by Eric Lindbom
Details:
Director: Zach Creeger
Run Time: 102 Minutes
Actors: Georgina Campbell, Justin Long, Bill Skarsgard
Comedy and horror are strange cine crypt fellows since both genres solicit visceral physical viewer reactions – gut busting laughs or ice in the stomach if not nausea. Our ribs are tickled or our skin crawls. During a fright film, we often giggle as an escape valve (which is why James Whale the genius director of Bride of Frankenstein and The Invisible Man leavened those classics with gallows humor to assure we laugh with and not at his monsters).
So while it shouldn’t surprise us, it’s a giddy delight that some of our shrewdest contemporary horror scribes cut their fangs as comedy writers. Hardly punch up pros cramming one liners down Freddy Krueger’s gullet, these screenwriters steer clear of parody and clearly relish horror films at their most intense. Joining talents like Jordan Peele and Lauryn (Fresh) Kahn please welcome writer/director Zach Creeger (founder and actor of the sketch comedy group The Whitest Kids U’ Know). The B in writer/director Creeger’s Barbarian (in theaters now) stands for buzz (via word of mouth and critical raves) as well as buzz off to synopsis-addled commenters. Not since The Crying Game way last century can I think of a film with a hairpin twist so closely guarded and I won’t piss in the punch bowl by over explaining.
I’m in your/my safe zone noting that Barbarian warrants all the kudos while ingeniously checking off boxes with vigor. Setting — A bombed out derelict Detroit neighborhood that screams keep driving. Fiend – A killer with a back story and raison d’etre vs. a mindless psycho. Hard core scares – Well rendered but Creeger understands our expectant dread often transcends the jolt; case in point, my being majorly creeped out by a swiftly retracting tape measure.
Most crucially, Creeger taps into a relatable phobia – the sense of intrusion one can feel while staying in an Airbnb let alone the unwanted hygienic surprises (why my wife and I stick to hotels thank you). The logline premise is choice. Through a double-booking error Tess (Georgina Campbell) shares her lodging with Keith a pragmatic stranger (Bill Skarsgard, the killer clown from It). Wary, Tess agrees since she has a job interview the next day with a documentary filmmaker whose obscure work Keith has (coincidentally?) seen.
Creeger’s canny set up was inspired by the non-fiction book “The Gift of Fear: Survival Signals That Protect Us From Violence,” a how for women to sniff off players and predators. He dips into the well of sexual paranoia that pervades our era of toxic masculinity awareness. With believable dialogue, Tess and Keith walk on eggshells showing how aware they are of danger signs. Creeger taunts us since Campbell is a resourceful, sensible character who (based on circumstances) plausibly acts against her better judgment. Is Keith to be feared or what about the clueless, jerky sitcom actor/property owner (Justin Long) who turned up after being Me Too-ed?
Like the forgotten stars of the 1973 drive-in shocker Don’t Look in the Basement all three can’t help it (or there would be no movie). You might peer through your fingers at one of the year’s scariest, brightest fright flicks.
Eric Lindbom is a hardcore horror buff with a strong stomach, weened on the Universal classics from the ’30s and ’40s. He’s written film and/or music reviews for City Pages, Twin Cities Reader, LA WEEKLY, Request magazine and Netflix. He co-edits triggerwarningshortfiction.com, a site specializing in horror, fantasy and crime short stories with illustrations by co-editor John Skewes. He lives in Los Angeles.
