Back in 2007, Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez tapped an up-and-coming genre filmmaker, Edgar Wright, to make a parody trailer for a fake movie to play between their “Grindhouse” double feature. Wright came up with “Don’t,” in which a gravelly voice intones, “If you are thinking of going into this house — don’t! If you are thinking of opening this door — don’t! If you are thinking of checking out the basement — don’t!” It was funny because it was deeply recognizable, and it tapped into the audience's urge to yell at the screen, “don’t go in there!”
This is also essentially the plot of Zach Cregger’s “Barbarian,” about which the less one knows, the better. In fact, consider this permission to stop reading this review right now, and just buy tickets. Do not watch trailers, do not read reviews, proceed directly to the theater for one of the most brilliantly executed, sharply incisive and wildly scary horror films of the year.
How can one describe “Barbarian” without giving away all the best twists and turns? Well, it’s a triumph of what could be a new subgenre: “Airbnb horror.” It starts on a dark and rainy night, as a young woman named Tess (Georgina Campbell) attempts to access a lockbox at the Detroit rental home she’s booked for a job interview the next day. A light inside flicks on. Someone else is home.
