the-house kind of movie. However, the movie was very out of the ordinary with its unexpected plot line, concise ending, and humor. 

Barbarian is about two strangers who accidentally rent the same AirBNB house in a town that’s in shambles in Detroit, Michigan. After exploring the tortuous basement of the house, they soon realize the property is haunted by an abused woman who was a product of incest and just wants to care for a baby of her own. We also get to see the owner of the actual property visit his house, which makes the movie all the better. The movie jumps to the past to the backstory of the house, where we can see that a man kidnapped and impregnated his victims and their babies. I never would have expected incest to play a key role in the film’s plotline, which is one of Barbarian’s biggest plot twists. This extremely unorthodox, tragic explanation for why the demon woman is the way she is and why the house is haunted is what makes the film so unique.

I absolutely love when scary movies have a bit of humor and satire in them because it makes them more comforting and not as intense, which is great for people who like horror but are also easily scared (myself included). First off, one of the main characters, AJ, who is the financially struggling owner of the house, lightens up the mood of the movie by being unfazed by the secret basement literally filled with cages, blood prints, and a room with at least 900 steps because all he can focus on is how much extra square footage of the basement he can add to his Airbnb listing. We watch AJ tape-measure the entire basement while being wholly oblivious to the dripping blood, prison beds, and even the pink room with a breastfeeding instructional video playing on a TV. He doesn’t even consider that something’s wrong until a giant, slimy demon woman pops up in front of his face. While AJ’s actions before he enters the house were obviously inexcusable and horrible, it’s his terrible later decisions and awful morals as a person that add humor to the movie. AJ projectile-motion flinging the main character off the terrace so that the demon woman wouldn’t target him was so on-character and hilarious that I couldn’t even be upset about it. I even laughed at the demon woman for the strange, mother-child-bonding activities she tried to do with the main characters exploring the basement. When the monster force-fed the strangers with the milk bottle and jumped off the building to save the main character, I forgot I was even watching a horror movie. 

Unlike other horror movies that add cheesy, expected jump scares every time intense music starts playing, Barbarian had me closing my eyes every other second because even in silent or humorous scenes, there would be a jump scare waiting to pop out (big apology to everyone at Penn Cinema during the 7:10 screening this Saturday night for my blood-curdling scream during the first jump scare).

The movie also had a very sudden and concise ending, which is rare for many horror movies. A lot of scary movies feature a long-winded exorcism or some kind of “epic battle” that often feels dragged out at some point. For Barbarian, all it took for the demon woman to be killed was a shot to the head. In most movies, even twenty bullets couldn’t kill the villain, but the resolution to Barbarian lasted, quite possibly, ten seconds. 

Overall, Barbarian is incredibly surprising and light-hearted for a thriller. It amazingly executes jump scares, humor, and plot twists in a way I’ve never seen before. Even if you’re easily frightened like me, the satire and idiocy of the characters ease the intense vibe, and even makes you feel comfortable at times — that is, right before they weave in a perfectly-timed jump scare to remind you that Barbarian is a horror movie.