My theory as to why she didn't nab Tess or Keith at night when she was sneaking around could have been because they were sleeping and you don't want to wake a sleeping baby, so her nurture side probably told her, "well they're in the house and safe, I'll let them sleep."
Tiny detail I loved was when Justin Long was going through Keith’s bag the book he found was Jane Eyre, which also features an insane woman locked away and hidden from the world.
I LOVED the hard-cut to AJ. The first "monster" had just been shockingly revealed in a claustrophobic and dark dungeon while she's screaming, and then cuts to our second "monster" in a beautiful open location while he's singing. Also, while it wasn't shown, it's pretty obvious with his drunk voicemail that he admitted guilt and most likely got absolutely dragged after the events we saw. Pretty funny/fitting that his character was 2-faced and Mother gave him 2 faces.
I could be wrong, but I interpreted the scene where he calls the rental agent a little differently. She says that they haven't had any renters for a few weeks. I think that's how long Tess was down there. Tess and Keith were the last renters and no one rented it since then, so that's why no one discovered their stuff. She'd certainly been down there more than a day or two. She says that she doesn't know how long it was, but she'd figured out not to upset "The Mother," so I got the impression that she'd been there for awhile.
That's what I gathered, too. She seemed to have a really good sense of the routine and what was right to do by that point, so I figured she and/or Keith were the last renters the agent referred to.
@@ChristineSMeyer I mean the movie didn’t really have Tess mention or have anyone like a friend or family throughout the movie other than the ex she had. Also she probably was getting to that but got distracted when having fun with Keith.
Another parallel between the 2 storylines (I forget the character names forgive me): She has a line at the beginning of the movie that since she's a woman she has to be hyper aware of her surroundings at all time, but guys have the freedom to just walk into situations with no fear. Then we see during Justin Longs part thats all he does, just blunder his way through without giving a thought, like Maybe I shouldn't rush into the secret underground tunnel system in my basement
And at the end when she hits the mother with her car, she watches carefully to make sure the mother is dead. Comparatively, Justin long just believes the mother is dead when she falls off the water tower which is what kills him
@@hannahohno This. Lol. She took a lot of precautions when he met a stranger (Keith) but he has no problem entering a basement with 2 secret and extremely dangerous entrances, again, lol.
I actually don't think that Tess was making decisions based on them being morally right. Early on the movie we learn that she's in an abusive relationship. She tells Keith about a scenario dealing with a guy who thinks love and control are the same thing, and the girl that let's herself become something like a pet, then tells him that she can't believe it's happening to her. So I think that was establishing how she struggles to leave men behind, even when she knows it's dumb to go back and is putting her own well being at risk.
I don’t know if the two are mutually exclusive, though. I think you’re totally right but to say it doesn’t still speak to a moral fortitude as well as a character flaw is a little limited. To me at least
This can still be a moral issue. while people can change attachment styles throughout significant events in life, personality is pretty rigid. That being said, she likely learned to be a savior/codependent to some degree in childhood and is accepting of douchebags because of her comfort in salvation mode. She is also extremely cautious because of this dynamic has also proven to be painful/dangerous. Yet a pattern is familiar even when it's not truly comfortable. She followed this pattern of being a helper. Even though it's detrimental. This is likely something that makes her feel good or better when she's helpful and stupid or ashamed when it's with the wrong person. It's moral because no virtue is without pleasure and suffering on their continuum.
Also with the pic of Keith's ID, she showed that she didnt trust him by taking the pic, but by the next day she was looking at the pic and "caressing" his face like she was already falling for him. With AJ it seemed like pure empathy, because she had been down there for weeks and didn't want him to be subjected to the same thing.
The ending is the reality for survivor's. There is never any justice. And even if you managed to win anything in court, the posses is not about you the victim. It is built around the perpetrator. And therefore just the act of trying to seek justice, is in itself, traumatising. The fact that the world never knew what he or the original house owner did, is realty. The vast majority of abusers never see any repercussions. As a survivor of csa, the current ending while harsh, is satisfactory to me as it is not lying. Or giving false hope.
Exactly my thought! Maybe that's something that's just very obvious when you yourself have gone through SA or other abuse, and not so obvious to the "ordinary" observer, but to me it was a fantastic ending - for exactly the reasons you mention.
Truth There's never a satisfactory ending to CSA survival stories. Tried explaining this in the Ethan Hawke black phone thing when people were complaining about no character development nor backstory and so were frustrated by the lack of closure. And I'm like "yeah, that's how CSA leaves you feeling"
@@KristiContemplates as a csa I agree. The crime is about the perpetrator. And the because of this, everything is in there court in our society. Just survivoring is constantly having things taken from you. Choice in life choices is a big one. Becuase it is crimes about power, the power stays with the perpetrator. They may never think about there victim for a second the rest of there life. But the victim spends the rest of there life thinking about the perpetrator. And thus the power stays in the perpetrators court. I see and call csa the same as soul murder. As the perpetrator plan move on and do what every they want. But the survivor had to live with the devastation the rest of a life. And it impacts absolutely Ever part of a survivor's life. And every action and desision. At 38, I am ONLY well enough to try to seek some type of compensation for my abuse. And EVER step is built to punish survivor's. EVERYTHING. But I will continue because I. DID. NOTHING. WRONG. And I refuse to let it go. I deserve my comunity knowing the monster in there midst. And NO SHAME is on male. I find my being Frank and open about my abuse, has helped others in my comunity.
Barbarian is easily one of my favorite theatrical experiences of the year, so glad I went in blind. Comparing the first act to the second, it's amazing how they use the same set up for completely different outcomes. It really shows how Horror and Comedy are more connected than we think, and just like Comedy, the key to Horror is.... timing.
Completely agree! I say this and The Black Phone, both films I knew very little about and had no high hopes really. And at least with The Black Phone I knew I was going to see Ethan Hawk but for this I didn’t know who was in the cast at all.
my theater experience was absolutely wild because I took a bathroom break like as soon as she went down the stairs and when I got back like three minutes later Justin Long was driving down the road and I had to double check that I walked back into the right theater
it’s so sad because i was so terrified of keith and hated him (not knowing much going in and assuming he was the villain because it’s bill skarsgard duh) but then the moment he dies it’s just like oh my god i feel so bad he was just genuinely a nice art collective dude who was trying to help tess out 😭
I don’t think Keith was a nice guy at all. Sure he appeared nice and did a lot of nice deeds but he repeatedly ignored Tess’ (I forgot the main characters name. Is it Tess?) wants, like making her tea when she said no and offering her wine when she said no and countless other examples. I think he was probably the parallel for AJ who’s an obvious creep while Keith is a “nice” creep, but that’s just my opinion. I think if they were together he would constantly dismiss her.
The reason why they were leaving that perfect neighborhood was because of racial tension and black people moving to Detroit. Hence why he said “the neighborhood is going to piss.” The crazy thing about this film is Brightmoor actually has a lot of blocks just like that. You will see a brand new looking house like it just got dropped down in the middle of the neighborhood. I was born and raised in Detroit so I have a lot real insight to this film. Definitely my favorite this year.
Exactly! Knowing the history around it while watching actually makes it better. It’s not entirely fictitious there’s so much truth to it. Places like that do look like something out of a horror movie and it’s terrifying and sad.
That's what I said to my mom when he said that. You knew the way the place was looking fine and Regan was accelerating deindustrialization, it was White flight. Stankin tail...
@@alfie6441 I never understood why people are scared unless you see someone in the house or are alone. It's really just sad because it's loss of business and jobs then tax revenue and it snowballs.
I grew up in the Metro area and live in the suburbs just outside of the city. I have friends who live in the Brightmoor area, You could go several blocks with no street lights, boarded houses and burned out stores but one block will have these beautifully kept homes, gardens, street lights, people sitting out on the porches, then the next 6 blocks are back to being abandoned. I'd go over there for parties, have drinks on the porch. It was this weird feeling of being on edge with the surrounding area but that this block felt like a warm safe place.
The sound that wakes Tess up the first night in the house is 100% the mother feeding Keith. He's having a nightmare, being fussy, so she goes to feed him thinking he's hungry. It gets more disturbing the more I hear it haha
I got to see this in secret while my parents were out of town. I was seated next to a sweet older couple who loved horror. We found ourselves having the same reactions and leaning forward in anticipation at the same moments. Afterwards, we talked about the movies we wanted to see next and I made their day by telling them that the then upcoming Pearl was a prequel to X - which they didn't realize despite LOVING X.
@@lemongrabthesecond I agree! The husband and I were geeking out on the way out and his wife was embarrassed by his inner manchild. It was my favorite theater experience.
@@liquidimpression1091 Yes! That sounds so nice! I remember seeing Match Point at my local art house theater as a teen and asking this couple in their 70s to watch my seat as I met my friends. Bought them a fancy chocolate bar as a thank you and they were SO sweet. They thought it was cool that a group of teens was seeing an “adult” movie and we talked about the movie for like 20 mins after it was over. 10/10 experience.
That's so wholesome omg, it's always the best when you're sitting next to fellow horror fans. When I saw Pearl I sat next to these two people who were narrating/talking throughout the entire movie and laughing at the most inappropriate times.
I saw an interesting theory as to why Mother left Tess alone the first night. Basically that Mother heard the guy having the nightmare and was going to him. And that Tess woke him in up just in time. Since mother truly just wants to protect and nurture, since they were both quiet she just left them alone.
Whoa, hold on a second guys! I see everyone here talking about how the woman didn't want to disturb her 'babies' while she roamed at night, but let me point out that heavy door in the basement which sealed off the tunnels and could only be opened from one side by pulling that rope. Can someone explain how she managed to do that???
As soon as the basement was revealed, I’m ashamed to say that I had the exact same reaction as Justin Long’s character. I was like, “Damn! The square footage of this place is incredible! Look at this basement!!!”
I think it was so wild the way she kept looking for help and safety from the men around her but in the end they just ended up being no help at all keith, the police, and obviously AJ. The homeless man tried his best but it was at his own demise unfortunately
I was so upset that the homeless man died like I seen it coming but I hoped when he warned her he woulda just been written out. But good observation all the men undermined her and used her even the cops wrote her off.
I mean, aside from AJ and the cops, Keith was a lovely, decent guy who actually made her life easier in many small ways when he really didn’t have to. And the homeless man was literally a knight in shining amour that tried his best in every way to help her/save her and it cost him his life. I think they balanced it out quite nicely, especially Keith because he was literally the antithesis of everything she was afraid he’d be, which makes a good point that not all men are AJs. Also, SHE could be a lot more proactive and independent. Everything happened TO her, she was always reacting on the back foot, until the end and even then that gunshot was not like Ripley in Alien.
@@stopthephilosophicalzombie9017 Keith wasn't worthless or evil though? Everything he does is understandable besides going down to the second basement without mentioning it
I love this movie! Also, I know people will find different themes in the movie, focus on different parts, etc., but, for me, the ending was incredibly poignant, when The Mother reaches out for Tess and says "baby". I cried so hard, bc I felt so much the intergenerational trauma of the abuse that led to The Mother's creation and to the destruction she wrought, along with Tess choosing the moral imperative of her own survival
I noticed the contrast between her and Justin longs character. She was bore out of the worst situation imaginable but still tried and wanted to love something. Justin longs character was a POS til the end, even though he seemed like his life was amazing and his mom loved him.
Yea that one scene just turned around the whole prespective, i thought they will justify the mother in the flashback but the revelation in the climax is just perfect.
I loved the ending. I actually cried for the poor woman. In all movies, a "creature" like that (that looks like that) is just crazy and bad and scary. But when she jumped to save her... I think it's the first horror movie where I cried.
You should watch Mama (2013) I cant watch horror cause im too easily freaked out but i watched a summary and i cry literally every time I see the ending sceen. Similar vibe there of the 'monster' being more then just scary and bad with an atypical ending
She was weirdly sympathetic. Especially compared to the worse monster hiding in the basement with her and even justin longs character. The Orphanage was a pretty great tearjerker disguised as a horror thriller. It's foreign/Spanish but it's def worth a watch.
You could Tess that despite all Tess has been through, she killed the woman out of sympathy rather than out of anger or rage. Like this woman was clearly suffering and had likely suffered her entire life. I really felt for the woman as well, she just wanted to nurture and care but didn't have the cognitive ability to tell right from wrong.
Yeah it was evocative because she's really not mentally competent and then she's not been raised normally, yet she still has a nurturing drive. She can't help herself and her and Tess have that caring drive in common.
SPOILERS The ending felt so underwhelming at first, but I think that’s the point. Big shot so sure he’s the hero of his own narrative only to end not with a bang but a literal whimper. As much as I wanted to see him publicly condemned, maybe him dying at the hands of what the worst version of him could have created. And naked lady was put down, but not with cruelty in mind, just sad inevitability.
cheers to aj's victim, the real winner in this narrative, who will get to wake up the next day to a news headline that her rapist's head got smashed like a goddamn canteloupe
If a car didn't put her down, there's no way her leaping off a tower like a spider monkey cat would deprive us of the "killer getting back up" trope. Even if Tess and AJ left before she came to, he gets triple cancelled and so on...what even would have happened to the Mother? Animal control show up, darts her and they take her to NIMH to study?
Ending was fine, because most of the movies from 70s and 80s that this movie pays homage too usually ended abruptly with MC killing the villain or creature. So it was kinda perfect ending for this type of movie, because it obviously pays ton of homage to 70s and 80s creature feature movies.
Just a note: I think they explain why the rental company doesn't know about the tenants there (though it doesn't seem like they know about the double booking)-they mention that the last tenants were staying there two weeks ago and that they don't clean the house until a new tenant is going to be staying there. Tess says she doesn't know how long she's been down there, so I'm assuming she/Keith were the tenants from two weeks ago that the rental company mentioned (and with no new booking, they hadn't been out there to clean the property yet and see their belongings).
Additional comment: For a while there (might still be a big thing?) The city of Detroit was selling abandoned homes around the city really cheap (like, $100) with the stipulation that they get fixed to a certain standard. A lot of people, especially young people from California would buy them, sometimes unseen.
Definitely not like that now and it also wasn’t a bustload of homes for $100 but I have seen super cheap homes very close to the price years ago. But they needed a shit load of work to bring them back up to standards. And I’m talking from the standpoint of someone born n raised in Detroit
@@RicoSoprano_ I'm just outside Detroit on the east side. My sis used to travel all over out west, and she would get all pissed at these people from California (and a few other places) that thought they were going to profiteer off buying cheap Detroit homes. Little did they know what they were going to get themselves into.
My dad took me to see this, not letting me know ANYTHING about it beforehand, and i can honestly say it was one of the best experiences of my life. So many times I thought that I had the plot figured out, only for it to turn a 180 on me. Justin Long's scene in the hidden parts of the house had the entire theater cracking up. By the end, the character I felt the most for was, surprisingly, the Mother. 10/10, will recommend!!
I don't get emotional watching many things but this movie actually made me genuinely sad and had me tear up at the end cause I felt so bad for mother and how badly she just wanted that connection and to nurture. It didn't scare but I loved it even though it was heartbreaking to me
As someone who can't watch most horror movies (and especially not this one with this subject matter) I am very grateful to have youtube and people like Amanda so I don't miss out on such bonkers plots. Truly, to completely miss out on such insanity would be a tragedy
@@fm.9783 i did notice that but they didn't say movies in general just the horror ones, so i inferred it as them being to scared to watch horror. If i'm wrong then i'm really sorry for making that comment.
@@thisiscait Have you given Jeepers Creepers another go? I re-watched that movie recently and it absolutely holds up, Justin Long was excellent in it. It's easily one of my horror favorites
Opinions on the plot aside can we all just agree that every character is written incredibly well? Everyone besides the old man were multifaceted charactes. Tess and Keith especially are amazing. As a guy you can relate to Keith's pressure to try and be nice while also trying not to be creepy. Up until he goes to the second basement without saying anything (which doesn't fit that well with his character imo) he does everything a nice person would in the situation he's in. Then AJ and the old man show why it's so hard to trust men even when they try their best.
I was having a particularly stressful day with my toddler and went to see this with some friends to get a little break. It definitely did not help with Mom guilt.
I remember at a screening I went to, the trio sitting a row or two behind me were very vocal towards the climax. When Tess was both shot at and tossed off the water tower, the one goes “Are you fucking kidding me?!” Then when Tess finally pulls the trigger on Mother, that same guy goes “Oh, thank God!” That was a fun trip to the movies, I definitely agree that it is one of the best horror movies of the year. And speaking as a Michigander myself (and quoting my Letterboxd review) we do have neighborhoods that look like this and the cops are just as useless.
I loved watching this in the theatre. It was unreal! Justin Long measuring the underground room was one of the funniest and most tense scenes ever. 😂 🫣
I can totally see what you mean about AJ, sometimes death doesn't feel like a consequence to their actions and it just feels like they got away with being assholes
I definitely bit in hard to the Bill being bad, especially because I refused to watch the trailers. All I knew was airbnb + strange man and so when the twist came I was shocked. Great movie!
My favourite part of watching Barbarian was Love In The Villa had just come out also & they both have the "two people forced to share a rental" premise with WILDLY different outcomes. Theyre great paired together
The Barbarian is one of the best movies of the year. I was so scared while in the theater. The twist was so simple but amazing. The writing, cast, and pacing were on point. Can't wait to watch it again. Justin Long did very well. 10/10.
That ending is so truly heart wrenching for me. Mother didn’t understand. She was human too. It wasn’t her fault, what she had gone through. That man didn’t deserve to off himself. Mother should have been the one to kill her. She meant well for her “babies” God I feel like I’m gonna cry. Not understanding that your baby is hurting only to be kill by them. And the look in her eyes before the trigger was pulled. Heartbreaking.
I thought Justin Long's ending was a pretty solid culmination. After his "breakthrough" we see that he'll immediately discard any sort of growth in favor of self preservation. He was there to sell the house to pay for his pending legal fees, so he essentially still dies a bad guy
The scariest aspect for me had to do w the fact that all of us either have had (or know someone who had) a creepy Airbnb experience and this just brought those memories back 😭
Man, I just watched this last night and was so stoked to hear your thoughts! A lot of this movie reminded me of Promising Young Woman in that we were shown a spectrum of toxic masculinity and how it manifests to all hurt women. This movie was really similar - the three different "stories" all feature men who are increasingly troubling and harmful; Kyle was altogether a decent guy but he pushed things a bit too much when she was uncomfortable and most egregiously brushed off her reactions to situations that ultimately led to his death and her capture. Then of course, Justin Long's character was a certifiable bad guy and he endangered women as a result of his own twisted preceptions , and finally ending on the Father's character, who was just monstrous. You can even argue that all the other male characters in this movie had moments of antagonizing or ignoring our protagonist, like the two male cops who refused to offer any real help. Even the man who saved her from the Mother was introduced as obviously threatening in a way that he didn't have to be, and which ultimately catalyzed the rest of the events in the film. I just thought this movie was such an interesting look at the various ways in which men can not only be barbaric but also how their seemingly "harmless" behaviors can lead to situations that cause far more harm. And while I enjoyed "Men", I think this movie did the same exact thing, but more effectively.
On the subject of your theater experience. I went alone and was hooked immediately. 30 minutes into the movie a large gentleman sits down right next to me. Mind you there were only 2 other people in the theater. Starts looking at his phone on full brightness. I gave it about five minutes and said “I’m trying to watch this movie” and he puts it away. I got anxious and moved two rows down. He then leaves the theater and never came back. 🤯
Okay I feel that we have a clear psychic connection because this is the SECOND time I have told my aunt (fellow horror connoisseur with me) I was going to watch a review of a movie first with you in mind, and WITHIN FIVE MINUTES I saw you posted a video on it. She told me this might actually qualify as disturbing because I’m pregnant & I should pass on it til my nuggets born. So thank you for this 😂😂
They don't actually show anything. The concept is disturbing, but you never actually see a pregnant woman or any of his victims aside from "The Mother." They do show him unlocking the window in that one woman's house, but we don't see her again after that. And when Justin Long's character watches the video, we don't see what he's watching.
One thing, the managing company didn’t not know it was rented out I think, it’s just been a couple weeks since it was. Meaning she was in the basement for a couple weeks, I think that’s why they went out of their way to say they only clean it when a new guest comes, to show that no one new has come since the original two.
I watched Barbarian last night. It was crazy as hell. I felt like I was being manipulated in all different directions.... In a good way. I thought it was the most unique "Horror" movie I've seen in a long time. Next time I see a baby bottle I am running for my life.
this year has been exceptional for horror movies, most importantly original horror movies but Barbarian might be the best horror movie this year. this story went to places i wasn't expecting it to.
I know that the marketing for it was really corny and, conceptually, it's kinda corny, too, but I SUPER recommend that you go out and watch Smile before it leaves theaters. It's such an unexpected gem of a movie and I walked in not expecting much and came out absolutely stunned at how amazing it was from the acting to the camera work and it being, overall, so imaginative.
Watched this in a very empty theater with three friends and five other people. We were all losing our minds at various points. That act 2 switch came with such nervous/shocked/hilarious laughter that we were gasping after a little while. Such a great theater experience. I don’t really have any intention of watching this again unless it’s with more people who are going in blind so I can enjoy their reactions to this buck wild ride.
this movie was just such a great expirience to watch at the cinema, it was scary, funny, entertaining and original, I love that I didn't know where it was going cause everytime I thought something cliché was going to happen...nope, it went to the opposite direction and i loveeed it
Considering Bonnie, The rental agent who double booked the place technically started the whole ordeal and rebuffed AJ’s concerns I honestly wondered if she was going to turn out to be a surprise villain lol
I kept hearing and 100% now agree that going in to the movie knowing nothing is the best thing to do. I was flabbergasted by the twists and turns it took.
As someone who has been through Not-So-Great stuff, including a guy being 100% convinced he was just "being persistent", it was so cathartic to see The Mother kill AJ. It's hinted at that Tess was going through an abusive relationship, and of course The Mother had a life filled with only abuse, so it was a nice moment in my eyes. I also think it was important that The Mother killed AJ in defense of Tess, instead of revenge or anger towards an abuser. That despite everything and despite how twisted it was, she was motivated by kindness towards others.
This movie had me feeling sorry for the mama by the end I remember practically yelling “just be her baby” lol wild for sure. But why were ppl falling for the Airbnb in such a worn down area?
I thoroughly enjoyed this film and agree about the ending. I was waiting for more little cuts at the end in between the credits, maybe like what we get to see in Jennifer's Body for some final closure. I wanted to see Tess make it to a hospital or a news report or SOMETHING to get that feeling of satisfaction after she was dismissed by the cops, and confirmation of the public opinion of AJ.
Barbarian is an excellent continuation of the 'Comedian directs Horror' (which I hope carries on for a long time) 2 movies I've really enjoyed/appreciated of late are Glorious & You Won't Be Alone- tho they are very very different films. also Who Invited Them was decent, esp the cast
Barbarian was hands down one of the best horror movies I’ve seen in a long time. I saw it by myself on vacation without knowing anything about it (except that it was a horror movie)and that was such a great decision. Loved the hard cuts, and how the movie seems to switch sub genres (thriller, drama, crime) but still remain scary.
So glad you made this video, I was really hoping you’d talk about this movie! I absolutely loved it, genuinely one of my favorite horror movies of all time, if not movies period. So so suspenseful, I have never felt so on edge with a film before.
I really appreciate you having some really concrete ideas for how things could have ended, which you’ve done on several videos I’ve watched. So many critics love to trash a movie or parts of it, and don’t offer any “here’s what I’d like to see, or think would be cool”. Really great stuff you’re doing.
Awesome video Amanda! So many feelings on this film. I had expected/hoped either Keith was the villain or they’d work to survive together and have a romance. Keith seemed to just be awkward but you have to wonder if maybe the mother knew something we didn’t. After all he tried very hard to show he was harmless and got in her way refusing to let her leave. Tess was an incredible final girl. Justin Long was amazing as always. To begin with I wondered if Aj actually wasn’t guilty or he could get redemption. The fact he didn’t and got what he deserved was bold. Also all that women can go through.
I loved it but struggled putting into words exactly why. You hit the nail on the head when you talked about the fun, tense, and unique experience. That's exactly it!
just finished the movie and ooh i like your idea of it having ended showing media fallout for aj as he tries to redeem himself. i'm stressed for tess like girl where you going, the struggle you've been through is so real. overall was really here for this different style of a horror movie.
I had to pause the video right after the first 6 minutes to avoid any spoilers and watch the movie for myself. OMG! It was GREAT! Honestly one of the best horror films I've seen in a hot minute! I counted up all the videotapes in the scene with AJ and Frank in the last room of the tunnel and seems there are at least 41 victims at the hands of Frank based on that.
watched this last night and absolutely loved it! The pacing you pointed out is 100% why, it has typical horror elements, but they dont happen at the right time and that makes it so fresh. Loved it.
I know you posted this review last year but it only just got around to watch this movie now and oh my God I am glad I did. GENIUS casting of Skaarsgard, what a clever way to build up expectations in the viewer, RIGHT before subverting it all on us.
Barbarian, Nope, Pearl, and Terrifier 2 are my favorite horror movies of the year so far and I think my #1 has to go to Barbarian. Also super excited to see both The Menu and Bones and All. Also I started Cabinet of Curiosities which is pretty good so far! The episode "The Autopsy" was fantastic and completely wild. And also I LITERALLY GOT AN AIRBNB AD WHILE WATCHING THIS. What!? Anyways I think I'm gonna rewatch Barbarian since it hit HBO. Great video!
I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, and I think the first part with Tess and Skarsgård's character was a fantastic example of how to build tension and dread. For me the ending worked, but there were some details that took me out of it a bit - the homeless guy knowing so much was one, but also the timeline. Like, he says she's lived there for 40 years, which is back when Absolute Monster Guy was starting out with his secret room horror, but she's also "a copy of a copy of a copy". I don't see how that timeline works. However, those are minor details. I loved the broken up structure, the tension building, and the ending so anything I didn't love is just a minor complaint.
I'm too chicken to watch some of these horror movies but I like knowing what the plot was, so I really appreciate these videos. The other recent one that I'm really hoping for a video on is "Smile."
I was scared and amused by this movie, especially the second half after Keith was killed. Like that J. Long's car singing scene was a whiplash, en fait all J. Long's scenes are just hilarious. This movie was amazing.
As someone who has been raped twice and both times were the "kept not taking no for an answer until the nos just stopped coming" kind, that drunken admittance by AJ had me almost on my feet yelling "YEAH THAT'S RAPE" in the theater 🤦🏻♀️
And also! Justice for Keith!! I just remembered that when Tess was waiting for her interviewer to come in she was looking at the picture of his ID on her phone and smiling 😭🥺
As someone who lived in Detroit there are sadly tons of streets that looked like that and then one nice house someone may have had on their family forever or an old lady lives in it ect.
I burst out laughing when he looked at the laptop to find out whose it is and when he can’t figure out the password he just throws the laptop at the wall 😂
Yeah, and it also feels like a bit of foreshadowing for the water tower scenes. One attempt to figure out a password/fix a bad thing, and then next minute - yeet!
This movie was original and a good time! I watch it twice and I have a theory that Tess's job interview, Keith, the rope connecting the basement, the AJ's assault, the homeless man and the police are all an elaborate scam. I hope there is a prequel or sequel to this movie because I have some loose ends I want to answer! For example, who's Marcus? who posted the house on Airbnb? Should have the police officers called back-up or ask her for her ID? This movie is an example that horror movies are cautionary tales!! Will watch again!
Everything from the trailer (Bill Skarsgard and Georgina Campbell in a spooky AirBNB and spooky tunnels) and Justin Long afterwards: 5/5 Everything else in this movie: 1/5 Composite: 6/10 This movie just raised a bunch of questions with no good answers. How did one man dig this vast labyrinth of solid stone tunnels? How did just 40-50 years of inbreeding yield a seven foot tall super-powerful mutant? If mama is so terrified of Frank, how has he been cared for all this time? What do they eat? How has no one noticed previous inhabitants of this AirBNB going missing if their cars remain outside and their possessions litter the homes interior? I'm totally fine with the suspension of disbelief, but this movie took it way too far and then some.
I loved this movie and especially the hard cuts of "oh God dark dungeonAND we're singing with Justin long in a beautiful sunlit day" gave me whiplash and was so good because of it. I would have liked Bill Skaarsgard to survive (really there was no reason why he shouldn't have, if Justin long was just a fussy baby why was he head smash at Buffalo jump? Except we needed that violence to really bunch home the hard cut) and thinking on it i definitely would have liked to see even as rhe credits some of the news stories (especially with the recent new hype of Jeffrey dahmer the parallels between cops not doing their job, and would the public give a damn this time?) But overall I was incredibly happy. Now one i wasn't happy with that I watched last night, and highly recommend you suffer through is Grimcutty on disney+ its an interesting premise (a phenomenon only has the power you give it, like a tulpa) but its handle so so so badly. It was almost do bad it was good? It even had a decent cast! Shannyn Sossamon (a knights tale) Usman Ally (a series of unfortunate events, gods favourite idiot) alona tal (supernatural, seal team) but. Nope.
yes i agree with Grimcutty, it wasnt exactly horror material and it did not handle it well. it couldve been better but they did not give it the tools to properly fly lmao
I think you missed she was held captive living on breast milk for weeks, which is pretty horrifying. That's why the rental manager said it hadn't been rented in weeks. Than noted on the call that it doesn't get checked till it's rented. Also when asked she had no idea how long she was held. That was their way of saying it isn't a coincidence he turned up just than.
At first i thought that keith was a useless and unnecessary character, but i think he's supposed to represent "the nice man", all throughout the film he was super nice and respectful, and still tess cannot trust him, even after tess warms up to him, we as an audience still do not trust the man untill the very end. And we're not wrong for fearing him, and neither is tess. And i am still not 100% sure if he was genuinely a nice person and not a creep.
Amanda, I am totally blind, I cannot see anything, so explain to me why I am over here literally afraid of what my dreams are going to consist of now, thank you for this, your review has given me ample nightmare fuel. And you're right, that boop was definitely terrifying. Consider it a job well done.
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casting bill skarsgard as the nice guy was peak reverse psychology
EXACTLY! That was so smart
People need to learn how to have an open mind.
@@EarthsGeomancerHaving an “open mind” will get you killed. Did you watch the movie??
He is just too good at playing villains
I mean when he does that "looking at two directions at the same time", just gives you psycho vibes..
My theory as to why she didn't nab Tess or Keith at night when she was sneaking around could have been because they were sleeping and you don't want to wake a sleeping baby, so her nurture side probably told her, "well they're in the house and safe, I'll let them sleep."
Oh that’s an amazing theory!! Makes so much sense!
I love that take.
Welp. I'm calling this cannon.
or maybe she heard Keith having a nightmare and came to check on him
I really like this theory. :-)
That hard cut to him googling and then measuring, totally oblivious to the biggest red flags ever was indeed the funniest shit I've seen in a minute.
It was genuinely hilarious and didn’t feel unbelievable.
Agreed! I laughed so hard!
Blinded by greed and self-interest.
Him seeing the cages and being like wtf but still measuring lol
The life of a white male.
Tiny detail I loved was when Justin Long was going through Keith’s bag the book he found was Jane Eyre, which also features an insane woman locked away and hidden from the world.
i thought this too!
Nice catch
THISSSSSS !!!! I was waiting for someone else to bring this up
I noticed this too and got so excited. Such a good little detail
I for real was just like "oh my gosh and he read Jane Eyre too?! NOOOOOOO she killed my dream guy" so good on you for making that connection.
I LOVED the hard-cut to AJ. The first "monster" had just been shockingly revealed in a claustrophobic and dark dungeon while she's screaming, and then cuts to our second "monster" in a beautiful open location while he's singing. Also, while it wasn't shown, it's pretty obvious with his drunk voicemail that he admitted guilt and most likely got absolutely dragged after the events we saw. Pretty funny/fitting that his character was 2-faced and Mother gave him 2 faces.
I could be wrong, but I interpreted the scene where he calls the rental agent a little differently. She says that they haven't had any renters for a few weeks. I think that's how long Tess was down there. Tess and Keith were the last renters and no one rented it since then, so that's why no one discovered their stuff. She'd certainly been down there more than a day or two. She says that she doesn't know how long it was, but she'd figured out not to upset "The Mother," so I got the impression that she'd been there for awhile.
That's what I gathered, too. She seemed to have a really good sense of the routine and what was right to do by that point, so I figured she and/or Keith were the last renters the agent referred to.
Also the lighbulb in the basement that she reflected off the mirror was out. That's how I figured out Tess had been down there a long time
Yes that is 100% what happened
It couldn’t be a few weeks though because Tess’ laptop which was unplugged still had power
@@ChristineSMeyer I mean the movie didn’t really have Tess mention or have anyone like a friend or family throughout the movie other than the ex she had. Also she probably was getting to that but got distracted when having fun with Keith.
Another parallel between the 2 storylines (I forget the character names forgive me):
She has a line at the beginning of the movie that since she's a woman she has to be hyper aware of her surroundings at all time, but guys have the freedom to just walk into situations with no fear. Then we see during Justin Longs part thats all he does, just blunder his way through without giving a thought, like Maybe I shouldn't rush into the secret underground tunnel system in my basement
And at the end when she hits the mother with her car, she watches carefully to make sure the mother is dead. Comparatively, Justin long just believes the mother is dead when she falls off the water tower which is what kills him
Exactly, which parallels perfectly with him being a predator
She literally wandered into the murder basement, like on 3 separate occasions
@@hannahohno This. Lol. She took a lot of precautions when he met a stranger (Keith) but he has no problem entering a basement with 2 secret and extremely dangerous entrances, again, lol.
Pretty much same with Keith too, he could have come right back up after finding the room she told him about, but he kept looking. Lol
I actually don't think that Tess was making decisions based on them being morally right. Early on the movie we learn that she's in an abusive relationship. She tells Keith about a scenario dealing with a guy who thinks love and control are the same thing, and the girl that let's herself become something like a pet, then tells him that she can't believe it's happening to her. So I think that was establishing how she struggles to leave men behind, even when she knows it's dumb to go back and is putting her own well being at risk.
Ooh! Good point! Even for AJ who definitely did NOT deserve it
I don’t know if the two are mutually exclusive, though. I think you’re totally right but to say it doesn’t still speak to a moral fortitude as well as a character flaw is a little limited. To me at least
This can still be a moral issue. while people can change attachment styles throughout significant events in life, personality is pretty rigid. That being said, she likely learned to be a savior/codependent to some degree in childhood and is accepting of douchebags because of her comfort in salvation mode. She is also extremely cautious because of this dynamic has also proven to be painful/dangerous. Yet a pattern is familiar even when it's not truly comfortable. She followed this pattern of being a helper. Even though it's detrimental. This is likely something that makes her feel good or better when she's helpful and stupid or ashamed when it's with the wrong person. It's moral because no virtue is without pleasure and suffering on their continuum.
Also with the pic of Keith's ID, she showed that she didnt trust him by taking the pic, but by the next day she was looking at the pic and "caressing" his face like she was already falling for him. With AJ it seemed like pure empathy, because she had been down there for weeks and didn't want him to be subjected to the same thing.
I agree with this take, and I thought the same thing when I was describing it to my partner who didn't want to watch it.
Justin Long is a certified scream queen and one of the most underrated horror actors out there
Hope he’ll get the recognition he deserves
He a real live final girl...lol
Male scream queens need love too.
Fr as soon as I saw him pop up on screen I knew this movie was about to go crazy lol
He’s the fucking best. I loved Tusk
@@absolutnadia fuck that movie still creeps me out
The ending is the reality for survivor's. There is never any justice. And even if you managed to win anything in court, the posses is not about you the victim. It is built around the perpetrator. And therefore just the act of trying to seek justice, is in itself, traumatising. The fact that the world never knew what he or the original house owner did, is realty. The vast majority of abusers never see any repercussions. As a survivor of csa, the current ending while harsh, is satisfactory to me as it is not lying. Or giving false hope.
Exactly my thought! Maybe that's something that's just very obvious when you yourself have gone through SA or other abuse, and not so obvious to the "ordinary" observer, but to me it was a fantastic ending - for exactly the reasons you mention.
Truth
There's never a satisfactory ending to CSA survival stories.
Tried explaining this in the Ethan Hawke black phone thing when people were complaining about no character development nor backstory and so were frustrated by the lack of closure.
And I'm like "yeah, that's how CSA leaves you feeling"
@@KristiContemplates as a csa I agree. The crime is about the perpetrator. And the because of this, everything is in there court in our society. Just survivoring is constantly having things taken from you. Choice in life choices is a big one. Becuase it is crimes about power, the power stays with the perpetrator. They may never think about there victim for a second the rest of there life. But the victim spends the rest of there life thinking about the perpetrator. And thus the power stays in the perpetrators court. I see and call csa the same as soul murder. As the perpetrator plan move on and do what every they want. But the survivor had to live with the devastation the rest of a life. And it impacts absolutely Ever part of a survivor's life. And every action and desision. At 38, I am ONLY well enough to try to seek some type of compensation for my abuse. And EVER step is built to punish survivor's. EVERYTHING. But I will continue because I. DID. NOTHING. WRONG. And I refuse to let it go. I deserve my comunity knowing the monster in there midst. And NO SHAME is on male. I find my being Frank and open about my abuse, has helped others in my comunity.
@@KristiContemplatesthey are making a second one but idk what that will be about
Love this take!! ^
Barbarian is easily one of my favorite theatrical experiences of the year, so glad I went in blind. Comparing the first act to the second, it's amazing how they use the same set up for completely different outcomes. It really shows how Horror and Comedy are more connected than we think, and just like Comedy, the key to Horror is....
timing.
Completely agree! I say this and The Black Phone, both films I knew very little about and had no high hopes really. And at least with The Black Phone I knew I was going to see Ethan Hawk but for this I didn’t know who was in the cast at all.
my theater experience was absolutely wild because I took a bathroom break like as soon as she went down the stairs and when I got back like three minutes later Justin Long was driving down the road and I had to double check that I walked back into the right theater
Okau but how the mother can open basement door from inside, didnt the door cant be open form inside?
Terrifier 2 is better
@@Marb315 why would you go to the bathroom at that point? Like that's mega weird timing my dude
it’s so sad because i was so terrified of keith and hated him (not knowing much going in and assuming he was the villain because it’s bill skarsgard duh) but then the moment he dies it’s just like oh my god i feel so bad he was just genuinely a nice art collective dude who was trying to help tess out 😭
I don’t think Keith was a nice guy at all. Sure he appeared nice and did a lot of nice deeds but he repeatedly ignored Tess’ (I forgot the main characters name. Is it Tess?) wants, like making her tea when she said no and offering her wine when she said no and countless other examples. I think he was probably the parallel for AJ who’s an obvious creep while Keith is a “nice” creep, but that’s just my opinion. I think if they were together he would constantly dismiss her.
@@a.l.michael6240 I agree that he was a creep too. Also he didn't believe her and trust her to get out of the house.
@@a.l.michael6240 Same. Don't know how anyone can see him as cute or likeable. Just from Amanda's descriptions, this dude gave me the yikes.
Women. ☕
@@a.l.michael6240 Yeah there are no real nice/strong male characters anymore in movies. Only women are allowed to be good characters.
The reason why they were leaving that perfect neighborhood was because of racial tension and black people moving to Detroit. Hence why he said “the neighborhood is going to piss.” The crazy thing about this film is Brightmoor actually has a lot of blocks just like that. You will see a brand new looking house like it just got dropped down in the middle of the neighborhood. I was born and raised in Detroit so I have a lot real insight to this film. Definitely my favorite this year.
Exactly! Knowing the history around it while watching actually makes it better. It’s not entirely fictitious there’s so much truth to it. Places like that do look like something out of a horror movie and it’s terrifying and sad.
yeah, its called white flight!
That's what I said to my mom when he said that. You knew the way the place was looking fine and Regan was accelerating deindustrialization, it was White flight. Stankin tail...
@@alfie6441 I never understood why people are scared unless you see someone in the house or are alone. It's really just sad because it's loss of business and jobs then tax revenue and it snowballs.
I grew up in the Metro area and live in the suburbs just outside of the city. I have friends who live in the Brightmoor area, You could go several blocks with no street lights, boarded houses and burned out stores but one block will have these beautifully kept homes, gardens, street lights, people sitting out on the porches, then the next 6 blocks are back to being abandoned. I'd go over there for parties, have drinks on the porch. It was this weird feeling of being on edge with the surrounding area but that this block felt like a warm safe place.
The sound that wakes Tess up the first night in the house is 100% the mother feeding Keith. He's having a nightmare, being fussy, so she goes to feed him thinking he's hungry. It gets more disturbing the more I hear it haha
Omfg that makes too much sense I hate it 😭
wouldn't that wake him up though?
I thought it was mother blowing a kiss while watching her baby sleep 🤷🏻♀️
I got to see this in secret while my parents were out of town. I was seated next to a sweet older couple who loved horror. We found ourselves having the same reactions and leaning forward in anticipation at the same moments. Afterwards, we talked about the movies we wanted to see next and I made their day by telling them that the then upcoming Pearl was a prequel to X - which they didn't realize despite LOVING X.
Older couples that love movies are the BEST people to sit next to. They’re into it, yet respectful and cute.
@@lemongrabthesecond I agree! The husband and I were geeking out on the way out and his wife was embarrassed by his inner manchild.
It was my favorite theater experience.
@@liquidimpression1091 Yes! That sounds so nice! I remember seeing Match Point at my local art house theater as a teen and asking this couple in their 70s to watch my seat as I met my friends. Bought them a fancy chocolate bar as a thank you and they were SO sweet. They thought it was cool that a group of teens was seeing an “adult” movie and we talked about the movie for like 20 mins after it was over. 10/10 experience.
That's so wholesome omg, it's always the best when you're sitting next to fellow horror fans. When I saw Pearl I sat next to these two people who were narrating/talking throughout the entire movie and laughing at the most inappropriate times.
@@atmosphericentry0 oh I scold the hell out of those people, lol. GTFO I spent a fortune to be here…
I saw an interesting theory as to why Mother left Tess alone the first night.
Basically that Mother heard the guy having the nightmare and was going to him. And that Tess woke him in up just in time.
Since mother truly just wants to protect and nurture, since they were both quiet she just left them alone.
I agree with you. If they were both comfortable why move them.
Plus I think the Mother doesn’t lie bad behavior, punishment is equivalent to death in her head.
Theory is flaming obvi9us that's why they were sleeping babys
Aw, she was about to wake baby boi up from a bad dream.
That or she was playing the part of his sleep paralysis demon until Tess woke him up.
Whoa, hold on a second guys!
I see everyone here talking about how the woman didn't want to disturb her 'babies' while she roamed at night, but let me point out that heavy door in the basement which sealed off the tunnels and could only be opened from one side by pulling that rope.
Can someone explain how she managed to do that???
As soon as the basement was revealed, I’m ashamed to say that I had the exact same reaction as Justin Long’s character. I was like, “Damn! The square footage of this place is incredible! Look at this basement!!!”
I absolutely loved his reaction. He was definitely one of my favorite characters, as awful as he was.
That part was SO funny.
He's not scared at all. He's just pumped, and wants to measure it. 🤣
@@ceilinh6004 too bad that wasn’t the reaction of his coworker otherwise he never would have ended up at that house
i def enjoyed watching him get his skull bashed in lmaoooo
it was the repeated measuring tape for me. i was dying.
yes XD the sound bite always a lil louder, so good
I think it was so wild the way she kept looking for help and safety from the men around her but in the end they just ended up being no help at all keith, the police, and obviously AJ. The homeless man tried his best but it was at his own demise unfortunately
I was so upset that the homeless man died like I seen it coming but I hoped when he warned her he woulda just been written out. But good observation all the men undermined her and used her even the cops wrote her off.
I hate how most horror movies seem to have this subtext for women: men are worthless or evil.
I mean, aside from AJ and the cops, Keith was a lovely, decent guy who actually made her life easier in many small ways when he really didn’t have to. And the homeless man was literally a knight in shining amour that tried his best in every way to help her/save her and it cost him his life. I think they balanced it out quite nicely, especially Keith because he was literally the antithesis of everything she was afraid he’d be, which makes a good point that not all men are AJs. Also, SHE could be a lot more proactive and independent. Everything happened TO her, she was always reacting on the back foot, until the end and even then that gunshot was not like Ripley in Alien.
@@stopthephilosophicalzombie9017 Keith wasn't worthless or evil though? Everything he does is understandable besides going down to the second basement without mentioning it
@@JohnDoe-hj9fh He just seemed creepy and weird the whole time.
I love this movie! Also, I know people will find different themes in the movie, focus on different parts, etc., but, for me, the ending was incredibly poignant, when The Mother reaches out for Tess and says "baby". I cried so hard, bc I felt so much the intergenerational trauma of the abuse that led to The Mother's creation and to the destruction she wrought, along with Tess choosing the moral imperative of her own survival
I noticed the contrast between her and Justin longs character. She was bore out of the worst situation imaginable but still tried and wanted to love something. Justin longs character was a POS til the end, even though he seemed like his life was amazing and his mom loved him.
i know! i felt so bad for her, that poor woman
Yea that one scene just turned around the whole prespective,
i thought they will justify the mother in the flashback but the revelation in the climax is just perfect.
I loved the ending. I actually cried for the poor woman. In all movies, a "creature" like that (that looks like that) is just crazy and bad and scary. But when she jumped to save her... I think it's the first horror movie where I cried.
You should watch Mama (2013) I cant watch horror cause im too easily freaked out but i watched a summary and i cry literally every time I see the ending sceen. Similar vibe there of the 'monster' being more then just scary and bad with an atypical ending
She was weirdly sympathetic. Especially compared to the worse monster hiding in the basement with her and even justin longs character. The Orphanage was a pretty great tearjerker disguised as a horror thriller. It's foreign/Spanish but it's def worth a watch.
You could Tess that despite all Tess has been through, she killed the woman out of sympathy rather than out of anger or rage. Like this woman was clearly suffering and had likely suffered her entire life. I really felt for the woman as well, she just wanted to nurture and care but didn't have the cognitive ability to tell right from wrong.
Yeah it was evocative because she's really not mentally competent and then she's not been raised normally, yet she still has a nurturing drive. She can't help herself and her and Tess have that caring drive in common.
Why tf would you feel bad for that thing? It’s not even human. Hell you spend a week being it’s child see if you still feel bad
One of the golden rules of horror: NEVER GO INTO THE BASEMENT.
My house will never have a basement.
@@visaeryon You will never make it in Hollywood. 😆
#1
Zodiac was a fantastic subversion of that trope.
"I'll be right back!" *walks away*
SPOILERS
The ending felt so underwhelming at first, but I think that’s the point. Big shot so sure he’s the hero of his own narrative only to end not with a bang but a literal whimper. As much as I wanted to see him publicly condemned, maybe him dying at the hands of what the worst version of him could have created. And naked lady was put down, but not with cruelty in mind, just sad inevitability.
cheers to aj's victim, the real winner in this narrative, who will get to wake up the next day to a news headline that her rapist's head got smashed like a goddamn canteloupe
If a car didn't put her down, there's no way her leaping off a tower like a spider monkey cat would deprive us of the "killer getting back up" trope. Even if Tess and AJ left before she came to, he gets triple cancelled and so on...what even would have happened to the Mother? Animal control show up, darts her and they take her to NIMH to study?
Ending was fine, because most of the movies from 70s and 80s that this movie pays homage too usually ended abruptly with MC killing the villain or creature. So it was kinda perfect ending for this type of movie, because it obviously pays ton of homage to 70s and 80s creature feature movies.
@@Doubtfulgrace101 I mean, the ground hits harder than a car
@@DeathnoteBB ya know what, that's fair lmao🤣
Just a note: I think they explain why the rental company doesn't know about the tenants there (though it doesn't seem like they know about the double booking)-they mention that the last tenants were staying there two weeks ago and that they don't clean the house until a new tenant is going to be staying there. Tess says she doesn't know how long she's been down there, so I'm assuming she/Keith were the tenants from two weeks ago that the rental company mentioned (and with no new booking, they hadn't been out there to clean the property yet and see their belongings).
That makes so much sense! My husband and I were confused about that also.
I agree. That's why the lightbulbs had to be replaced. They had been on for weeks.
@@Kourinthia Oooo amazing observation!! I hadn't even put together the lightbulb part at all!
Yooo this explains so much. Good catch
@@Kourinthia It makes so much sense idk how I didnt catch it during the initial watch
Additional comment: For a while there (might still be a big thing?) The city of Detroit was selling abandoned homes around the city really cheap (like, $100) with the stipulation that they get fixed to a certain standard. A lot of people, especially young people from California would buy them, sometimes unseen.
Definitely not like that now and it also wasn’t a bustload of homes for $100 but I have seen super cheap homes very close to the price years ago. But they needed a shit load of work to bring them back up to standards. And I’m talking from the standpoint of someone born n raised in Detroit
@@RicoSoprano_ I'm just outside Detroit on the east side. My sis used to travel all over out west, and she would get all pissed at these people from California (and a few other places) that thought they were going to profiteer off buying cheap Detroit homes. Little did they know what they were going to get themselves into.
@@MissTeacakes yes exactly lol definitely wouldn’t be what they were thinking.
Yep, and in the movie they were mentioning at one point how you basically can get a house for free.
@@amandaanstett6973 yeah that’s why it’s called a movie 💀
My dad took me to see this, not letting me know ANYTHING about it beforehand, and i can honestly say it was one of the best experiences of my life. So many times I thought that I had the plot figured out, only for it to turn a 180 on me. Justin Long's scene in the hidden parts of the house had the entire theater cracking up. By the end, the character I felt the most for was, surprisingly, the Mother. 10/10, will recommend!!
I don't get emotional watching many things but this movie actually made me genuinely sad and had me tear up at the end cause I felt so bad for mother and how badly she just wanted that connection and to nurture. It didn't scare but I loved it even though it was heartbreaking to me
As someone who can't watch most horror movies (and especially not this one with this subject matter) I am very grateful to have youtube and people like Amanda so I don't miss out on such bonkers plots. Truly, to completely miss out on such insanity would be a tragedy
You should experience such things yourself on screen, especially this one is just a perfect mixture of anxiety, gore and revelation.
@@visaeryon did you ignore the beginning of their comment or something 😭
@@fm.9783 i did notice that but they didn't say movies in general just the horror ones, so i inferred it as them being to scared to watch horror. If i'm wrong then i'm really sorry for making that comment.
I'm the exact same. These reviews give me all the info I need without risking triggering myself or making myself anxious. Thanks Amanda!
same
Justin Long is such an underrated actor. Absolutely loved him in this movie.
Wasn’t he Alvin? I think that’s why he is underrated
Any particular recommendations? I only remember him from the early 2000s and I didn't really click with his acting at the time
@@thisiscait He's great in Tusk!!
Agreed. I hated that they killed him off like that. It was predictable. I'm so tired of always killing off those types of characters.
@@thisiscait Have you given Jeepers Creepers another go? I re-watched that movie recently and it absolutely holds up, Justin Long was excellent in it. It's easily one of my horror favorites
Opinions on the plot aside can we all just agree that every character is written incredibly well? Everyone besides the old man were multifaceted charactes. Tess and Keith especially are amazing. As a guy you can relate to Keith's pressure to try and be nice while also trying not to be creepy. Up until he goes to the second basement without saying anything (which doesn't fit that well with his character imo) he does everything a nice person would in the situation he's in. Then AJ and the old man show why it's so hard to trust men even when they try their best.
I was having a particularly stressful day with my toddler and went to see this with some friends to get a little break. It definitely did not help with Mom guilt.
I remember at a screening I went to, the trio sitting a row or two behind me were very vocal towards the climax. When Tess was both shot at and tossed off the water tower, the one goes “Are you fucking kidding me?!” Then when Tess finally pulls the trigger on Mother, that same guy goes “Oh, thank God!”
That was a fun trip to the movies, I definitely agree that it is one of the best horror movies of the year. And speaking as a Michigander myself (and quoting my Letterboxd review) we do have neighborhoods that look like this and the cops are just as useless.
I just couldn’t believe that she survived all of that to the end.
@@xinf3ctdx I wish Keith would’ve lived, he was so cool and didn’t deserve it
How is Mother going to beat Tess down to the ground though?
As a fellow Michigander, I couldn't agree more
I loved watching this in the theatre. It was unreal! Justin Long measuring the underground room was one of the funniest and most tense scenes ever. 😂 🫣
I can totally see what you mean about AJ, sometimes death doesn't feel like a consequence to their actions and it just feels like they got away with being assholes
I mean…did you forget about the part where he was forced to be breast fed 😂
@@_sumina yeah but he deserved worse
That hard cut from Keith in the tunnel to A.J. in the car was everything!
That scene of Justin Long going ass first down the creepy stairs was both frightening and hilarious all at once.
I liked how the trailers played a sound of footsteps instead of the weird sound when Tess's door opens which made the moment in the movie even scarier
I definitely bit in hard to the Bill being bad, especially because I refused to watch the trailers. All I knew was airbnb + strange man and so when the twist came I was shocked. Great movie!
My favourite part of watching Barbarian was Love In The Villa had just come out also & they both have the "two people forced to share a rental" premise with WILDLY different outcomes. Theyre great paired together
I'm just so depressed about The Mother character like man... That's sad.
I loved that Tess was such a unique final girl.
The Barbarian is one of the best movies of the year. I was so scared while in the theater. The twist was so simple but amazing. The writing, cast, and pacing were on point. Can't wait to watch it again. Justin Long did very well. 10/10.
That ending is so truly heart wrenching for me. Mother didn’t understand. She was human too. It wasn’t her fault, what she had gone through. That man didn’t deserve to off himself. Mother should have been the one to kill her. She meant well for her “babies”
God I feel like I’m gonna cry. Not understanding that your baby is hurting only to be kill by them. And the look in her eyes before the trigger was pulled. Heartbreaking.
I thought Justin Long's ending was a pretty solid culmination. After his "breakthrough" we see that he'll immediately discard any sort of growth in favor of self preservation. He was there to sell the house to pay for his pending legal fees, so he essentially still dies a bad guy
The scariest aspect for me had to do w the fact that all of us either have had (or know someone who had) a creepy Airbnb experience and this just brought those memories back 😭
After the roommate dies I had no idea where it was going for the rest of the movie. Super on edge. Seen some great horror this year!
Man, I just watched this last night and was so stoked to hear your thoughts! A lot of this movie reminded me of Promising Young Woman in that we were shown a spectrum of toxic masculinity and how it manifests to all hurt women. This movie was really similar - the three different "stories" all feature men who are increasingly troubling and harmful; Kyle was altogether a decent guy but he pushed things a bit too much when she was uncomfortable and most egregiously brushed off her reactions to situations that ultimately led to his death and her capture. Then of course, Justin Long's character was a certifiable bad guy and he endangered women as a result of his own twisted preceptions , and finally ending on the Father's character, who was just monstrous. You can even argue that all the other male characters in this movie had moments of antagonizing or ignoring our protagonist, like the two male cops who refused to offer any real help. Even the man who saved her from the Mother was introduced as obviously threatening in a way that he didn't have to be, and which ultimately catalyzed the rest of the events in the film.
I just thought this movie was such an interesting look at the various ways in which men can not only be barbaric but also how their seemingly "harmless" behaviors can lead to situations that cause far more harm. And while I enjoyed "Men", I think this movie did the same exact thing, but more effectively.
A legitly scary movie and one of the most traumatizing things is how he threw her laptop.
18:17 I immediately thought for the tapes with descriptions were the women he kidnapped and the tapes with names were the offspring.
On the subject of your theater experience. I went alone and was hooked immediately. 30 minutes into the movie a large gentleman sits down right next to me. Mind you there were only 2 other people in the theater. Starts looking at his phone on full brightness. I gave it about five minutes and said “I’m trying to watch this movie” and he puts it away. I got anxious and moved two rows down. He then leaves the theater and never came back. 🤯
Okay I feel that we have a clear psychic connection because this is the SECOND time I have told my aunt (fellow horror connoisseur with me) I was going to watch a review of a movie first with you in mind, and WITHIN FIVE MINUTES I saw you posted a video on it. She told me this might actually qualify as disturbing because I’m pregnant & I should pass on it til my nuggets born. So thank you for this 😂😂
They don't actually show anything. The concept is disturbing, but you never actually see a pregnant woman or any of his victims aside from "The Mother." They do show him unlocking the window in that one woman's house, but we don't see her again after that. And when Justin Long's character watches the video, we don't see what he's watching.
One thing, the managing company didn’t not know it was rented out I think, it’s just been a couple weeks since it was. Meaning she was in the basement for a couple weeks, I think that’s why they went out of their way to say they only clean it when a new guest comes, to show that no one new has come since the original two.
this movie really was a trip
OT
One topic is hiding from click lol
OT!!!
Aw yay it's OT 💖
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I watched Barbarian last night. It was crazy as hell. I felt like I was being manipulated in all different directions.... In a good way.
I thought it was the most unique "Horror" movie I've seen in a long time.
Next time I see a baby bottle I am running for my life.
Maybe it’s just Bill Skarsgaard’s history of creepy characters, but I thought he was still the bad guy until the creature shows up and kills him.
nah they definitely want you to be unsure of his intentions until that very moment
this year has been exceptional for horror movies, most importantly original horror movies but Barbarian might be the best horror movie this year. this story went to places i wasn't expecting it to.
Oooh recommend some!
Your reactions are everything Chu! ❤
I know that the marketing for it was really corny and, conceptually, it's kinda corny, too, but I SUPER recommend that you go out and watch Smile before it leaves theaters. It's such an unexpected gem of a movie and I walked in not expecting much and came out absolutely stunned at how amazing it was from the acting to the camera work and it being, overall, so imaginative.
Watched this in a very empty theater with three friends and five other people. We were all losing our minds at various points. That act 2 switch came with such nervous/shocked/hilarious laughter that we were gasping after a little while. Such a great theater experience.
I don’t really have any intention of watching this again unless it’s with more people who are going in blind so I can enjoy their reactions to this buck wild ride.
I died a little during the tape measure scene. So funny, but also so tense. I think my nervous system was confused. 🤣
Yeahhhh🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
this movie was just such a great expirience to watch at the cinema, it was scary, funny, entertaining and original, I love that I didn't know where it was going cause everytime I thought something cliché was going to happen...nope, it went to the opposite direction and i loveeed it
Considering Bonnie, The rental agent who double booked the place technically started the whole ordeal and rebuffed AJ’s concerns I honestly wondered if she was going to turn out to be a surprise villain lol
Imo anyone in real estate is a confirmed villain
I kept hearing and 100% now agree that going in to the movie knowing nothing is the best thing to do. I was flabbergasted by the twists and turns it took.
So grateful for your summaries that let me "watch" horror movies that I probably wouldn't be able to stomach sitting through in real life!
As someone who has been through Not-So-Great stuff, including a guy being 100% convinced he was just "being persistent", it was so cathartic to see The Mother kill AJ.
It's hinted at that Tess was going through an abusive relationship, and of course The Mother had a life filled with only abuse, so it was a nice moment in my eyes. I also think it was important that The Mother killed AJ in defense of Tess, instead of revenge or anger towards an abuser. That despite everything and despite how twisted it was, she was motivated by kindness towards others.
Also since I have an infant that I’m nursing, I have had so much fun doing the nose boop to skeeve out my husband since we watched this movie.
This movie had me feeling sorry for the mama by the end I remember practically yelling “just be her baby” lol wild for sure. But why were ppl falling for the Airbnb in such a worn down area?
I thoroughly enjoyed this film and agree about the ending. I was waiting for more little cuts at the end in between the credits, maybe like what we get to see in Jennifer's Body for some final closure. I wanted to see Tess make it to a hospital or a news report or SOMETHING to get that feeling of satisfaction after she was dismissed by the cops, and confirmation of the public opinion of AJ.
Filtered through Amanda the Jedi is literally the only way I watch horror movies. Thank you for this service.
Barbarian is an excellent continuation of the 'Comedian directs Horror' (which I hope carries on for a long time) 2 movies I've really enjoyed/appreciated of late are Glorious & You Won't Be Alone- tho they are very very different films. also Who Invited Them was decent, esp the cast
Well plus Jordan Peele started out in sketch comedy!
@@elwynbrooks and Josh Ruben
loved as they had that talk with some wine and bill asked her "what do you think Im some kind of monster?" .... made me chuckle
Barbarian was hands down one of the best horror movies I’ve seen in a long time. I saw it by myself on vacation without knowing anything about it (except that it was a horror movie)and that was such a great decision. Loved the hard cuts, and how the movie seems to switch sub genres (thriller, drama, crime) but still remain scary.
So glad you made this video, I was really hoping you’d talk about this movie! I absolutely loved it, genuinely one of my favorite horror movies of all time, if not movies period. So so suspenseful, I have never felt so on edge with a film before.
If i booked an Airbnb and bill Skarsgard opened the door i would take that as a sign from god 😭
I really appreciate you having some really concrete ideas for how things could have ended, which you’ve done on several videos I’ve watched. So many critics love to trash a movie or parts of it, and don’t offer any “here’s what I’d like to see, or think would be cool”. Really great stuff you’re doing.
Awesome video Amanda! So many feelings on this film. I had expected/hoped either Keith was the villain or they’d work to survive together and have a romance. Keith seemed to just be awkward but you have to wonder if maybe the mother knew something we didn’t. After all he tried very hard to show he was harmless and got in her way refusing to let her leave. Tess was an incredible final girl. Justin Long was amazing as always. To begin with I wondered if Aj actually wasn’t guilty or he could get redemption. The fact he didn’t and got what he deserved was bold. Also all that women can go through.
I loved it but struggled putting into words exactly why. You hit the nail on the head when you talked about the fun, tense, and unique experience. That's exactly it!
I have such a fondness for WKUK and I love that this is Zach’s return to directing
just finished the movie and ooh i like your idea of it having ended showing media fallout for aj as he tries to redeem himself. i'm stressed for tess like girl where you going, the struggle you've been through is so real. overall was really here for this different style of a horror movie.
I had to pause the video right after the first 6 minutes to avoid any spoilers and watch the movie for myself.
OMG! It was GREAT! Honestly one of the best horror films I've seen in a hot minute!
I counted up all the videotapes in the scene with AJ and Frank in the last room of the tunnel and seems there are at least 41 victims at the hands of Frank based on that.
watched this last night and absolutely loved it! The pacing you pointed out is 100% why, it has typical horror elements, but they dont happen at the right time and that makes it so fresh. Loved it.
Saw this with my friend, sister, and dad. We all loved it!! It was such a fresh breath of air in the horror genre
I know you posted this review last year but it only just got around to watch this movie now and oh my God I am glad I did. GENIUS casting of Skaarsgard, what a clever way to build up expectations in the viewer, RIGHT before subverting it all on us.
Barbarian, Nope, Pearl, and Terrifier 2 are my favorite horror movies of the year so far and I think my #1 has to go to Barbarian. Also super excited to see both The Menu and Bones and All. Also I started Cabinet of Curiosities which is pretty good so far! The episode "The Autopsy" was fantastic and completely wild.
And also I LITERALLY GOT AN AIRBNB AD WHILE WATCHING THIS. What!? Anyways I think I'm gonna rewatch Barbarian since it hit HBO. Great video!
I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, and I think the first part with Tess and Skarsgård's character was a fantastic example of how to build tension and dread. For me the ending worked, but there were some details that took me out of it a bit - the homeless guy knowing so much was one, but also the timeline. Like, he says she's lived there for 40 years, which is back when Absolute Monster Guy was starting out with his secret room horror, but she's also "a copy of a copy of a copy". I don't see how that timeline works.
However, those are minor details. I loved the broken up structure, the tension building, and the ending so anything I didn't love is just a minor complaint.
The hard cut to “Be My Baby” at the end had me HOWLING
I'm too chicken to watch some of these horror movies but I like knowing what the plot was, so I really appreciate these videos. The other recent one that I'm really hoping for a video on is "Smile."
I was scared and amused by this movie, especially the second half after Keith was killed. Like that J. Long's car singing scene was a whiplash, en fait all J. Long's scenes are just hilarious. This movie was amazing.
As someone who has been raped twice and both times were the "kept not taking no for an answer until the nos just stopped coming" kind, that drunken admittance by AJ had me almost on my feet yelling "YEAH THAT'S RAPE" in the theater 🤦🏻♀️
And also! Justice for Keith!! I just remembered that when Tess was waiting for her interviewer to come in she was looking at the picture of his ID on her phone and smiling 😭🥺
As someone who lived in Detroit there are sadly tons of streets that looked like that and then one nice house someone may have had on their family forever or an old lady lives in it ect.
I burst out laughing when he looked at the laptop to find out whose it is and when he can’t figure out the password he just throws the laptop at the wall 😂
Yeah, and it also feels like a bit of foreshadowing for the water tower scenes. One attempt to figure out a password/fix a bad thing, and then next minute - yeet!
This movie was original and a good time! I watch it twice and I have a theory that Tess's job interview, Keith, the rope connecting the basement, the AJ's assault, the homeless man and the police are all an elaborate scam. I hope there is a prequel or sequel to this movie because I have some loose ends I want to answer! For example, who's Marcus? who posted the house on Airbnb? Should have the police officers called back-up or ask her for her ID? This movie is an example that horror movies are cautionary tales!! Will watch again!
Incredibly suspenseful can’t even compare it to anything else.
Everything from the trailer (Bill Skarsgard and Georgina Campbell in a spooky AirBNB and spooky tunnels) and Justin Long afterwards: 5/5
Everything else in this movie: 1/5
Composite: 6/10
This movie just raised a bunch of questions with no good answers. How did one man dig this vast labyrinth of solid stone tunnels? How did just 40-50 years of inbreeding yield a seven foot tall super-powerful mutant? If mama is so terrified of Frank, how has he been cared for all this time? What do they eat? How has no one noticed previous inhabitants of this AirBNB going missing if their cars remain outside and their possessions litter the homes interior? I'm totally fine with the suspension of disbelief, but this movie took it way too far and then some.
I loved this movie and especially the hard cuts of "oh God dark dungeonAND we're singing with Justin long in a beautiful sunlit day" gave me whiplash and was so good because of it. I would have liked Bill Skaarsgard to survive (really there was no reason why he shouldn't have, if Justin long was just a fussy baby why was he head smash at Buffalo jump? Except we needed that violence to really bunch home the hard cut) and thinking on it i definitely would have liked to see even as rhe credits some of the news stories (especially with the recent new hype of Jeffrey dahmer the parallels between cops not doing their job, and would the public give a damn this time?) But overall I was incredibly happy.
Now one i wasn't happy with that I watched last night, and highly recommend you suffer through is Grimcutty on disney+ its an interesting premise (a phenomenon only has the power you give it, like a tulpa) but its handle so so so badly. It was almost do bad it was good? It even had a decent cast! Shannyn Sossamon (a knights tale) Usman Ally (a series of unfortunate events, gods favourite idiot) alona tal (supernatural, seal team) but. Nope.
yes i agree with Grimcutty, it wasnt exactly horror material and it did not handle it well. it couldve been better but they did not give it the tools to properly fly lmao
I think you missed she was held captive living on breast milk for weeks, which is pretty horrifying. That's why the rental manager said it hadn't been rented in weeks. Than noted on the call that it doesn't get checked till it's rented. Also when asked she had no idea how long she was held. That was their way of saying it isn't a coincidence he turned up just than.
At first i thought that keith was a useless and unnecessary character, but i think he's supposed to represent "the nice man", all throughout the film he was super nice and respectful, and still tess cannot trust him, even after tess warms up to him, we as an audience still do not trust the man untill the very end. And we're not wrong for fearing him, and neither is tess.
And i am still not 100% sure if he was genuinely a nice person and not a creep.
Amanda, I am totally blind, I cannot see anything, so explain to me why I am over here literally afraid of what my dreams are going to consist of now, thank you for this, your review has given me ample nightmare fuel. And you're right, that boop was definitely terrifying. Consider it a job well done.
I loved that I didn't have anything spoiled for me when I went to see this.
I had no clue one of the wkuk dudes did this movie, i'm pleasantly surprised by that, he fucking nailed it.
that tape measurer scene is by far the funniest thing I've seen in theatres this year. God bless Justin Long