This year, perhaps only Jordan Peele’s NOPE had a trailer as auspiciously intriguing as the one for Barbarian. The solo directorial debut of Zach Cregger, the film absolutely seized the love of critics and the box office. Indeed, predicting what could possibly have come out of the sleeper hit would be akin to winning the lottery.
The film’s many twists and mysteries were just one aspect that earned it’s rightful success. Impeccable casting, refreshing writing, and the deliberate care put into the handling of its themes kept plenty of audiences coming back for more. Now with its streaming debut on HBO Max and Disney Plus, Cregger’s work is introducing itself to even wider audiences and seems destined to cement itself as one of the most beloved horror films of the year.
If Barbarian managed to exceed our expectations, then Cregger himself is in the same boat. His humble hopes of showing that he’s the real deal were met with an outpouring of palpable love that he didn’t dare imagine. In an interview with Discussing Film, he divulged how his only metric for success with this film had to do with whether a studio would trust him with another film after the fact. Needless to say, he’s definitely achieved that.
“The only metric of success that I would allow myself to really get my hopes up for was that somebody would see it and have enough faith in me that they would let me make another movie. So the idea that this had a theatrical release and that people have really responded to it, going kind of viral and the big word of mouth, it’s great, man. It’s amazing.”
Barbarian is now streaming in the United States on HBO Max, and on Disney Plus in international territories via the streaming service’s Star bundle.
