Dog’s Movie House: “Barbarian” a wild, entertainly creepy horror flick!

That’s all I’m gonna say because the less you know about the plot of “Barbarian” the better. The feature film debut from screenwriter/director Zach Cregger is very self assured and wonderfully filmed piece of cinema. There is a confident sense of pacing and the work Cregger does with timelines and location jumps allows “Barbarian” to feel fresh and unpredictable. He’s also good at building old fashioned suspense, using the tunnels and the surrounding and very dilapidated Detroit suburb to armchair-gripping effect. Cregger combines some good old fashioned dread with some very effective jumps scares to craft a truly unverving (in the best possible way) cinematic experience.

The performances Cregger elicits out of his cast are all uniformly outstanding, with Campbell really shining as Tess, one of the most memorable final girls in horror film history. Skarsgard matches her step for step as the befuddled Keith. Cregger uses the actor’s reputation as horror icon Pennywise The Dancing Clown to great effect for a “will he/won’t he” vibe. It’s like casting Robert Englund as the hero, all the while believing he might go Freddy Krueger at any moment. The film’s MVP, however, is Justin Long as AJ, the actual owner of the property and a first class asshat. Long imbues AJ with such a playful, sleazy charisma that I found myself smiling whenever he was onscreen despite the fact that AJ does some pretty heinous crap. The twists and turns of this film are so much fun and add such a thrill to the proceedings that I’m fairly sure “Barbarian” will reward repeat viewings for details you might have missed the first time around. I honestly can’t remember the last time I had such a good time at a horror film at the movies. If you like the scary stuff, “Barbarian” is for you. 4 1/2 Out Of 5 On Kendog’s Barkometer! So sayeth the Kendog!

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