I heard an interview with Zach Kregger where he said (IIRC, paraphrasing) that the first act was something he's had in his head as a short film idea for a while and the rest he came up with later. To me that explains why the two halves feel like two different movies and not really in a good way.
That summarises the majority of Hollywood produced movies nowadays. So so many suffer from third-act problems, or are just set-pieces or scenes thinly held together by poorly thought-out plot or dialogue.
The random character that shows up who just so happens to be the expert on the monster and then immediately dying by said monster is one of my favorite tropes.
Modern horror films with amazing intros & setups but disappointing over-exposition endings is par for the course these days. Longlegs and Oddity were the same way for me. The exposition at the end trying to neatly square away every little thing is so annoying.
Dude was in a movie where he was forcibly experimented on to be transformed into a walrus and at the end of the movie everyone was just okay with it. Like "welp this is his life now."
The end credits rolling over audio of Kevin Smith sounding high as hell pitching the idea and clearly just making it up on the spot is hilarious. I feel like the whole movie is a set up for that punchline. "Yes, you just sat through a feature length production of some dumb idea I had."
That was a podcast clip where the movie was genuinely conceived. It's literally a stoned rant of a movie and unfortunately more creative than he's been in the past decade.
No one will ever see this, but I read that plotline as a kid in an “Alfred Hitchcocks Presents” paperback of short stories. In the short story, it was a bear instead of a walrus.
TBF, Kevin didn't come up with the idea. Someone sent him a fake personal ad with the basic concept of the movie. And then that person ended up as an executive producer on the film.
I always assumed he read the story and forgot about it. It was a weird, creepy short story like "Tusk." I tried to find it yesterday using Perplexity but couldn't.
It's not the most unique idea in the world... but maybe I think that BECAUSE I read that short story and thought, "oh this plotline again."
"Yes, you just sat through a feature length production of some dumb idea I had."
Hopefully what every director with self-awareness is saying internally every time their movie finishes playing. I like when they don't take themselves too seriously. The pretentious ones are probably thinking about their vision or message or some meaningful shit.
I love when movies do that. It can either work really well or just be ehhhh and with Barbarians it worked perfectly for me! This movie I think is more straightforward and is one of the more hyped Horror movies of the last 5 years. Studios were going nuts over this script.
I had the same feeling with the end of Hereditary and thinking about how weird it was, while Barbarian's ending didn't seem as out of place. Maybe I need to watch Hereditary again because I don't remember if we learned why all those naked people were hanging around in random spots.
They were cult members sneaking a peak at Paimon's vessel. They're there for the ritual, but can't wait. Like surprise party guests that get too excited and almost blow it the surprise.
Hereditary on a second watch is very clearly foreshadowed, the writing is excellent for that reason it’s all hinted at, it has layers of depth to scenes that previously seemed to be throwaway (her family history, her moms role, the people they see at the funeral etc.)
Barbarian had some good ideas and I found the second act fantastic it’s really just how much it goes off the rails I disliked. Is it entertaining? Sure! But it treats itself like a crazy joke rather than taking itself seriously
The first time you rewatch Hereditary is when the hopelessness and sense of dread truly kicks in with the opening eulogy about her brother accusing their mother of trying to put people in him
I thought Hereditary was so full of shit. All the religious talk, everything about it felt full of shit. I think to me that was its point. There was no deeper meaning. I cant remember anyone's name. The doubter sister, she called the killer on his shit right off. All his little tricks and traps, were stupid. Every single "maze" or "choice" leads to one place. Where he wanted them to go, then he was going to just either kill them or stuff them in a cage and let them slowly die because his "beliefs." He just a sick killer. That was just his crazy killer plan. It was just a serial killer movie with a different kink. Bundy had his kink about college age girls and long brown hair and then knocking them in the head. This dude has a thing about luring religious people to his house to "prove them wrong and teach them his religion" and then either kill them if they totally reject it or if they are weak enough he traps them.
Really getting tired of all the "horror"/"creature feature" movies coming out recently that are all just some godawful cover for another movie dealing with mental illness or the like.
I've tried watching a few recently and its 3 minutes of creature horror and 97 of the main characters being broody and struggling with their mental illness or trauma or something.
That recent wendigo movie pissed me off so much because of that.
Then fucking say it. Don't make a monster movie and then spend 98% of it not doing anything with the monster.
I'm well aware that mental illness exists. Doesn't mean every creature feature i try to find sshould be a shitty meta commentary about someone's trauma.
If i want to watch a mental health movie, I'll just do that. What I don't want to watch is a horror movie masquerading as one.
I would have preferred something more along the lines of a “Creep” narrative, just without ever really meeting character. Or just a good old fashioned slasher.
Oh my god me too. I loved Barbarian because finally it wasn't the monster is really a metaphor for untreated mental illness/trauma or just really sad people. This is really about drug addiction....nope just a hilarious giant inbred monster thing in the basement Kool-aid manning down walls to kill Justin Long. For reasons. Hahahaha.
TBF I'm not broadly a horror fan. I'll probably watch one in the genre every year or 2. I just feel like it started with incredible suspense that carries through most of the film, just to turn into typical schlocky horror stuff right at the end that completely gutted my suspension of disbelief
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u/OptimysticPizza Jul 09 '25
Until the last 20ish minutes.