---
title: "Barbarian"
year: 2022
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/barbarian"
fi1m_id: "barbarian"
imdb_id: "tt15791034"
tmdb_id: 913290
wikidata_id: "Q38526439"
fi1m_score: 77
critics_score: 82
critics_reviews: 26
published: "2026-10-02T21:05:49.394234+00:00"
updated: "2026-10-02T21:05:49.946757+00:00"
region: "US"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Barbarian (2022)

Directed by Zach Cregger · 1h 43m · MPA R · Horror, Mystery, Thriller

## Identity

Barbarian

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/barbarian
- **Type:** Film
- **Fi1m ID:** barbarian
- **IMDb ID:** tt15791034
- **TMDB ID:** 913290
- **Wikidata ID:** Q38526439
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15791034/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/913290, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q38526439

**Fi1m score: 77** · Critics 82 from 26 reviews

*In a sentence:* Check the wine, check the basement, and check whether the man offering both is Bill Skarsgård

> Zach Cregger’s horror debut gets an hour of fear out of a double-booked rental and a basement nobody should go into. Then it starts explaining, and the explanation is thinner than the dread. Worth your evening, if you can take the dark.

## Synopsis

Tess (Georgina Campbell) arrives after dark at a rental house on a street where hers is the only one not boarded up. The key is not in the lockbox, and someone is already inside: Keith (Bill Skarsgård), who has booked the same house through a different website. Every hotel in town is full, so he offers her the bedroom, takes the sofa, and opens a bottle of wine while she watches him for signs of what he might be. The next day she comes back alone, goes down to the basement, and the door closes behind her. The film later follows AJ (Justin Long), an actor with troubles of his own.

## Review

The nightmare in *Barbarian* starts with an app. Tess (Georgina Campbell) arrives after dark at a rental house and finds that Keith (Bill Skarsgård) has booked the same nights through a rival website. Zach Cregger, writing and directing, gets a full hour of fear out of nothing more than a woman deciding whether a polite stranger is safe, and that hour is superb. What follows is bolder, louder and less good. We recommend it, with the warning that the film you finish is not the film you started.

Cregger plays the opening straight and slow. Skarsgård, who was Pennywise in *It*, is cast so that we will not trust him, and then Keith does everything right: takes the sofa, opens a fresh bottle in front of her when she will not touch the glass he has already poured, apologises for existing. Campbell holds the film together. She plays Tess as a woman who has been polite to men she did not trust before and knows what it costs, and her eyes do the counting while her mouth says thank you. Zach Kuperstein lights the house in warm lamplight, tidy and beige inside its street of boarded windows, and Anna Drubich’s score sits under it as a low hum. When Tess finally drinks, we found we had been annoyed with her, and then annoyed with ourselves, because the film had quietly made us the suspicious one.

Then she goes down to the basement and the door shuts behind her. Rossitsa Bakeva’s production design gives the hidden room a bare mattress, a bucket, a video camera on a tripod and a handprint on the wall, and Kuperstein shoots the corridor towards it with one torch beam and nothing else in frame. Joe Murphy’s cutting lets every step run its full length. We were frightened, properly frightened, and what did it was not the mattress or the camera but the sound of the door, and then Tess’s decision to keep walking rather than beat on it. Cregger has grasped the thing most horror films get wrong: fear is worse when the character is not a fool.

Roughly forty minutes in, Cregger cuts to a convertible on a coast road, sunshine, and AJ (Justin Long) singing along to the radio. We laughed at the cut, out of shock as much as anything. AJ is an actor whose career is about to be interrupted by an accusation he does not think is fair, and he happens to own the house. Long has made a career of being the likeable one and uses all of it here; AJ is genial, quick, sorry for himself and never once wonders whether he is the problem. Kiril Naumov dresses him in polo shirts and sunglasses to match. The joke of the film, and it is a good one, is that we spend much of the second half with a man we would not want to share a lift with.

The trouble is what lives in the house. We will not say what, or who, except that the film eventually feels obliged to tell us, at length, with a flashback shot in flat, bright daylight, a different film for five minutes, and a supporting turn from Richard Brake, as Frank, that is the most unsettling acting on screen. Once the rules are laid out, the thing in the dark becomes a monster with a job description, and it can be run from, hit and outwitted like any other. The last twenty minutes are fast, gory and a little ordinary. We noticed our shoulders come down from our ears well before the credits, which is not what a horror film wants.

Cregger comes from sketch comedy, and it shows. He times a reveal like a punchline, and some of the later violence is close to slapstick; we could not tell whether that was on purpose. The debt to [*Psycho*](https://film.one/film/psycho) is open and honest: a woman alone in lodgings, a soft-spoken host, and a film that changes its mind about whose story it is telling. Hitchcock took that risk once. Cregger takes it more than once, and the seams show the second time.

At 103 minutes it does not outstay itself, and the 18 certificate is earned in the last act rather than the first. See it with the lights off and someone to grab. Then argue about the point at which you stopped being afraid, because there is one, and everyone’s is different.

*Fi1m score 77, published 2 October 2026.*

## What the critics say

Most critics like Barbarian a great deal. Zach Cregger’s debut is praised above all for its structure: a double-booked rental in a derelict corner of Detroit that keeps changing shape, resetting the story and the audience’s sympathies more than once. Reviewers find it scary in the middle stretch and funny where it means to be, and several credit Georgina Campbell’s lead performance and the cast more widely. The strands of social commentary, on male entitlement and urban decay, are noted approvingly, though most treat them as secondary to the scares.

The reservations gather at the end. A run of critics find the explanation behind the horror thinner than the mystery, and say the last act turns conventional or faintly silly after the tension that precedes it. The spread is narrow: only Collider is properly mixed, faulting exposition-heavy later sections, while The i Paper feels the film goes rote before the close. Little White Lies thinks the commentary rather blunt.

## Straight answers

**Is Barbarian worth watching?**

*Barbarian* is worth watching for anyone who can take a dark, slow build of dread, and we scored it 77. The first hour, with Georgina Campbell deciding whether Bill Skarsgård's polite stranger is safe, is superb; the second half explains too much and turns the fear into something more ordinary. See it with the lights off and someone to grab.

**How long is Barbarian, and what is it rated?**

*Barbarian* runs 1h 43m and is rated R by the MPA in the US. It is a horror and mystery film.

**Where can I watch Barbarian in the US?**

*Barbarian* is streaming on HBO Max, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu and The Roku Channel in the US, and it is also available to rent from Amazon Prime Video from $3.99. It leaves HBO Max on 1 October. Availability is checked daily; the links above go straight to each service.

**How violent or frightening is Barbarian, and is it suitable for children?**

*Barbarian* is an 18 certificate in the UK and not suitable for children. The first hour is slow, quiet dread, built on a woman alone in a house with a stranger and a basement door that shuts behind her; the last twenty minutes are fast and gory, and that is where the certificate is earned. The squeamish should know the violence arrives late and hard.

**How does Barbarian compare to Psycho?**

*Barbarian* owes an open debt to [*Psycho*](https://film.one/film/psycho): a woman alone in lodgings, a soft-spoken host, and a film that changes its mind about whose story it is telling. Hitchcock's film is the tighter and more precise of the two, taking that risk once where Zach Cregger takes it more than once and shows the seams. *Barbarian* is the louder, gorier evening; *Psycho* is the one that still frightens by restraint.

**What should I watch after Barbarian?**

After *Barbarian*, try [*Psycho*](https://film.one/film/psycho) (1960, Fi1m 90): The original film that checks you into a room and then changes the subject. Then [*The Descent*](https://film.one/film/the-descent) (2005, Fi1m 85): Six women, one cave, and a torch beam that never shows quite enough; and [*Audition*](https://film.one/film/audition) (1999, Fi1m 84): Takashi Miike’s slow, courteous first hour lulls you before the floor gives way.

### Reviews we read (26)

- **Los Angeles Times**, Katie Walsh (90/100, inferred): Writer-director Cregger delivers a fresh genre surprise in the cult movie in waiting ‘Barbarian,’ a triumph of Airbnb horror that builds bone-chilling suspense to operatic horror before cutting to new chapters and modes. It wraps multilayered contemporary social commentary in a rip-roaring, utterly horrifying flick with skull-rattling scares. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2022-09-07/barbarian-review-horror)
- **The Guardian** (90/100, inferred): The critic calls it an excellent chiller and one of the most bracingly effective of the year, with a smart structure and novel real-estate horror angle focused on a double-booked Airbnb in derelict Detroit. It flirts with humour but mostly delivers inexorable tension. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/oct/30/barbarian-review-terror-in-a-double-booked-airbnb)
- **Empire**, Siddhant Adlakha (89/100, inferred): The critic praises the film's unpredictable twists, tonal shifts, and thoughtful themes of urban decay and toxic relationships, calling it wildly unpredictable and a beguiling romp that maintains gripping intensity. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/barbarian/)
- **Screen Daily** (85/100, inferred): The critic highlights the inventive, nerve-shredding horror whose greatest shock is its unpredictability, with Cregger embedding the audience in the protagonist's mindset and delivering clever twists that recalibrate assumptions. Social commentary is thoughtful but secondary to the deft terrors. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/barbarian-review/5174176.article)
- **Variety**, Peter Debruge (Critics Pick): A simple premise involving a double-booked vacation rental gets downright demented in Cregger’s unpredictable and thoroughly enjoyable debut. It builds shock upon shock with an effective sense of dread and a deliciously twisted sense of humor, referencing Psycho while delivering outrageous thrills. [Read](https://variety.com/2022/film/reviews/barbarian-review-zach-cregger-1235362694/)
- **IndieWire**, Jude Dry (B+): It is a clever horror thriller with Justin Long as the ultimate toxic white guy, a wild ride that is a hell of a lot of fun with a little something to say, though the final explanation feels like a mish-mosh. [Read](https://www.indiewire.com/2022/09/barbarian-review-justin-long-horror-1234759468/)
- **The AV Club**, Leigh Monson (B+): Cregger's debut is impressive, a stunning addition to the horror canon that marries the absurd and relatable with an extremely dark joke told by a master comedian, though the explanatory mythology feels a little thin. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/barbarian-zach-cregger-justin-long-georgina-campbell-1849503967)
- **The New York Times**, Beatrice Loayza (Critic’s Pick): Cregger’s gleefully twisty horror movie is both a product of modern times and a throwback, as two strangers explore the basement of their Detroit rental home. It orchestrates a snappy spectacle that lets #MeToo, gentrification, and other elements fit like puzzle pieces into a broader nightmare. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/08/movies/barbarian-review.html)
- **Sight and Sound** (82/100, inferred): The critic describes the film as an admirably tricky horror that uses structural fake-outs to reroute expectations and sympathies. It starts as a send-up of millennial meet-cute tropes before shifting into ferocious subterranean set-pieces, with praise for strong performances especially from Richard Brake. [Read](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/barbarian-crowdpleasing-depravity-gets-very-unsettling)
- **The Times**, Ed Potton (★★★★☆): The critic describes a gleefully scary and inventive tale full of disarming twists and #MeToo undertones, using the minor pitfall of a double-booked Airbnb as a satisfying plot hook in a decayed Detroit setting. [Read](https://www.thetimes.com/culture/theatre-dance/article/barbarian-review-73ccw5x5k)
- **Little White Lies**, Charles Bramesco (3/4/3): The critic notes Cregger's use of misdirection and redefinitions of meaning through twists that expand themes of male predation and gendered violence, though the execution is seen as somewhat blunt and the subject matter perfunctory. Visual inventiveness and showman's instincts for entertainment are highlighted positively. [Read](https://lwlies.com/reviews/barbarian)
- **Radio Times**, Patrick Cremona (4/5): The critic praises the cleverly constructed horror with myriad twists and turns that keep it unpredictable and engrossing. Cregger is commended for eking out tension from mundane interactions and Campbell for a magnetic performance, though some fear factor wears off by the climax. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-a38wer/barbarian/)
- **The Telegraph**, Tim Robey (4/5): The critic praises the craftily structured and frighteningly tense horror-thriller, noting its grotesque urban blight setting and effective middle stretch of genuine scares from claustrophobia and dark trapping, while noting some hokier elements later. [Read](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/barbarian-review-airbnb-booking-has-never-terrifying/)
- **Time Out**, Olly Richards (4/5): The critic calls it one of the most thrilling horror debuts in years, inventive and constantly surprising with well-timed laughs and structural timing. A small criticism is that the final punchline does not land 100 percent, letting things get slightly conventional. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/barbarian-2022)
- **The Hollywood Reporter**, Frank Scheck (78/100, inferred): The critic calls it a supremely gonzo horror debut that pulls out all the stops for a terrified frenzy and recalls early Wes Craven, with a perverse ride that will satisfy those who go along for it. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/barbarian-bill-skarsgard-georgina-campbell-1235205019/)
- **RogerEbert.com**, Nick Allen (76/100, inferred): Cregger proves himself a jack-in-the-box horror filmmaker with a double-booked Airbnb nightmare in Detroit. The film builds visceral dread through creepy mysteries and wacky reveals, even when they get dumb, with strong performances from Campbell, Skarsgård, and Long. [Read](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/barbarian-movie-review-2022)
- **Vulture** (75/100, inferred): The review highlights the best scene as one that nails the horror of knowing better, praising how the film avoids the usual 'you idiot' sensation by having a character make a bad call out of moral obligation while fully aware of the danger. [Read](https://www.vulture.com/2022/10/barbarians-best-scene-nails-the-horror-of-knowing-better.html)
- **The i Paper**, Christina Newland (68/100, inferred): The critic finds it a cleverly plotted horror with solid gory scares and inventive unpredictability in its visual style and domestic setting, but notes it feels rote by the end with scares giving way to nearly-amusing violence and doesn't fully hit its target. [Read](https://inews.co.uk/culture/film/barbarian-review-georgina-campbell-stars-in-this-twisty-horror-about-the-airbnb-from-actual-hell-1938804)
- **Digital Spy**, Ian Sandwell (5/5): The critic calls it the must-watch horror movie of the year for its originality and constant subversion of expectations. They single out the unique narrative structure that switches up the story and keeps viewers on edge, along with tense set pieces and strong performances. [Read](https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a41736283/barbarian-review-uk-release/)
- **Paste**, Natalia Keogan (8.1): The critic calls it a bloody, bold, biting, and unpredictable horror gem that delivers whiplash with shocking revelations while maintaining a biting socially conscious undercurrent about male entitlement and the threat of sexual assault. They praise the satirical precision, humor, and strong performances, especially Georgina Campbell's. [Read](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/horror-movies/barbarian-review)
- **The Wrap** (89/100, inferred): The critic praises writer-director Zach Cregger for brilliantly baiting and switching in an exquisitely crafted scary story that keeps developing its twisty plot and stays one step ahead of viewers. They single out the atmospheric tension, circumstantial peril, and the cast’s body language for making the film genuinely scary and upsetting. [Read](https://www.thewrap.com/barbarian-film-review-2022-georgina-campbell-bill-skarsgard-justin-long/)
- **/Film**, Ryan Scott (8.5/10): The critic calls it the unexpected surprise of the year and a masterclass in tension and unpredictability. They praise its deceptively simple premise that leads to shocking, original turns, strong performances, and a mix of scares and humor without relying on tropes. [Read](https://www.slashfilm.com/990424/barbarian-review-a-genuinely-shocking-and-fun-descent-into-horror/)
- **Consequence** (B+): The critic describes it as a bonkers horror favorite with compounding twists and a dark sense of humor that makes for one of the most surprising horror films of recent years. They highlight its surprising DNA with Psycho in the first act and the effective building of dread around the double-booked Airbnb premise. [Read](https://consequence.net/2022/09/barbarian-review-bill-skarsgard/)
- **Den of Geek**, Joe George (80/100, inferred): The critic praises the film for reinventing suburban horror for the 21st century by linking it to the long history of the genre while addressing economic and social issues like gentrification and privilege. They single out the shocking flashback sequence and its thematic depth about suburbia's dark underbelly. [Read](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/barbarian-suburbia-scariest-place-in-america/)
- **Polygon**, Joshua Rivera (80/100, inferred): The critic praises it as a lean, surprising film with effective thrills that rewards close watching through well-calibrated creative choices and recontextualization of sympathies rather than big reveals. They single out its subtle shifts in viewer sympathies and the way it makes the biggest scares psychological, in the head. [Read](https://www.polygon.com/reviews/23342834/barbarian-review-horror-twists/)
- **Collider**, Chase Hutchinson (B-): The critic finds the film a mixed bag of horror and humor that starts strong with effective tension and surprises but loses momentum through exposition-heavy later sections and diminishing returns. They single out the technical craft, particularly the cinematography and score, for praise while noting the journey is more impactful than the reveals. [Read](https://collider.com/barbarian-review-bill-skarsgard-georgina-campbell/)

## Details

- **Director:** Zach Cregger
- **Director:** Zach Cregger
- **Writer:** Zach Cregger
- **Cinematography:** Zach Kuperstein
- **Editor:** Joe Murphy
- **Music:** Anna Drubich
- **Production design:** Rossitsa Bakeva
- **Costume design:** Kiril Naumov
- **Producer:** Arnon Milchan, J.D. Lifshitz, Raphael Margules
- **Cast:** Georgina Campbell as Tess; Justin Long as AJ; Bill Skarsgård as Keith; Richard Brake as Frank; Matthew Patrick Davis as The Mother; Jaymes Butler as Andre; Kurt Braunohler as Doug; Sophie Sörensen as Bonnie
- **Runtime:** 1h 43m
- **Certificate (MPA):** R
- **Release (the US):** 9 September 2022
- **Genres:** Horror, Mystery, Thriller
- **Budget:** $4 million
- **Box office:** $45 million
- **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dr89pmKrqkI

## Where to watch in the US

- HBO Max: streaming, uhd, leaving 2026-10-01
- Amazon Prime Video: add-on, uhd
- Hulu: add-on, hd, leaving 2026-10-01
- The Roku Channel: add-on, hd, leaving 2026-10-01
- Amazon Prime Video: rent $3.99, uhd
- Amazon Prime Video: buy $4.99, uhd

*Checked 2026-09-23.*

Also available in: AR, AT, AU, BE, BR, CA, CL, CO, DE, EC, ES, FI, FR, GB, IE, IT, JP, MX, NL, NZ, PA, PE, PL, PT, SE, TR, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## If you liked this

- *Psycho* (1960), Fi1m 90: The original film that checks you into a room and then changes the subject. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/psycho.md)
- *The Descent* (2005), Fi1m 85: Six women, one cave, and a torch beam that never shows quite enough. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-descent.md)
- *Speak No Evil* (2022): A Danish weekend with people too polite to leave; the dread is all manners.
- *Creep* (2014): Two men, one camera, and a host whose friendliness is the whole threat.
- *Audition* (1999), Fi1m 84: Takashi Miike’s slow, courteous first hour lulls you before the floor gives way. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/audition.md)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/barbarian