Barbarian Is a Discussion on Women’s Intuition

On the surface level, Barbarian is just a typical horror film. But in reality, there's much more to the Zach Cregger movie than meets the eye.

Barbarian is a psychological horror film based on the premise of a young woman ignoring every red flag a man gives her. Writer and Director Zach Cregger came up with the idea during a simple writing exercise. But he saw potential in extending the concept into a feature-length film.

His approach uncovered the true nature of men who have bad intentions. As a society, there is this assumption of what bad guys look and acts like. They're not nice, like Bill Skarsgård's character, Keith. They don't have a good job like Justin Long's character, AJ, nor would they live in a friendly, well-lit home like Richard Brake's character, Frank, who lives deep underneath Barbury Street. However, Cregger uses these men to show that any man with these ordinary qualities can have bad intentions. This is not to say all men are evil or that women are incapable of doing bad things as well, but Cregger recognizes that since he is a man, he has the privilege to avoid these kinds of people more often than women. And he uses the protagonist, Tess, played by Georgina Campbell, to depict what would happen if a woman continued to ignore every red flag men like that provided.

What Is the Deeper Meaning Behind Barbarian?

The movie opens with Tess encountering a man named Keith. Supposedly, he and Tess have been double booked at the same Airbnb. From a glance, he appears harmless, but the audience is quick to assume he is the bad guy. The actor playing him is prone to act in villainous roles, like his performance as Pennywise the Dancing Clown in the It films. Viewers are also more likely to think they caught the warning signs earlier because they see more than the main character does, such as the lingering camera shots that show Keith watching Tess suspiciously.

Although Tess appears apprehensive about going inside the house, she goes in because that's the film's purpose. All logic is thrown out the window to show the audience what happens when someone ignores warning signs. Keith displays many red flags through his brief introduction. Besides the Airbnb mix-up, he is adamant about taking her bags inside the house. It's a small detail, but it adds to the mystery behind who this character is and why he chooses to be kind to a stranger like Tess.

Things become more suspicious when Keith offers Tess a drink numerous times. Even when she declines, he still makes her tea. Instead of taking the hint that she doesn't want to drink anything, he asks again with the approach that she could watch him make it. Keith wants her to know he knows she has no reason to trust him. He is trying to appear more innocent by over-explaining himself so she can put her guard down. Moments later, Keith opens and drinks wine in front of Tess and again presents her with a cup. This shows, again, that he is trying to appear less intimidating. She initially declines the offer, but after some discussion where it seems they have things in common, Tess decides she can trust him enough to share a drink of wine. This is her first significant mistake.

The Setting of Barbarian Is Another Red Flag

However, it's not just the men in the story that give off red flags. The house and surroundings outside the Airbnb should have given Tess a hint that something is off. When she goes to bed that night, her bedroom door opens. She believes it to be Keith, yet she cannot prove her claim, and instead of leaving right then and there, she sticks it out. When Tess steps outside the house the next morning, she realizes the surrounding houses are either abandoned, burned or trashed. When Tess mentions where she's staying at to her potential employer, she signals that staying in that area is not a good idea. But Tess still returns to the home, only to be chased by a homeless person.

Alone and afraid, Tess uses the restroom but finds out the toilet paper is out. She ventures down to the basement, but the door closes on her. This is where Tess encounters the hidden passage, and at first, she hesitates to enter, but again, Clegger purposely makes Tess appear foolish to proceed with the story. But had Tess not continued the trend of ignoring red flags, the audience would not have realized how much intuition really matters.

What Happens When Every Red Flag Is Ignored in Barbarian?

When Keith returns to the movie, Tess tells him about her discovery of the vacant eerie passage and the room with a camera, bucket, bed and red handprint. Instead of listening to her, he chooses to ignore her warnings. He goes as far as saying she is acting irrationally. Tess should be out the door, but again, Cregger wants Tess to push through. When Keith does not come back from the basement, Tess follows him. Any logical person would leave right then and there. As she continues her journey into the secret tunnel, more and more red flags appear, such as another secret door, human-sized cages, a room filled with clothes and a TV that shows an old video of a woman breastfeeding.

The audience still has no idea what's going on, but when they see Keith on the ground slithering toward her in terror, they think that this is the moment Tess could die at the hands of Keith. But that does not happen. Instead, a tall, monstrous woman delivers blows to Keith's head. At this point in the film, the red flags no longer matter to Tess. She is past all that and is in for the fight of her life. This could have been avoided had Tess left at Barbarian's start when the first red flag appeared, but she wanted to see the good in everything, which never works out in a horror movie.