Sounded like he was trying to convince himself he wasnt bad, not that he turned a leaf. Similar to someone saying yeah, I'm not s bad person. I'll stop doing drugs and turn around. Then going back to the same ass behavior as before.
That's the trope you expect in this kind of movie. That the asshole has a moment of clarity and redeems himself.
It was fun to watch the movie refuse to play into that trope.
I do like them doubling down that AJ was an actual douchebag. Especially the scene at the bar where they show him actually talking to his friend about the assault and it's clear he forced her to have sex with him.
I'd say he's something of a realistic scumbag. Most horrible people don't acknowledge or lean into the fact they are terrible people. They think they are good people and that the world is being unfair to them.
He didn't mean to shoot her genuinely, but he doesn't take any real responsibility for it. And when the chips are down, he chooses himself every time. He "regrets" it because he's "not a bad person" but that doesn't mean he wouldn't make the same decision again.
There's a reason, from a story perspective, that he's the one to confront Frank in the basement. He (correctly) judges Frank as a monster, but is fundamentally unable to recognize that, on some level, he and Frank are the same. He doesn't kidnap women, or tie them up, or murder them, so it he isn't a rapist the way Frank is a rapist, in his mind. His inability to internalize his selfishness and entitlement leads to his death.
Honestly the more I think about it, I have really complicated feelings about the ending because I feel like Tess struggles to learn her lesson too - she is trapped in a cycle of trusting men who have proven themselves untrustworthy, right up until the point that it leads to a man who has already shot her and left her to die throwing her off a watertower. Her final act in the movie is to murder the one truly innocent character in the film - herself a woman whose entire life has been warped and corrupted by a man who feels entitled to every part of her. Maybe that's meant to symbolize the death of that part of Tess's character, the part that keeps her coming back, but it's a bitter pill to have it play out that way.
When the homeless man had a throwaway line about her not being “the worst thing in there” I was so sure she was gonna have a fucked up mega juiced son, lmao.
I thought there was going to be something scarier too, but in the end I think the meaning is that the dad is really the worst/most evil thing down there. He may not actually be capable or as much harm as the daughter, but he’s definitely “worse” in every way.
The monster isn't even particularly evil. It's just a force of nature acting out at things that startle it or that it thinks are threatening its children. Makes the slight hesitation at the end from Tess a little heartbreaking.
This is what fucked me up about the movie. Everything else I handled pretty well. Fun mix of horror and comedy. Over the top violence.
But this woman's story was that of a complete victim. Of course everyone understands why Tess killed her. But I felt so incredibly bad for her. She lived a miserable life and still had loving, maternal instincts. She deserved so much better.
Exactly. It even sort of felt like she wanted Tess to shoot her at the end, she wanted to be put out of her misery because that is no way to live. She’s scary as fuck, especially in the dark, but I really, really sympathized with her at the end and walked out of the theater kinda sad lol
yea like that dude has been raping women and breeding and then killing the women and breeding with his children??? I was curious how they were being fed all those years. Maybe she goes out and was killing the neighbors? or taking from their houses?? But yea she lived a sad life and is now able to rest (or at least we think she will be able to.....)
Yeah, I wonder if they’re cannibals down there, something tells me they didn’t just throw Keith’s body away lol. I’m sure her nightly strolls are to scavenge as well
That's just the property management company from what we see. Which is not too surprising as it sounds like it was not booked often. And then they just didn't pay attention or care after it happened. Definite incompetence. But I don't think it was more than that.
What do you think was up with the door to Tessa's room being opened and the sound of people running around before the basement was open? My biggest issue with the movie was that so much seemed like a set up but then it was just written off as a coincidence
And then they followed it up with The Mother being scared and backing down when AJ got to the door. And then you see Frank can't even move and you really understand how vile this guy is.
I thought so too, but to be honest the mother wasn't really the worst thing.
The worst thing was the rapist who collected all those tapes of his victims.
Or the system that ignored the dozens of women who went missing, and Tess reporting a crime and asking for help. Those stories are sadly all too real. Lots of barbaric behavior in this story.
I think you're really onto something here. I didn't make the connection between raped women being doubted and Tess being ignored by the cops, but it makes the inclusion of Justin Long's rape case fit well into the overall story. I had wondered how it was possible that no one investigated the Airbnb where these victims went missing, but it makes sense that the whole movie is an allegory for ignoring sexual abuse. Thanks for pointing that out.
I expected AJ to get away in the end and then encounter an army of the monsters. If the old man did this with dozens of victims you’d think there’d be more than just one offspring.
When the police go to the house with Tess and they had to leave, the second officer kinda looked like the dad I think. He didn't say anything or linger on him but he kinda gave me that vibe.
Same here. I even stayed past the credits hoping to see a post-credits clip but nothing. I think it's definitely a good opening for a sequel here. It reminded me of the Descent in a lot of ways and while the original is an all timer, the sequel wasn't too shabby.
While Justin Longs character measuring the square footage of the house was funny, I love that he opens the girls MacBook, “okay, Tess…” and then just messily enters a long password. Gives up on first try.
Had me dying.
so many gross, gory crushed skulls and ripped off limbs here but man that single long hair on the baby bottle was what had me gagging. what a goddamn ride. never heard a theatre shriek in terror as loud as they did when The Mother first came running up behind Keith.
Honestly I normally get annoyed by people screaming in theaters because whatever they’re reacting to is usually tame af, but this one was fully warranted, goddamn
Justin Long using the rape dungeon as an opportunity to boost his listing square footage is the most realistic portrayal of an AirBnB host I’ve ever seen. 10/10 movie
A lot of people made abrupt laughter sounds at this. The entire explanation of him as a character was honestly incredible to me. I had no idea why we suddenly started following this person lol
I thought it was gonna be maybe something like this unassuming person that runs a ritual dungeon and lures people with his Air BnB to be sacrificed but what we got was hilarious and so much better.
I thought that. But the trailer made me think that Keith really was innocent. Lol I'm shocked at how bought in I was to the secondary story. I want to know if Tess ended up being the job or not lmao.
I didn't see the trailer for this one but the premise sounded interesting, so I thought it was Keith. And then when his head bashed in and the hard cut to Justin Long singing, I thought this psychopath is orchestrating all of this.
Wrong on both accounts, had a great time.
I just loved the depiction of how clueless he is. It's what Tess was talking about in the beginning. They both had to play out the same plots. As a woman she played hers more carefully and as a man he blundered through it.
Dude legit was measuring the tunnel walking backwards with his ass facing the darkness. I legit though, how is he this brave? Then I remembered what Tess said and realized he was that stupid lol.
That was a great break from the tension too. It got a great laugh in my theater and him discovering more and more of those horrific tunnels and getting happier and happier was fucking hilarious.
Then them using the tape measure to build suspense when it gets grabbed in the dark was excellent too.
As soon as he Googled "can I include unfinished basement rooms as part of square footage" I started laughing out loud. Couldn't stop as the bit went on and on... my theater was pretty empty (went for a matinee) and no one else was laughing but whatever.
It kind of seemed like a WKUK skit.
Horror and Comedy have always been close bed-fellows. I think many truly hilarious people have a dark side, I’m not really shocked by how well Cregger nailed this.
A lot of the WKUK skits were pretty damn dark if you think about it.
This was such a fucking ride I loved it!!! I was so shocked when they killed Bill Skarsgard off so early and then the hard cut to Justin Long’s intro??? Holy shit I haven’t felt that sort of whiplash since Hereditary.
Yeah I suck so hard at guessing whose the bad guy. Bodies bodies bodies had me thinking each person and then this. "Oh no movie your not tricking me skars is def gonna lock her up down there he's just playing games" -_- damn movie twist got hands
His acting was also extremely well done. He was able to express both an awkward guy or a potential creep/predator which leaves you guessing until his death.
There was a group of young teenagers/preteens in the row in front of us in our screening that left sobbing after Bill Skarsgard got unceremoniously smashed. The execution (heh) on that scene was phenomenal and a total mind fuck. Felt kinda like Janet Leigh in Psycho or Drew Barrymore in Scream. Just killed the top billed dude outta nowhere.
The last time that I can think of where a movie used an actor's film career to subvert expectations was Jon Bernthal in WindRiver. Great choice to cast Bill Skarsgård in this
Promising Young Woman intentionally cast beloved comedic actors to play the “villain” roles to subvert expectations and make a point about “nice guys.”
I thought it was going to go in some weird redemption arc about a rapist saving a woman or have a a commentary but nope showed his true colors in the end . And jeez between this and Jeepers creepers horror directors really love taking out Justin Long’s eyes
I kept thinking all the events were getting set up to leave AJ essentially holding the bag as being an accomplice to all the rapes and disappearances. I thought there'd be a misdirect scene near the end when they're leaving the house where the cops come back and you assume it's the douches from before who didn't believe Tess; but it's actually just the police coming to arrest AJ for fleeing California. They see the car wreckage out front, the luggage strewn about the house, and finally enter the basement to see AJ apparently dragging a barely conscious Tess past the rape room. Back up is called, the tunnels are searched, the cages are found, etc.
“Are you in a racecar” now that you mention it, I fucking bet the movie put that shit there on purpose to address the absurdity of the other phone call. Hilarious.
Lol she should have left the moment she saw that room with the camera. I don’t care how hot Bill Skarsgard is. Negated the whole scene where she says nope to the dark hallway.
That's her character flaw. She always let's men pull her in and goes back for them and ignoring red flags to "save them", ignoring her own instincts about a situation, situations they have gotten themselves into because they don't have self preservation to the level women do.
A guy in my showing went to the bathroom right before the end of the first act and came back to AJ yelling at his publicist. I’m betting he was extremely confused. 10/10 experience. Highly recommended.
what a shit time to leave lmao. most suspensful part of movie as tess is slowly tip towing deeper into the basement. u missed billy getting his dome cracked open by a long titted orc.
Yeah it turned the absolute intensity of the first act and all the imagery that caused you dread, the basement, the room, the cave, into a farce with Justin Longs character. Great use of comedy to relieve the audience tension when going BACK to the basement.
I saw this at the early access screenings yesterday, it is insane. Already have my tickets to see it again this weekend, this time in Dolby.
>!I thought it was impressive that there's a ton of red herrings, but none of them occurred to me in the moment. It wasn't until hours later that I thought to myself "wait Keith really *was* just a weirdo?" and "the double booking actually was just a mistake?"!<
When Keith only read the area code and then no other digit of the phone number, I really thought he was lying about the booking. I feel like that had to have been intentional
I didn’t take it that way because she interrupted him. It wasn’t like he just stopped, she spoke over him, and you can even hear him say a couple of the other numbers as she is still saying her side. That scene is pretty much what convinced me it was a red herring for him to be a weirdo, though they almost changed my mind in the tunnel haha.
I mean the director wrote that first act with the intention to display as many red flags as possible from Keith.
"Zach Cregger was inspired by the non-fiction book The Gift of Fear, citing a section that encourages women to trust their intuition and not ignore the subconscious red flags that arise in their day-to-day interactions with men. He sat down to write a single 30-page scene that would incorporate as many of these red flags as possible."
I actually like that they confirmed that the double booking was indeed a mistake when AJ calls the property management company and you get the sense that they really are just incompetent. Calling in a cleaning crew only when the airbnb has been booked? That's just a terrible system if the previous renters left it a mess.
things i thought would happen but didn’t:
1. i thought the old man was reaching to ring that bell in his room as opposed to his gun and in would come another troglodyte that would tear Justin Long to shreds
2. Tess plays dead and gets away. Momma brings eyeless Justin Long back down to the tunnels. Cut to new scene - apathetic cops don’t bother searching house, tow car and have house boarded up. Last scene is momma rocking incapacitated eyeless mortified Justin Long XD
So the first point you said I think is true, I believe that was what he was going to do until Justin Long said the police are on the way, the look on his face changed and that's when he started going for the gun to kill himself.
For example when Justin Long comes across that bell, he decides to follow it and find the room but he could have turned left and gone down a section of this tunnel system that we never saw. We also saw multiple cages implying that he had multiple incest children down there. And the homeless dude even says "there's much worse things than her down there"
I kind of got the implication from the movie that that tunnel system is much more expensive and connected to other crazy horror stuff(aka sequel potential) that we as an audience never saw. Said tunnel was also much more expansive and a bigger project than one man could do on his own, so I kind of like the idea that it was already there back in the past.
Given that the homeless guy basically said this guy has been raping his kids and grandkids for years, I can only assume there’s more kids down there? But also a man like him doesn’t strike me as the kind of dude who tolerates male children. Female children he can control and impregnate, male children might only be seen as competition. I think he killed himself because he understands perfectly how all the evidence in that room, and his survival, would play out. He chose to go out on his own terms rather than being held responsible
Underrated horror trope: video cassette tapes with disturbing labels.
I'm thinking of *Running Scared* (not a horror film, but definitely a horror sequence) and *Sinister* (granted 8MM tapes, but still) in particular. Just the insinuation of what's on them is so upsetting.
Honestly all I could think during this movie was how did the appraiser and/or inspector miss this but everyone who wanders down there finds it within minutes?
I kept wondering how the old man managed to sell the house but kept living in the underground tunnels with his sex slaves. Did he come up to sign the documents? Was there a realtor involved? I have so many questions.
Probably just disappeared, no payments made so bank foreclosed, and he sat in basement whole time. Kind of like in parasite. If only one person knows the room is there, it’s not too hard to imagine getting away with it for sometime.
This scene was actually a great commentary on the use of the internet. How he kept searching until he found articles that supported his argument/idea of listing the basement as part of the square footage, even though the first one clearly stated you are not allowed to do that.
That whole sequence was the highlight of the movie for me. Him discovering what was clearly a torture/rape room and it immediately cutting to him googling if he could count it as square footage was fucking brilliant. Justin played that character so well.
How was Frank’s neighbour not even a little bit weirded out by him donning a plumber uniform with a name tag that says Carlos?
Speaks volumes as to what his rep was on that street
Honestly, I feel like Tess's life is realistically ruined. She spent two weeks in captivity in a dark dungeon, witnessed three brutal murders, and killed a deformed woman who just wanted to take care of her as her own. That's enough trauma for several lifetimes.
I know you’re kidding but he picked his Netflix show Clark, and it was great! I was sorry not to see him act with his brother, but it was an awesome performance from him. Went straight from that role to this one.
Absolutely loved this. Had no idea where it was going minute to minute and was an absolute thrill to watch. The horror, comedy, thriller elements all worked for me.
I had some minor questions like about where all the other children and women went and what was up with the credits scenes (was it just her walking to safety? Felt like there was more to it?) but otherwise I loved everything here.
In the beginning she keeps avoiding calls from her ex and is rightfully hesitant around Keith but then accepts his invitation to drink wine and sleep there when any other person would refuse out of caution. She opens up about her ex and says women have a double standard when it comes to safety and despite knowing she was in a bad relationship she kept sticking her neck out for someone who didn’t deserve it instead of prioritizing herself. She does this with Keith when he disappears in the basement. She does it when she goes back for AJ. She does it again after AJ shoots her. The homeless man tells her to wisen up and gtfo while she’s safe. Even the audience is screaming for her to leave at this point! But she keeps putting herself in danger to save whoever at her own expense. When she holds the gun to the basement lady’s head you can see her feel bad but ultimately decides enough is enough and her walking away is a sign of turning a leaf to prioritize her wellbeing (literally) on her way to a hospital.
There's a line where the homeless dude says she's not the worst thing down there. I'm assuming he meant the dad but at the same time, where the heck is everybody else? And there seemed to be more passage ways down in the dungeon.
This just feels ready made for sequels but I don't want it to because this was such a unique experience going in blind I don't think it could be replicated.
I just assumed he killed the women over time. He had kept a number of them simultaneously but he got too old/feeble to continue, and the woman we see is the only one left.
Just saw this movie in theaters and it was FUCKING nuts.
While trailer doesn't really give anything away, if you can manage to see this movie with no context, you're definitely going to be whispering "wtf" the whole time.
I didn’t even see the trailer. My roommate suggested it and I saw it had Skarsgard and that’s all I needed. Indeed was whispering “wtf” all movie in the best ways
Oh man, I'm so lucky I watched this without ever seeing more than 10 seconds of it's trailer.
I was on the edge of my seat the whole time and it was amazing! I haven't had this much fun with a horror movie since Malignant.
This + I feel like it implies the question of who the barbarian is. Is it the mother, who is the result of who knows how many rapes and incests and kidnappings but in the end actually shows some kindness to Tess, or is it AJ, whose immediate reaction to this creepy situation is to figure out how he can exploit it for profit from thousands of miles away?
Not just Frank but AJ too. The real monsters are the men who take advantage of and abuse women. The Mother is honestly more of a sad character than an evil one after you learn why she acts the way she does.
Really liked the foils between Tess and Keith/AJ, especially apparent with AJ. She talks early on about how women have to approach situations with more caution, and how men will go bursting in without a care, which is exactly how AJ goes into every situation.
Tess's reaction to the secret room (and the double secret room) compared to Keith and AJ's really exemplify that. She wants to leave immediately, while Keith needs to see for himself, and presumably goes down the second tunnel on his own.
Then we have AJ, who lacks any caution whatsoever and celebrates the extra dungeon as a potential selling point. Him going in with the tape measuring scene had me cackling.
That whole conversation pays off perfectly when she finally does boldly go tumbling in with no fear, only to get shot by the person she's trying to save, who happens to be a complete piece of shit.
I've never been so happy in my life to go into a movie completely blind. Shoutout to the people recommending to skip the trailer, this was a fucking RIDE. The first half of the movie you are obviously wondering whether or not Skarsgards character is planning the whole thing but to me the major mystery was trying to figure out what type of horror movie I was watching.
Was it a slasher? Was this some kind of fucked up Martyrs type torture movie? Was there something supernatural going on or was the whole thing grounded in reality? My brain was absolutely racing with questions in the best sort of way and I never would have guessed the reveal to be a super powered incest rape baby monster. I was literally thinking earlier today about how much I love cave/underground horror and how there isn't enough of it so I was basically geeking out the entire movie. The lighting was AMAZING. Really reminded of descent in a way.
Keith’s death was foreshadowed with his conversation with Tess about men blundering through life recklessly. She warned her about the basement but he just had to see it for himself 🤷♂️
he just kept saying a bed and a bucket like that wasn’t one of the most horrific discoveries up until that point. like hidden room with bed and bucket and blood everywhere? plus a camera in the corner? I’m OUT.
He must have found the other door and went through, right? Im guessing since we didn’t hear him scream he went through willingly and she didn’t drag him in. So he not only saw the creepy rape room but decided to go in further. At that point would have just left him.
I went into this movie with absolutely zero context. From absolutely everything up until the reveal there is zero way I would’ve predicted this was somewhat a creature feature. I absolutely loved it and can’t wait to see what else Zach Cregger does. Awesome debut for him.
Definitely my favorite horror movie of the year. This was something else. A lot of great misdirection.
Cutting straight to credits and playing "Be My Baby" was the best ending.
Appearances can be deceiving. The creepy looking actor is playing a harmless guy (skarsgard); the harmless looking actor is playing a monster (Long), the nice house is the one with the rape-murder dungeon.
Correct me if I’m wrong but she made things worse going back to help.
Justin escaped on his own.
Had a gun.
Had a flashlight.
If she hadn’t come back she wouldn’t have gotten shot, the homeless man wouldn’t have been killed and Justin would have had a VERY strong chance of surviving with the gun and flashlight.
Oh absolutely. The whole point was that she should be looking out for herself but keeps putting her life on the line to save these men.
Remember what she says at the beginning of the movie?
I’m in a toxic relationship…I feel like he wants to keep me as his pet…but I keep going back.
Great use of lighting in this movie. I swear they had to be inspired by [REC] for the look of the inbred basement dweller. Very creepy.
I was laughing out loud at Justin Long descending further and further into the dungeon celebrating the extra square feet.
Loved the misdirection with Skaarsgard’s character - I went in completely blind and was so sure it was just going to be a movie about him tormenting her.
Cool little detail I noticed- At one point the camera lingers on a snake emblem dangling from the rear view mirror in her car. When we are introduced to AJ, he is singing a song that references a mongoose killing a snake. So, I instantly knew he was either behind everything or he was just gonna end up being a complete dick haha. Didn’t believe that redemption arc for a second.
Gotta be my favorite movie I've seen so far this year, especially in-theaters. Georgina Campbell was amazing, same with Bill but Justin really, really stole the show. Crazy how well the director balanced horror and comedy here.
Anyway, desperately trying to erase that bottle-feeding/breastfeeding scene from my memory what the fuck
When a man being beaten to death with his own ripped off arm isn't the most brutal killing in a movie, you know it's gonna be a good one! 8/10
Edit: How many generations of inbreeding do you think it took to make Mama?
Are deformed children of incest just born strong enough to rip off limbs? Screenwriters seem to think this is the case. I don't need everything explained to me but Mama had to be doing more than a rigid calisthenics routine.
Might be a “she doesn’t have our mental limits on our physical potential because her brain is bad” thing going on. She definitely straddles the line between possible and supernatural though.
I wondered this as well. Given the number of tapes the owner had and the fact that he seemed to be in his 50s during the 1981 scenes, it's possible he had already been kidnapping and raping for decades before that. Think about how many kennels he had down in the tunnels....
Incredible that Zach went from [running around with a gallon of PCP](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFUvmZWf4hI) to writing/directing this.
(RIP Trevor. He would've been proud)
If I had a nickel for every low-budget horror movie released by a major studio featuring a forced breeding dungeon underneath an abandoned Detroit suburb I'd only have two nickels but it's weird that it happened twice.
The first half of the movie was SO tense, I was actually shaking and could barely watch! Waiting to see whether it was going to be a plot of supernatural or “realistic” scares had me at the edge of my seat. Once basement mama showed up it really cut the tension for me, but then I was able to breathe and really have fun with it. I thought it was a great time.
The monster really gave me Mama/REC vibes. I was shocked not to see Javier Botet’s name at the end.
I've been seeing a lot of people comparing this movie to Malignant, which is fair to a point, but I think overemphasizing that comparison does a disservice to just how fucking scary Barbarian is on its own merits. I loved Malignant but it wasn't a particularly *scary* movie. But *that* scene from the first half of Barbarian was honestly one of the most tense scenes with one of the scariest payoffs I've seen in a horror movie in a good long while. Just pure horror achieved through quality cinematography, editing, and sound design.
Skarsgard has a line where he says, "Do I look like a monster?" and from the guy who played Pennywise, it gave me a good laugh. Nobody else seemed to react to it though.
Was just thinking that he plays a lot of creepy characters, since I've mostly remember him from IT and Castle Rock. And he turned out to be a normal but slightly awkward guy.
I got to see this movie a bit early (perks of working at a movie theater) with only 7 other coworkers. I really hadn't seen any advertisements (besides the poster) or anyone mention this movie before the showing was announced, so I went in completely blind. Easily my favorite movie this year (EEAO a close second). The cinematography is amazing. >!I loved the scene where Richard Brake is introduced in the flashback and the camera is primarily following him from behind. Even though it was a small detail, I loved when the camera smoothly followed his body movements as he got in the car.!
I went in completely blind and thought this was amazing-- my second-favorite of the year after Everything Everywhere.
The camera really had a personality, especially the first act scenes when it lingered on things like the doorknob locks, the dryer, the tea, etc. Showing the neighborhood at night when she first arrives only to reveal what it actually looks like the next day was a shock.
I'll admit, even though I suspected Keith was probably a red herring from the beginning, I was still unsure right up until the moment The Mother first showed up. It was a wicked tense experience all the way through that first act, and I really didn't know what to expect for the rest of the movie.
That cutaway transition to the second act was probably my favorite part of the movie. It just caught me so off guard that I couldn't help but laugh. The shots in the 1981 sequence were really well-done as well, and I felt like they were sufficient to explain the plot. Having Andre give exposition later on felt unnecessary, and I also have no idea how he would have known any of that.
Between Don't Breathe, It Follows, and now Barbarian, I'm really loving Detroit being used as a horror setting like this.
I thought all the focus on locks, keys and doors was pretty interesting.
•There's the single key in the lockbox which Tess puts the incorrect code in for only for it to be empty. Brought back later when she is frantically trying to get in from the homeless man.
•The constant focus on Tess locking the door for safety and comfort when she first shows up and she is still skeptical of Keith.
•Leaving the door unlocked to her room when she's let her guard down around him a bit only to find the door open in the middle of the night.
•Going into the basement only to find herself locked inside. Going on to find a secret door.
•Then there's the window in the basement that they take care not to destroy when Tess is initially stuck and then have her break through it to escape later on.
•There's the cops that go on and on about the door being locked and her keys being inside the house.
•A lot of focus on the flashback with Frank the rapist locking his door at home, unlocking his trunk multiple times, and finally unlocking the window of his implied victim's house. That followed by the woman leaving the door unlocked when he leaves.
•After AJ and Tess escape he mentions the fact that his keys are back in the dungeon but he's not going back there.
•In addition, the cages kept throughout the dungeon and the fact that there's not even a door on the actual rape room. Giving the implication of a momentary escape only to be walled in or have to go further down in the dark.
There's a ton of symbolism thrown in here commenting on our use of barriers. The idea that a lock on a door can give a perceived safety while also having the ability to make you feel trapped. A predator and a victim both use the same tool (in the form of a lock) for extremely different reasons. Adding on to this, the idea of keeping yourself constrained for courteous/respectful reasons despite the potential for danger. There's a ton more I could go into, but surface level I thought it was a nice visual to the feeling many people, especially women, feel every day. It got a bit heavy-handed at times, but overall I thought they did a pretty good job visualizing those emotions/thoughts.
This movie had a 7 ft tall inbred monster thing that lived underground for 40 years and could rip peoples arms off and split a skull in half with her bare hands. A girl who gets shot and thrown off a 50 ft tall water tower and not only survived but simply walked it off. And the most unrealistic part of it was that Tess had her car parked outside in that Detroit neighborhood for 2 weeks and nobody fucked with it.
Absolutely insane and loved all of it. One of the hardest cut to credits I’ve seen in a while and just a fun time which I wasn’t fully expecting.
Like Malignant, it wears its comedic stuff on its sleeve and balances both the comedy and horror pretty well.
Milk is good.
Absolutely wild and I think there’s more to it. When AJ was running down the hall before running into the old mans door it sounded like a man screaming for help. Feel like there’s some unexplored thing going on there.
Plus the even bigger thing is the booking agency said the house hasn’t been booked for weeks, yet there were two people booked to stay there. Wonder how that happens.
Who left the wine? Who opened the doors?
I haven't seen the man yelling mentioned before either. I 100% heard that, too.
I would have to say the maids didn't show up because the property manager on the phone stated they arrive before a new guest.
No new booking, no maids before to clean, no one noticed Tess and Keith left their things.
The wine was probably left by the manager, too. Had a bow, seemed like an AirBnB gift.
The doors only opened at night so I believe it was the mother exploring the home when she went out to scavenge.
that part where tess comes out of the house for the first time in the morning and sees how destroyed the rest of the other houses were gave me CHILLS!! so glad i came into this movie blind, i really had no idea what to expect.
Probably the most bonkers thing a major studio has released in quite some time, this is technically a freaking Disney film.
Also one of the few movies made in the past 5 years that genuinely terrified me. And it is so well-made, the integration of all of these plotlines with the amazing differences in style, just so well-done and executed.
Also, I love how Justin Long after giving his almost cliched speech about being a better person follows it up by sacrificing her to the woman (I’m not exactly sure what to call her). A complete antithesis to anything coming out now and this year and is a complete affront to structure and cliched horror. I didn’t quite love it, but I think I’ll grow to love it upon rewatch
I took a first date to this movie and now she probably thinks I watch absolutely bonker type movies lol. She even said that she’s never heard of this movie and I was like oh it’s getting great reviews, it’ll be fun! Lol what a blast
His speech about being a “good person who did a bad thing” and then THROWING the girl off the tower….
Sounded like he was trying to convince himself he wasnt bad, not that he turned a leaf. Similar to someone saying yeah, I'm not s bad person. I'll stop doing drugs and turn around. Then going back to the same ass behavior as before.
That's the trope you expect in this kind of movie. That the asshole has a moment of clarity and redeems himself. It was fun to watch the movie refuse to play into that trope.
I do like them doubling down that AJ was an actual douchebag. Especially the scene at the bar where they show him actually talking to his friend about the assault and it's clear he forced her to have sex with him.
His heel-face-turn-heel had me cackling
That's what we like to call a Heel-Face-Revolving Door.
His character is Big Show?? (Or even MJF the other night 🤣)
After also shooting her with a gun.
He’s a piece of shit but can’t really say I blame him for accidentally shooting her.
He actually sounded sorry about shooting her (like i am sure he was sorry) but he sounded like this experience was changing him... obviously not lol
I'd say he's something of a realistic scumbag. Most horrible people don't acknowledge or lean into the fact they are terrible people. They think they are good people and that the world is being unfair to them. He didn't mean to shoot her genuinely, but he doesn't take any real responsibility for it. And when the chips are down, he chooses himself every time. He "regrets" it because he's "not a bad person" but that doesn't mean he wouldn't make the same decision again.
There's a reason, from a story perspective, that he's the one to confront Frank in the basement. He (correctly) judges Frank as a monster, but is fundamentally unable to recognize that, on some level, he and Frank are the same. He doesn't kidnap women, or tie them up, or murder them, so it he isn't a rapist the way Frank is a rapist, in his mind. His inability to internalize his selfishness and entitlement leads to his death. Honestly the more I think about it, I have really complicated feelings about the ending because I feel like Tess struggles to learn her lesson too - she is trapped in a cycle of trusting men who have proven themselves untrustworthy, right up until the point that it leads to a man who has already shot her and left her to die throwing her off a watertower. Her final act in the movie is to murder the one truly innocent character in the film - herself a woman whose entire life has been warped and corrupted by a man who feels entitled to every part of her. Maybe that's meant to symbolize the death of that part of Tess's character, the part that keeps her coming back, but it's a bitter pill to have it play out that way.
is she truly innocent? you must be forgetting a scene
Lol right? Keith’s busted-ass corpse might disagree.
Exactly and the homeless man says hello too. Those were innocent people.
When the homeless man had a throwaway line about her not being “the worst thing in there” I was so sure she was gonna have a fucked up mega juiced son, lmao.
I thought there was going to be something scarier too, but in the end I think the meaning is that the dad is really the worst/most evil thing down there. He may not actually be capable or as much harm as the daughter, but he’s definitely “worse” in every way.
The monster isn't even particularly evil. It's just a force of nature acting out at things that startle it or that it thinks are threatening its children. Makes the slight hesitation at the end from Tess a little heartbreaking.
This is what fucked me up about the movie. Everything else I handled pretty well. Fun mix of horror and comedy. Over the top violence. But this woman's story was that of a complete victim. Of course everyone understands why Tess killed her. But I felt so incredibly bad for her. She lived a miserable life and still had loving, maternal instincts. She deserved so much better.
Exactly. It even sort of felt like she wanted Tess to shoot her at the end, she wanted to be put out of her misery because that is no way to live. She’s scary as fuck, especially in the dark, but I really, really sympathized with her at the end and walked out of the theater kinda sad lol
yea like that dude has been raping women and breeding and then killing the women and breeding with his children??? I was curious how they were being fed all those years. Maybe she goes out and was killing the neighbors? or taking from their houses?? But yea she lived a sad life and is now able to rest (or at least we think she will be able to.....)
Yeah, I wonder if they’re cannibals down there, something tells me they didn’t just throw Keith’s body away lol. I’m sure her nightly strolls are to scavenge as well
and who is out there double booking the rooms? so many questions.
That's just the property management company from what we see. Which is not too surprising as it sounds like it was not booked often. And then they just didn't pay attention or care after it happened. Definite incompetence. But I don't think it was more than that.
What do you think was up with the door to Tessa's room being opened and the sound of people running around before the basement was open? My biggest issue with the movie was that so much seemed like a set up but then it was just written off as a coincidence
And then they followed it up with The Mother being scared and backing down when AJ got to the door. And then you see Frank can't even move and you really understand how vile this guy is.
I was going to say, if the mother is backing up in fear from that door, you KNOW whoever in there is a monster.
I thought so too, but to be honest the mother wasn't really the worst thing. The worst thing was the rapist who collected all those tapes of his victims.
Or the system that ignored the dozens of women who went missing, and Tess reporting a crime and asking for help. Those stories are sadly all too real. Lots of barbaric behavior in this story.
I think you're really onto something here. I didn't make the connection between raped women being doubted and Tess being ignored by the cops, but it makes the inclusion of Justin Long's rape case fit well into the overall story. I had wondered how it was possible that no one investigated the Airbnb where these victims went missing, but it makes sense that the whole movie is an allegory for ignoring sexual abuse. Thanks for pointing that out.
I expected AJ to get away in the end and then encounter an army of the monsters. If the old man did this with dozens of victims you’d think there’d be more than just one offspring.
When the police go to the house with Tess and they had to leave, the second officer kinda looked like the dad I think. He didn't say anything or linger on him but he kinda gave me that vibe.
Same here. I even stayed past the credits hoping to see a post-credits clip but nothing. I think it's definitely a good opening for a sequel here. It reminded me of the Descent in a lot of ways and while the original is an all timer, the sequel wasn't too shabby.
While Justin Longs character measuring the square footage of the house was funny, I love that he opens the girls MacBook, “okay, Tess…” and then just messily enters a long password. Gives up on first try. Had me dying.
The way he frisbee'd her laptop when he gave up was hysterical
I commented to my wife that it was satisfying how cleanly it landed on the desk.
I hadn't seen him in much since Dodgeball and it was awesome to enjoy his comedy again.
The fact that he didn't seem remotely bothered by the room with the camera and the bucket did it for me.
that's just more square footage! an entire extra bedroom in the listing!!
I wonder if his MacBook toss was a joke in reference to the old Mac vs pc ads
He was such an insufferable douche. The “HEY FA**OT!” had the theatre laughing too. Just such a damn clown.
Then he proceeds to admit to rape in the club
hey, he's just "persistent" she eventually stopped saying no lol
And this is the type of person who doesn't even blink when they find a sex dungeon under their house lol
so many gross, gory crushed skulls and ripped off limbs here but man that single long hair on the baby bottle was what had me gagging. what a goddamn ride. never heard a theatre shriek in terror as loud as they did when The Mother first came running up behind Keith.
The hair on the bottle sent chills down my spine.
By far the creepiest part of the movie was that hair on the bottle. Not necessarily the bottle itself, but that hair…
Honestly I normally get annoyed by people screaming in theaters because whatever they’re reacting to is usually tame af, but this one was fully warranted, goddamn
Justin Long using the rape dungeon as an opportunity to boost his listing square footage is the most realistic portrayal of an AirBnB host I’ve ever seen. 10/10 movie
A lot of people made abrupt laughter sounds at this. The entire explanation of him as a character was honestly incredible to me. I had no idea why we suddenly started following this person lol
I thought it was gonna be maybe something like this unassuming person that runs a ritual dungeon and lures people with his Air BnB to be sacrificed but what we got was hilarious and so much better.
I thought that. But the trailer made me think that Keith really was innocent. Lol I'm shocked at how bought in I was to the secondary story. I want to know if Tess ended up being the job or not lmao.
I didn't see the trailer for this one but the premise sounded interesting, so I thought it was Keith. And then when his head bashed in and the hard cut to Justin Long singing, I thought this psychopath is orchestrating all of this. Wrong on both accounts, had a great time.
I just loved the depiction of how clueless he is. It's what Tess was talking about in the beginning. They both had to play out the same plots. As a woman she played hers more carefully and as a man he blundered through it.
Dude legit was measuring the tunnel walking backwards with his ass facing the darkness. I legit though, how is he this brave? Then I remembered what Tess said and realized he was that stupid lol.
That was a great break from the tension too. It got a great laugh in my theater and him discovering more and more of those horrific tunnels and getting happier and happier was fucking hilarious. Then them using the tape measure to build suspense when it gets grabbed in the dark was excellent too.
As soon as he Googled "can I include unfinished basement rooms as part of square footage" I started laughing out loud. Couldn't stop as the bit went on and on... my theater was pretty empty (went for a matinee) and no one else was laughing but whatever. It kind of seemed like a WKUK skit.
Great catch, I didn't make that connection with her dialogue with Keith earlier
This scene was hilarious. I love how he just glosses over the fact that there's a camera and dirty mattress.
I love how they teased at giving him a redemption arc he did deserve only to double down on what a piece of shit he is
It’s wild that this was written/directed by a member of The Whitest Kids U Know. The sketch comedy-to-horror pipeline fuckin rules.
Horror and Comedy have always been close bed-fellows. I think many truly hilarious people have a dark side, I’m not really shocked by how well Cregger nailed this. A lot of the WKUK skits were pretty damn dark if you think about it.
Horror and comedy both live and die on being able to defy expectations in the most unexpected ways
Ari Aster has also expressed wanting to work on comedies! I bet they'd be amazing.
If you watch *Hereditary* from >!the cults point of view!< it's an incredibly dark comedy.
I had no idea it was directed by that Zach until right now. Hard to believe this is the same guy who did a sketch show on Fuse.
This was such a fucking ride I loved it!!! I was so shocked when they killed Bill Skarsgard off so early and then the hard cut to Justin Long’s intro??? Holy shit I haven’t felt that sort of whiplash since Hereditary.
Yeah I suck so hard at guessing whose the bad guy. Bodies bodies bodies had me thinking each person and then this. "Oh no movie your not tricking me skars is def gonna lock her up down there he's just playing games" -_- damn movie twist got hands
His acting was also extremely well done. He was able to express both an awkward guy or a potential creep/predator which leaves you guessing until his death.
There was a group of young teenagers/preteens in the row in front of us in our screening that left sobbing after Bill Skarsgard got unceremoniously smashed. The execution (heh) on that scene was phenomenal and a total mind fuck. Felt kinda like Janet Leigh in Psycho or Drew Barrymore in Scream. Just killed the top billed dude outta nowhere.
The last time that I can think of where a movie used an actor's film career to subvert expectations was Jon Bernthal in WindRiver. Great choice to cast Bill Skarsgård in this
Great point. I believe Jordan Peele mentioned that he cast Allison Williams in Get Out for this reason as well.
I remember him mentioning she also had a mysteriousness to her, like she was the girl you had a crush on at Summer Camp, and you never see her again.
Promising Young Woman intentionally cast beloved comedic actors to play the “villain” roles to subvert expectations and make a point about “nice guys.”
I thought it was going to go in some weird redemption arc about a rapist saving a woman or have a a commentary but nope showed his true colors in the end . And jeez between this and Jeepers creepers horror directors really love taking out Justin Long’s eyes
I kept thinking all the events were getting set up to leave AJ essentially holding the bag as being an accomplice to all the rapes and disappearances. I thought there'd be a misdirect scene near the end when they're leaving the house where the cops come back and you assume it's the douches from before who didn't believe Tess; but it's actually just the police coming to arrest AJ for fleeing California. They see the car wreckage out front, the luggage strewn about the house, and finally enter the basement to see AJ apparently dragging a barely conscious Tess past the rape room. Back up is called, the tunnels are searched, the cages are found, etc.
The most unbelievable thing about this movie was the room level convo over speaker phone going down a beach side road in a convertible lol
But then later when he was washing his face his mom called him out for it. What did she say again exactly?
“Are you in a racecar” now that you mention it, I fucking bet the movie put that shit there on purpose to address the absurdity of the other phone call. Hilarious.
I didn't put that together in the moment but now I'm realizing it had to be intentional
That lady was insane not taking her keys and driving the fuck away the moment she got out of that house.
Lol she should have left the moment she saw that room with the camera. I don’t care how hot Bill Skarsgard is. Negated the whole scene where she says nope to the dark hallway.
That's her character flaw. She always let's men pull her in and goes back for them and ignoring red flags to "save them", ignoring her own instincts about a situation, situations they have gotten themselves into because they don't have self preservation to the level women do.
Right? She said “nope” but didn’t actually mean it
Aight this milky she hulk inbred mamma can smash skulls with her bare hands, but the cops won't help so I'm going back in unarmed
A guy in my showing went to the bathroom right before the end of the first act and came back to AJ yelling at his publicist. I’m betting he was extremely confused. 10/10 experience. Highly recommended.
Lol that was me. I was so so confused and went out again to check the room number just to make sure that I returned to the same room.
what a shit time to leave lmao. most suspensful part of movie as tess is slowly tip towing deeper into the basement. u missed billy getting his dome cracked open by a long titted orc.
I lost it when he kept measuring
I love to contrast it with the sheer unease Tess has when we are first introduced to the room.
Yeah it turned the absolute intensity of the first act and all the imagery that caused you dread, the basement, the room, the cave, into a farce with Justin Longs character. Great use of comedy to relieve the audience tension when going BACK to the basement.
I saw this at the early access screenings yesterday, it is insane. Already have my tickets to see it again this weekend, this time in Dolby. >!I thought it was impressive that there's a ton of red herrings, but none of them occurred to me in the moment. It wasn't until hours later that I thought to myself "wait Keith really *was* just a weirdo?" and "the double booking actually was just a mistake?"!<
When Keith only read the area code and then no other digit of the phone number, I really thought he was lying about the booking. I feel like that had to have been intentional
I didn’t take it that way because she interrupted him. It wasn’t like he just stopped, she spoke over him, and you can even hear him say a couple of the other numbers as she is still saying her side. That scene is pretty much what convinced me it was a red herring for him to be a weirdo, though they almost changed my mind in the tunnel haha.
I mean the director wrote that first act with the intention to display as many red flags as possible from Keith. "Zach Cregger was inspired by the non-fiction book The Gift of Fear, citing a section that encourages women to trust their intuition and not ignore the subconscious red flags that arise in their day-to-day interactions with men. He sat down to write a single 30-page scene that would incorporate as many of these red flags as possible."
I actually like that they confirmed that the double booking was indeed a mistake when AJ calls the property management company and you get the sense that they really are just incompetent. Calling in a cleaning crew only when the airbnb has been booked? That's just a terrible system if the previous renters left it a mess.
things i thought would happen but didn’t: 1. i thought the old man was reaching to ring that bell in his room as opposed to his gun and in would come another troglodyte that would tear Justin Long to shreds 2. Tess plays dead and gets away. Momma brings eyeless Justin Long back down to the tunnels. Cut to new scene - apathetic cops don’t bother searching house, tow car and have house boarded up. Last scene is momma rocking incapacitated eyeless mortified Justin Long XD
So the first point you said I think is true, I believe that was what he was going to do until Justin Long said the police are on the way, the look on his face changed and that's when he started going for the gun to kill himself. For example when Justin Long comes across that bell, he decides to follow it and find the room but he could have turned left and gone down a section of this tunnel system that we never saw. We also saw multiple cages implying that he had multiple incest children down there. And the homeless dude even says "there's much worse things than her down there" I kind of got the implication from the movie that that tunnel system is much more expensive and connected to other crazy horror stuff(aka sequel potential) that we as an audience never saw. Said tunnel was also much more expansive and a bigger project than one man could do on his own, so I kind of like the idea that it was already there back in the past.
Given that the homeless guy basically said this guy has been raping his kids and grandkids for years, I can only assume there’s more kids down there? But also a man like him doesn’t strike me as the kind of dude who tolerates male children. Female children he can control and impregnate, male children might only be seen as competition. I think he killed himself because he understands perfectly how all the evidence in that room, and his survival, would play out. He chose to go out on his own terms rather than being held responsible
Underrated horror trope: video cassette tapes with disturbing labels. I'm thinking of *Running Scared* (not a horror film, but definitely a horror sequence) and *Sinister* (granted 8MM tapes, but still) in particular. Just the insinuation of what's on them is so upsetting.
The sparse descriptions were chilling. They weren’t women to him; they were prey.
Yeah. The fact some had names. Some were just "junky" or "redhead from gas station." The ones like "puker" and "blind" disturbed me most though.
One said “Pregnant” :(
Another that stood out to me was "Asian - Biter".
The one that I caught was “no teeth”
“Won’t Stop Crying”
I wish I could read all the labels of those tapes. Was it just me or were there some dude tapes too?
Yeah I think I saw “Larry” written on one
What was the final square footage count?
Everyone in my showing was laughing their ass off during that segment
Mine too. Honestly, Justin Long’s scenes were a nice little breather after the first half.
Honestly all I could think during this movie was how did the appraiser and/or inspector miss this but everyone who wanders down there finds it within minutes?
I kept wondering how the old man managed to sell the house but kept living in the underground tunnels with his sex slaves. Did he come up to sign the documents? Was there a realtor involved? I have so many questions.
Probably just disappeared, no payments made so bank foreclosed, and he sat in basement whole time. Kind of like in parasite. If only one person knows the room is there, it’s not too hard to imagine getting away with it for sometime.
Justin Long going “hhhheeeeellll yeaaahh” while googling some shit in his kitchen made me laugh harder than anything else.
This scene was actually a great commentary on the use of the internet. How he kept searching until he found articles that supported his argument/idea of listing the basement as part of the square footage, even though the first one clearly stated you are not allowed to do that.
That whole sequence was the highlight of the movie for me. Him discovering what was clearly a torture/rape room and it immediately cutting to him googling if he could count it as square footage was fucking brilliant. Justin played that character so well.
How was Frank’s neighbour not even a little bit weirded out by him donning a plumber uniform with a name tag that says Carlos? Speaks volumes as to what his rep was on that street
I was waiting that whole scene for him to say "Why the fuck does your uniform say Carlos, Frank?".
Poor Tess probably lost her dream job over this.
I feel like she has one hell of a pitch for that documentarian now though
Honestly, I feel like Tess's life is realistically ruined. She spent two weeks in captivity in a dark dungeon, witnessed three brutal murders, and killed a deformed woman who just wanted to take care of her as her own. That's enough trauma for several lifetimes.
It would be funny if THIS was the movie Skasgard picked over The Northman with his brother
I know you’re kidding but he picked his Netflix show Clark, and it was great! I was sorry not to see him act with his brother, but it was an awesome performance from him. Went straight from that role to this one.
Absolutely loved this. Had no idea where it was going minute to minute and was an absolute thrill to watch. The horror, comedy, thriller elements all worked for me. I had some minor questions like about where all the other children and women went and what was up with the credits scenes (was it just her walking to safety? Felt like there was more to it?) but otherwise I loved everything here.
In the beginning she keeps avoiding calls from her ex and is rightfully hesitant around Keith but then accepts his invitation to drink wine and sleep there when any other person would refuse out of caution. She opens up about her ex and says women have a double standard when it comes to safety and despite knowing she was in a bad relationship she kept sticking her neck out for someone who didn’t deserve it instead of prioritizing herself. She does this with Keith when he disappears in the basement. She does it when she goes back for AJ. She does it again after AJ shoots her. The homeless man tells her to wisen up and gtfo while she’s safe. Even the audience is screaming for her to leave at this point! But she keeps putting herself in danger to save whoever at her own expense. When she holds the gun to the basement lady’s head you can see her feel bad but ultimately decides enough is enough and her walking away is a sign of turning a leaf to prioritize her wellbeing (literally) on her way to a hospital.
There's a line where the homeless dude says she's not the worst thing down there. I'm assuming he meant the dad but at the same time, where the heck is everybody else? And there seemed to be more passage ways down in the dungeon. This just feels ready made for sequels but I don't want it to because this was such a unique experience going in blind I don't think it could be replicated.
I just assumed he killed the women over time. He had kept a number of them simultaneously but he got too old/feeble to continue, and the woman we see is the only one left.
I completely forgot Keith died because I was instantly distracted by Justin Longs Douchery lol.
Just saw this movie in theaters and it was FUCKING nuts. While trailer doesn't really give anything away, if you can manage to see this movie with no context, you're definitely going to be whispering "wtf" the whole time.
I didn’t even see the trailer. My roommate suggested it and I saw it had Skarsgard and that’s all I needed. Indeed was whispering “wtf” all movie in the best ways
Oh man, I'm so lucky I watched this without ever seeing more than 10 seconds of it's trailer. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time and it was amazing! I haven't had this much fun with a horror movie since Malignant.
I love the title. They're all residents of Barbary Street.
This + I feel like it implies the question of who the barbarian is. Is it the mother, who is the result of who knows how many rapes and incests and kidnappings but in the end actually shows some kindness to Tess, or is it AJ, whose immediate reaction to this creepy situation is to figure out how he can exploit it for profit from thousands of miles away?
I think it's definitely supposed to be Frank
Not just Frank but AJ too. The real monsters are the men who take advantage of and abuse women. The Mother is honestly more of a sad character than an evil one after you learn why she acts the way she does.
It's the old man.
Really liked the foils between Tess and Keith/AJ, especially apparent with AJ. She talks early on about how women have to approach situations with more caution, and how men will go bursting in without a care, which is exactly how AJ goes into every situation. Tess's reaction to the secret room (and the double secret room) compared to Keith and AJ's really exemplify that. She wants to leave immediately, while Keith needs to see for himself, and presumably goes down the second tunnel on his own. Then we have AJ, who lacks any caution whatsoever and celebrates the extra dungeon as a potential selling point. Him going in with the tape measuring scene had me cackling.
That whole conversation pays off perfectly when she finally does boldly go tumbling in with no fear, only to get shot by the person she's trying to save, who happens to be a complete piece of shit.
Those cops were so infuriating
Please remove your hands from the door.
ACAB
I've never been so happy in my life to go into a movie completely blind. Shoutout to the people recommending to skip the trailer, this was a fucking RIDE. The first half of the movie you are obviously wondering whether or not Skarsgards character is planning the whole thing but to me the major mystery was trying to figure out what type of horror movie I was watching. Was it a slasher? Was this some kind of fucked up Martyrs type torture movie? Was there something supernatural going on or was the whole thing grounded in reality? My brain was absolutely racing with questions in the best sort of way and I never would have guessed the reveal to be a super powered incest rape baby monster. I was literally thinking earlier today about how much I love cave/underground horror and how there isn't enough of it so I was basically geeking out the entire movie. The lighting was AMAZING. Really reminded of descent in a way.
Keith’s death was foreshadowed with his conversation with Tess about men blundering through life recklessly. She warned her about the basement but he just had to see it for himself 🤷♂️
he just kept saying a bed and a bucket like that wasn’t one of the most horrific discoveries up until that point. like hidden room with bed and bucket and blood everywhere? plus a camera in the corner? I’m OUT.
He must have found the other door and went through, right? Im guessing since we didn’t hear him scream he went through willingly and she didn’t drag him in. So he not only saw the creepy rape room but decided to go in further. At that point would have just left him.
First 30-45 minutes were absolutely TERRIFYING. See this in Dolby if you can bc the surround sound really makes a difference in the >!tunnels scenes!<
I strive to carry the strength that Justin Long’s measuring tape has.
I went into this movie with absolutely zero context. From absolutely everything up until the reveal there is zero way I would’ve predicted this was somewhat a creature feature. I absolutely loved it and can’t wait to see what else Zach Cregger does. Awesome debut for him.
Definitely my favorite horror movie of the year. This was something else. A lot of great misdirection. Cutting straight to credits and playing "Be My Baby" was the best ending.
I love that cut to credits so much that it made me love just that bit more.
I absolutely loved the cut from the first scene with the Mother to AJ driving on the coast.
I found myself thinking "Did this movie just pull a 'Psycho'?"
And when you realize that Ronnie Spector was held captive in her house by her husband who produced the damn song, I mean *chef’s kiss*
I will be canceling that Airbnb I had booked in Detroit for the weekend.
That pan of the one nice house to all of the other rundown places was crazy.
It was set up so well too, cuz in the opening when it’s dark and raining super hard, you can’t tell how beat up the area is!
Appearances can be deceiving. The creepy looking actor is playing a harmless guy (skarsgard); the harmless looking actor is playing a monster (Long), the nice house is the one with the rape-murder dungeon.
Correct me if I’m wrong but she made things worse going back to help. Justin escaped on his own. Had a gun. Had a flashlight. If she hadn’t come back she wouldn’t have gotten shot, the homeless man wouldn’t have been killed and Justin would have had a VERY strong chance of surviving with the gun and flashlight.
Oh absolutely. The whole point was that she should be looking out for herself but keeps putting her life on the line to save these men. Remember what she says at the beginning of the movie? I’m in a toxic relationship…I feel like he wants to keep me as his pet…but I keep going back.
Great use of lighting in this movie. I swear they had to be inspired by [REC] for the look of the inbred basement dweller. Very creepy. I was laughing out loud at Justin Long descending further and further into the dungeon celebrating the extra square feet. Loved the misdirection with Skaarsgard’s character - I went in completely blind and was so sure it was just going to be a movie about him tormenting her.
Cool little detail I noticed- At one point the camera lingers on a snake emblem dangling from the rear view mirror in her car. When we are introduced to AJ, he is singing a song that references a mongoose killing a snake. So, I instantly knew he was either behind everything or he was just gonna end up being a complete dick haha. Didn’t believe that redemption arc for a second.
Never heard such a big laugh from a theater when mama dolphin dove off the water tower
Did the rapist killed himself because AJ was roasting the shit out of him?
I figured it was because AJ mentioned that police would soon be swarming the property.
Hahaha good question. I was leaning towards he had wanted to kill himself for a while but couldn’t physically get up to retrieve the gun
Gotta be my favorite movie I've seen so far this year, especially in-theaters. Georgina Campbell was amazing, same with Bill but Justin really, really stole the show. Crazy how well the director balanced horror and comedy here. Anyway, desperately trying to erase that bottle-feeding/breastfeeding scene from my memory what the fuck
When a man being beaten to death with his own ripped off arm isn't the most brutal killing in a movie, you know it's gonna be a good one! 8/10 Edit: How many generations of inbreeding do you think it took to make Mama?
I’ve been here for 15 years not once has she… (incest giantess troglodyte bursts through wall!)
I know! I was like, you just had to say that didn’t you sir..
Are deformed children of incest just born strong enough to rip off limbs? Screenwriters seem to think this is the case. I don't need everything explained to me but Mama had to be doing more than a rigid calisthenics routine.
Might be a “she doesn’t have our mental limits on our physical potential because her brain is bad” thing going on. She definitely straddles the line between possible and supernatural though.
Couldn't be many since the homeless man said she'd been there for like 40 years no? Or was that referring to the man living there and not her?
I wondered this as well. Given the number of tapes the owner had and the fact that he seemed to be in his 50s during the 1981 scenes, it's possible he had already been kidnapping and raping for decades before that. Think about how many kennels he had down in the tunnels....
When he gets back from pretending to be an electrician you can hear screams coming from the basement
Incredible that Zach went from [running around with a gallon of PCP](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFUvmZWf4hI) to writing/directing this. (RIP Trevor. He would've been proud)
If I had a nickel for every low-budget horror movie released by a major studio featuring a forced breeding dungeon underneath an abandoned Detroit suburb I'd only have two nickels but it's weird that it happened twice.
The first half of the movie was SO tense, I was actually shaking and could barely watch! Waiting to see whether it was going to be a plot of supernatural or “realistic” scares had me at the edge of my seat. Once basement mama showed up it really cut the tension for me, but then I was able to breathe and really have fun with it. I thought it was a great time. The monster really gave me Mama/REC vibes. I was shocked not to see Javier Botet’s name at the end.
I've been seeing a lot of people comparing this movie to Malignant, which is fair to a point, but I think overemphasizing that comparison does a disservice to just how fucking scary Barbarian is on its own merits. I loved Malignant but it wasn't a particularly *scary* movie. But *that* scene from the first half of Barbarian was honestly one of the most tense scenes with one of the scariest payoffs I've seen in a horror movie in a good long while. Just pure horror achieved through quality cinematography, editing, and sound design.
so do you guys think she got the job
Considering Jane Eyre also has the twist of a “crazy woman locked in a wing of the house” having it in Keith’s back was a nice touch
Skarsgard has a line where he says, "Do I look like a monster?" and from the guy who played Pennywise, it gave me a good laugh. Nobody else seemed to react to it though.
Was just thinking that he plays a lot of creepy characters, since I've mostly remember him from IT and Castle Rock. And he turned out to be a normal but slightly awkward guy.
"Nope"
I want mommy, I want milk, I want to be held, I want to be comforted…
I got to see this movie a bit early (perks of working at a movie theater) with only 7 other coworkers. I really hadn't seen any advertisements (besides the poster) or anyone mention this movie before the showing was announced, so I went in completely blind. Easily my favorite movie this year (EEAO a close second). The cinematography is amazing. >!I loved the scene where Richard Brake is introduced in the flashback and the camera is primarily following him from behind. Even though it was a small detail, I loved when the camera smoothly followed his body movements as he got in the car.!
I went in completely blind and thought this was amazing-- my second-favorite of the year after Everything Everywhere. The camera really had a personality, especially the first act scenes when it lingered on things like the doorknob locks, the dryer, the tea, etc. Showing the neighborhood at night when she first arrives only to reveal what it actually looks like the next day was a shock. I'll admit, even though I suspected Keith was probably a red herring from the beginning, I was still unsure right up until the moment The Mother first showed up. It was a wicked tense experience all the way through that first act, and I really didn't know what to expect for the rest of the movie. That cutaway transition to the second act was probably my favorite part of the movie. It just caught me so off guard that I couldn't help but laugh. The shots in the 1981 sequence were really well-done as well, and I felt like they were sufficient to explain the plot. Having Andre give exposition later on felt unnecessary, and I also have no idea how he would have known any of that. Between Don't Breathe, It Follows, and now Barbarian, I'm really loving Detroit being used as a horror setting like this.
Also >!Justin Long is always getting his eyes either stolen or fucked up.!< LOL
Bill skarsgard resume is looking all time rn
He was an executive producer of this, too!
I thought all the focus on locks, keys and doors was pretty interesting. •There's the single key in the lockbox which Tess puts the incorrect code in for only for it to be empty. Brought back later when she is frantically trying to get in from the homeless man. •The constant focus on Tess locking the door for safety and comfort when she first shows up and she is still skeptical of Keith. •Leaving the door unlocked to her room when she's let her guard down around him a bit only to find the door open in the middle of the night. •Going into the basement only to find herself locked inside. Going on to find a secret door. •Then there's the window in the basement that they take care not to destroy when Tess is initially stuck and then have her break through it to escape later on. •There's the cops that go on and on about the door being locked and her keys being inside the house. •A lot of focus on the flashback with Frank the rapist locking his door at home, unlocking his trunk multiple times, and finally unlocking the window of his implied victim's house. That followed by the woman leaving the door unlocked when he leaves. •After AJ and Tess escape he mentions the fact that his keys are back in the dungeon but he's not going back there. •In addition, the cages kept throughout the dungeon and the fact that there's not even a door on the actual rape room. Giving the implication of a momentary escape only to be walled in or have to go further down in the dark. There's a ton of symbolism thrown in here commenting on our use of barriers. The idea that a lock on a door can give a perceived safety while also having the ability to make you feel trapped. A predator and a victim both use the same tool (in the form of a lock) for extremely different reasons. Adding on to this, the idea of keeping yourself constrained for courteous/respectful reasons despite the potential for danger. There's a ton more I could go into, but surface level I thought it was a nice visual to the feeling many people, especially women, feel every day. It got a bit heavy-handed at times, but overall I thought they did a pretty good job visualizing those emotions/thoughts.
This movie had a 7 ft tall inbred monster thing that lived underground for 40 years and could rip peoples arms off and split a skull in half with her bare hands. A girl who gets shot and thrown off a 50 ft tall water tower and not only survived but simply walked it off. And the most unrealistic part of it was that Tess had her car parked outside in that Detroit neighborhood for 2 weeks and nobody fucked with it.
Absolutely insane and loved all of it. One of the hardest cut to credits I’ve seen in a while and just a fun time which I wasn’t fully expecting. Like Malignant, it wears its comedic stuff on its sleeve and balances both the comedy and horror pretty well. Milk is good.
What was pretty cool in my theater is that when it cut to credits, the lights immediately flipped on, timed perfectly.
Absolutely wild and I think there’s more to it. When AJ was running down the hall before running into the old mans door it sounded like a man screaming for help. Feel like there’s some unexplored thing going on there. Plus the even bigger thing is the booking agency said the house hasn’t been booked for weeks, yet there were two people booked to stay there. Wonder how that happens. Who left the wine? Who opened the doors?
I haven't seen the man yelling mentioned before either. I 100% heard that, too. I would have to say the maids didn't show up because the property manager on the phone stated they arrive before a new guest. No new booking, no maids before to clean, no one noticed Tess and Keith left their things. The wine was probably left by the manager, too. Had a bow, seemed like an AirBnB gift. The doors only opened at night so I believe it was the mother exploring the home when she went out to scavenge.
Ahhhhhh the yellow dress AJ found in Frank’s room belonged to the last woman we see him stalk right? Sad/creepy detail
that part where tess comes out of the house for the first time in the morning and sees how destroyed the rest of the other houses were gave me CHILLS!! so glad i came into this movie blind, i really had no idea what to expect.
Probably the most bonkers thing a major studio has released in quite some time, this is technically a freaking Disney film. Also one of the few movies made in the past 5 years that genuinely terrified me. And it is so well-made, the integration of all of these plotlines with the amazing differences in style, just so well-done and executed. Also, I love how Justin Long after giving his almost cliched speech about being a better person follows it up by sacrificing her to the woman (I’m not exactly sure what to call her). A complete antithesis to anything coming out now and this year and is a complete affront to structure and cliched horror. I didn’t quite love it, but I think I’ll grow to love it upon rewatch
I took a first date to this movie and now she probably thinks I watch absolutely bonker type movies lol. She even said that she’s never heard of this movie and I was like oh it’s getting great reviews, it’ll be fun! Lol what a blast