Barbarians is a bizarre thriller with an interesting premise that is unfortunately slow, disjointed, and extremely predictable.
IFC’s Barbarians start off with an interesting enough premise, but the longer it goes, the more disjointed it becomes. This is a shame because it feels like there is a good movie in there somewhere, but it is hidden by several plot points that just don’t work as a cohesive story. The movie completely switches genres a little more than halfway through which is just confusing for viewers. It is quite a jarring transition, which is on purpose, but doesn’t work.
This movie takes place over the course of just one day — twenty-four hours — that follows Adam on his birthday. He starts the day off waking up next to his girlfriend Eva and the two discuss how the house they are living in is about to truly become theirs. Later, their friend Lucas, who is also a property developer, and his girlfriend Chloe come over for dinner.
During the dinner, it becomes obvious that secrets are being kept, and eventually they start to come out. But before they can be addressed properly, the doorbell rings and in come some home invaders. This is where Barbarians really starts to fall apart. As someone who is a big fan of this type of horror / thriller / home invasion story, I was surprised to be so annoyed by this abrupt transition.
This is probably because the drama surrounding the dinner was just starting to get good after waiting what felt like forever to pick up, and then it was cut off by these strange people in masks entering the house and dancing around on the dinner table — yes, it is very weird.
That said, I rather enjoyed this part of the story, at least more than the first part of the film. Even though I almost immediately knew who these strangers were, and how they tied into the greater story, they brought some truly brutal, intense, suspenseful, and bloody moments to the film. This helped reinvigorate the plot, but it is almost too little too late to move this film into the recommended category.
The first part of Barbarians is filled with an awkward dinner between “friends” that is mostly entertaining because viewers are waiting for the shoe to drop. But the second it does, this film takes a sharp left turn into a weird invasion thriller that sort of ties into the rest of the movie (in a very predictable way), yet feels extremely out of place, despite being the best part of the movie.
The final shot of Barbarians is actually quite stunning in a very creepy and horrific way. Unfortunately the plot is all over the place, with none of the drama ever getting resolved due to the bizarre turn of events. This is likely to drive most viewers crazy because the movie just kind of ends, with so much left unsaid or discussed.
Rating: 1.5 out of 5
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About Barbarians
Set over the course of twenty-four hours, BARBARIANS sees couple Adam (Rheon) and Eva (Moreno) wake up in their supposed dream house on Adam’s birthday. Lucas (Cullen), property developer and friend of the couple, arrives for dinner with his actress girlfriend Chloe (Spiridonov), to celebrate Adam’s birthday and the couple’s buying of the house. But secrets unravel over dinner, and when the doorbell rings the evening takes a nightmarish turn. As manners give way to madness, an ‘idyllic’ evening of celebration descends into a dark night of terror; and the group’s civilised dinner party turns out to be anything but.
