Up there, AJ chooses to sacrifice Tess to save himself. He tosses her from the water tower and the Mother jumps after, grabbing and cradling the woman to reduce the impact from the fall. Out of anger that AJ tried to kill her “baby,” the Mother gouges out his eyes, killing him instantly.
The Mother is the titular main antagonist of the 2022 comedy horror film Barbarian. She is a deranged and deformed human who is the result of decades of incest and rape from Frank, a serial rapist and pedophile living in Detroit, Michigan.
AJ Gilbride is the deuteragonist and eventual secondary antagonist of the 2022 horror film Barbarian. He is a sitcom actor whose career was ruined after he was accused of rape by a costar, and who travels to one of the properties he owns at Barbary Street. He was portrayed by Justin Long.
Andre, a homeless man on the street, rescued Tess and told her and AJ how Frank ran his incest ring for decades. But while they saw cages below in the lair, the film never divulged what happened to the other women before Mother.
While AJ berated him and called him sick, Frank likely didn't kill himself from guilt but fear that his secret would finally be revealed. He shot himself to avoid the consequences of not only his sexual crimes but the creation and actions of The Mother.
AJ loses his gun and pushes Tess off the water tower to save himself. The Mother jumps after her and shields her from the fall. AJ finds Tess is still alive, but as he tries to rationalize his actions to Tess, the Mother revives and gouges his eyes out, killing him.
Barbarian's ending sees Tess return to the Airbnb to save AJ, who has just watched Frank die by suicide. Tess and AJ manage to escape the wretched house, but the Mother is far from dead, alive despite Tess crashing her car into the monstrous woman.
The Mother gets increasingly violent with AJ during his escape near the end of Barbarian and immediately kills Keith after a scuffle that resulted in him getting bitten while fleeing the tunnels.
Although he kills himself, it's not because he feels remorse for his atrocities, but because he was a decrepit old man at the time, and he didn't want to go to jail if AJ called the police.
To this end, the surprise ending of the film where the Mother willingly sacrifices herself to save Tess and, later, allows Tess to kill her signifies her innate trust in and solidarity with other women.
However, Cregger has provided a hint by revealing that Barbarian is based on a thought he had after reading a book called The Gift of Fear, a self-help book written by a security consultant named Gavin de Becker.
Viewed through this lens, Barbarian becomes a film about how male entitlement and indifference has helped build a world that allows evil to fester and rot. It is present in the desire for a carefully cultivated suburb, which Frank's neighbor abandons the second he sees it changing.
Barbarian is the story of a survivor. It is also the story of a mother, an abuser, a victim, and a haunted house; a commentary on capitalism, sharing economy, gentrification, greed, gender politics, Trickle-down economics, motherhood, and abuse. The one thing it is not: a conventional horror film.
What Happens At The End Of Barbarian? Barbarian's ending is set up partway through the movie when a monster, The Mother, appears in the basement of the rental house and murders Keith. Tess is absolutely terrified but proves herself to be a smart horror movie final girl when she figures out how to survive.
The naked woman, referred to as The Mother, turns out to be the progeny of a man named Frank who's also still alive in the deepest recesses of the house's winding basement tunnels. Frank was a murderer and a rapist who abducted women, and one of them gave birth to The Mother.
When Tess returns to the house, a man named Andre (Jaymes Butler) runs after her and tells her to get out of the house. Although a bit spooked, Tess goes about her business and ends up going down toward the basement.
Why The Mother Never Tried To Kill Tess In Barbarian. On the surface, The Mother seems overprotective of Tess because she has likely developed a skewed sense of motherhood after living in Frank's basement and obsessively watching the videotape that teaches how mothers should nurture their children.
There aren't any plans for a Barbarian 2, but the horrors visited on 476 Barbary will continue elsewhere. Per Bloody Disgusting, New Regency Pictures is co-producing a Barbarian video game adaptation. The game will be available on both PC and consoles, thanks to a collaboration with Diversion3 Entertainment.
Tess knows though that The Mother won't ever stop, so as she's being cradled, she takes the gun that AJ was carrying and kills The Mother. It's an emotional scene and for Georgina Campbell, it was a hard scene to film.
When he found her he told her that he had been bit by something and they had to leave. However before they could do anything a large deformed woman ran through the tunnels, grabbed Keith, and smashed his head multiple times into the wall, killing him.
Frank eventually lost ownership of the house but he continued to live in the tunnels, presumably being aided by The Mother who feared him. Over time, being kept in a small room in the tunnels, Frank grew old and bedridden, having become a horrific monster.
Keith's toothbrush on the floor can be chalked up to where the outlet is placed. It is likely that Keith didn't have any other place to charge it, but it is much harder to explain The Mother's actions and this is where the true message of Barbarian comes from.
