Charles Dorfman never gets this blend of satire, psychological thriller and chilly, understated horror to congeal into something memorable.

| Jan 5, 2023

Barbarians is sometimes a comedy of ill manners, sometimes an exhilarating thriller, but it’s also an amusingly clever and sometimes violent parable about venality, vulgarity and territoriality.

| Jun 29, 2022

Has some merit but disappoints because it is more interested in the film's conversation parts than in providing the scares needed for a horror pic.

| Original Score: C+ | May 20, 2022

Barbarians constructs a level of keen curiosity but eventually fades into the familiar, with an unimpressive final showdown. I wanted to like this much more than I did, and I believe the bones for success were there, if not for a miscalibration of pieces.

| Apr 30, 2022

Charles Dorfman's debut feature, brims with a love for cinema, yet slyly dares to break a slew of the established rules...Barbarians is the year's nasty indie sleeper.

| Original Score: B+ | Apr 28, 2022

Barbarians is being marketed as a horror movie about a home invasion. It's actually a tedious 90-minute movie about an annoying dinner party, with the formulaic home invasion happening only in the last 30 minutes.

| Apr 27, 2022

While the ultimate destination is predictable there are enough shocks and surprises along the way to make this an enjoyable experience. More enjoyable than a dinner party with a bunch of sniping, sulking rich people, anyway.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 11, 2022

This low-budget thriller has some familiar faces but also plenty of familiar plot devices, none of them that well-crafted.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Apr 11, 2022

Its particular juggling of social commentary, black comedy, home-invasion thriller, and horror, with a couple luridly soap-operatic plot twists thrown in, is effectively discomfiting.

| Apr 8, 2022

Although the story is essentially quite simple, it’s beautifully framed, both narratively and visually.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 7, 2022

A slick, beautifully shot, and deviously unpredictable story of privileged, out of touch jerks learning the error of their ways in the most horrifying manner possible -- and that's even before any bloodshed occurs.

| Apr 7, 2022

The film provides an engaging friend dynamic among the four leads, even while capitalizing on familiar territory.

| Original Score: 7/10 | Apr 5, 2022

Barbarians betrays its solid set-up by paying it off with empty, underwhelming chaos.

| Apr 4, 2022

Dorfman’s venture into this familiar milieu is sufficiently well-made to make it worth the time. And, unlike too many recent thrillers, it doesn’t overstay its welcome.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Apr 3, 2022

The twists are mild and the pacing uneven, yet the unsettling atmosphere and strong performances help to heighten the suspense.

| Apr 2, 2022

A good, ritzy location, stylish production and camera and competent techs do not make a good movie. There is something called heart and soul and Barbarians lacks both.

| Original Score: C | Apr 1, 2022

We’ve reached the depressing stage of our society where taking the tiny step from rage into action no longer seems that big a leap. When it comes to exposing the whited sepulcher of modern life, Barbarians can’t compete with the news.

| Original Score: C | Apr 1, 2022

Barbarians is a taut thriller with a dash of humor and folk horror sprinkled in.

| Original Score: 7/10 | Apr 1, 2022

Charles Dorfman carries out his ultimately banal aims with commendable dispatch.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Apr 1, 2022

Although “Barbarians” doesn’t have much new to add to the home-invasion genre or much new to say about rich bullies who make even their friends miserable, it really connects for a good, long stretch at the start.

| Apr 1, 2022