BARBARIAN was a film of two halves for me, with a really good and tension-filled first half which keeps you guessing throughout. It goes for the low-key Blumhouse approach and elicits a couple of fine understated performances from Campbell and Skarsgard to strong effect. The Detroit setting is extremely well evoked and some of the subterranean sequences are wonderfully creepy, so that's all for the good. Unfortunately there's a tonal shift halfway through when things get more explicit and rather juvenile at times. We don't need gross-out bits in films like this, even if I did appreciate the overall subtext about male behaviour. Maybe some female involvement behind the camera would have worked better.
Review of Barbarian
