Despite an intriguing introduction I was mostly bored for the first hour and annoyed by how basic the actual concept was. The direction is flat, slow and didn't bring any real tension as I have seen way scarier dark tunnel horror scenes.

Characters were introduced in a banal way like a tv show pilot with many scenes to give them back story that had nothing to do with the main plot. I guess their main trait is that they all behave very irrationally inside that house.

Then the flashback just presented what we sort of guessed all along and in a way that was neither frightening or interesting. After such a long build up I was expecting a proper twist or at least at true horror moment. The "action" at the end felt rushed, goofy and again not scary at all.

I'm a horror film lover and that's probably the issue as I have seen this exact sort of stories done better. Also this year didn't disappoint with many gems by very accomplished directors like The Black Phone, Pearl, X, Nope (although I'll admit Nope barely fits the horror category). They know how to built fear gradually and create characters integral to the story. While it had a good premise Barbarian felt quite amateurish.

It seems that three different people had unfinished scripts and someone stapled the pages together and decided to make a movie from the result. Unfortunately, the result is "Barbarian."

What or who is "Barbarian?" I have no idea! I didn't know much about the movie, but I saw some positive reviews, so I took a chance. Apparently, the people who really liked this movie are either paid reviewers or have never seen another movie before.

I liked Tess and the tension between her and Keith.

After Keith meets "The Mother," the movie takes a sharp fall off a tall cliff and lands on jagged rocks below. Any sort of impact the scene had with Keith and "The Mother" was immediately destroyed by the next scene. After that, the movie never recovered.

It's annoying to see characters in horror films with super-human strength. "The Mother" literally ripped a person's arm off and beat him with it. Apparently, she can also leap from tall heights without any problem. You would think that she would be malnourished and frail. Noooooooo!

It's also annoying to see bumbling cops that disregard an obvious problem while scoffing at a victim.

The fact that the AirBB house looked reasonably decent in a run down, crack house neighborhood is ridiculous. I doubt the house was rented out constantly, so I'm sure squatters would have overtaken the house at some point.

IMDB states in its Trivia section, "Although not officially credited in any way, Jordan Peele was an invisible hand in shaping the eventual story." If I would have known that, I wouldn't have seen the movie. I dislike the crap movies that Peele is involved with.

Save yourself the frustration and skip this sad excuse of a horror movie.

Barbarian is a film I've been curious about for a while. When I saw the trailer, it did not seem that interesting to me. However, when it came out and was getting praised by critics, including Youtube personalities I follow, I became quite interested. Plus, the film has some notable actors like Justin Long and Bill Skarsgard, whom I've liked it other things. After finally seeing the film, I have to say I'm disappointed. Now, this might be because of how hyped-up the film is. Maybe, after seeing it more times I'll warm up to it more. That's happened before. However, right now I can say I wasn't a big fan of the film.

It's not the worst or the most disappointing movie I've seen this year. Dr. Strange 2 was definitely the film I was disappointed most by. Halloween Ends is the worst film I saw this year. It's definitely the worst horror film I've seen. I can say Barbarian is better than that film. However, there are other horror movies I've seen that are better like the Black Phone and even the new Hellraiser film.

Now, the film does have some things going for it.

It's a good-looking movie. It has some creative and atmospheric environments and shots. The performances were all good. There are some good kill scenes. There isn't many of them, but when they happen you have some good effects. I also like how the film subverts expectations a little bit. It feels a little like Psycho in that regard. You think it's going to be one movie, but then it becomes something else later.

But I just found the film very boring throughout most of it's run. A slow burn like this can work if you're attached to the characters, but I just wasn't. I found the leads pretty boring or unlikable. So those things really brought the film down for me.

But I'm in the minority on that. Most people seem to really like this film, and that's fine. Right now, I'm not really one of them. If you want a horror movie that cleverly subverts your expectations, but is more fun (at least to me), watch Malignant by James Wan.