Barbarian (2022)

Barbarian is one of those movies that you should go into absolutely blind (if the internet will allow it) to ensure you get to experience maximum madness. I remember seeing this movie in theaters—how I simultaneously laughed and gasped in disbelief at certain moments, how my heart rate refused to drop long after the credits rolled, and how I couldn’t stop talking about it to anyone who’d listen for days after seeing it.

In Barbarian, a young woman named Tess (Georgina Campbell) arrives at a Detroit rental house that is already occupied by an incredibly handsome guy named Keith (Bill Skarsgård). The neighborhood is a bit sketchy, and though she’s initially wary, Tess warms up to Keith and decides to sleep in the bedroom while he takes the couch—it seems like the two may even have a *vibe* going on, so there’s hope that this messed-up situation could turn into something great. Except, of course, it doesn’t. The entire situation descends into full-blown horror, as the two discover the house’s hidden secrets, the horrors that have taken place there, and the monsters that lurk within.

Though Barbarian includes plenty of the kind of cruel violence you’d expect from a horror film, there’s also the pleasure of seeing Justin Long appear as a slimy, skeezy actor who gets exactly what he deserves, and it is glorious. — Alyssa Mercante