It's revealed that this is the place Frank, the maintenance worker from the flashback scene, lives when he's in the tunnels. Frank is kidnapped and raped plenty of women for decades and recorded then onto those tapes. As he asks AJ to watch one of the tapes on the shelf.
AJ, a man who has himself been accused of rape, watches one of the many videotapes Frank has recorded of himself raping and, presumably, murdering several women over the years. AJ is utterly horrified by the tape; however, Barbarian director Zach Cregger does not show viewers the contents of the video.
The Mother echoes Frankenstein, being a misshapen creature brought into the world through an unnatural process, unloved, isolated, and ultimately, sympathetic. She is the product of Frank's monstrous crimes, and unwittingly carries on his legacy, through her desperation to nurture.
He is a serial rapist who abducted and raped multiple women in the underground corridors beneath his house and committed subsequent acts of child molestation. The consequences of his disturbing behavior led to the birth of the Mother, a deformed and barbaric byproduct of years of incest.
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.
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.
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.
Keith went down into the labyrinth, only for Tess to try to help him after he got attacked in the shadows. Mother then crept out of the dark, smashing his head into the wall. Interestingly, when she took AJ, he panicked even more, which Tess warned about as she knew Mother would also kill him.
They are a symbol of evil and death. Colloquially, however, snakes are not animals, but people. They are backstabbers — the barbarians — who have a tendency to manipulate situations to craft a narrative that presents themselves as innocent.
The Mother is a severely deformed woman, warped by the decades of parent-child incest between Frank and his lineage. Her body is covered in dirt, is thin and frail, her face is malformed with a mouth with no lips full of rotted teeth, her hair is long and raggedy, and her fingernails are long and black.
Barbarian has been characterized as having themes related to sexual abuse and trauma, and, owing to the book by which Cregger was inspired, themes of different forms of misogyny.
It is revealed that he has kidnapped, raped and impregnated several women in the secret chambers beneath his house without repercussions for decades, and that Mother is the daughter of another of his victims, born into miserable captivity.
As the homeless man Andre mentions, The Mother is not the worst thing living in the home's basement. As much as she appears to be Barbarian's primary antagonist, she is only a victim of Frank's sinister crimes. Frank is the real monster because he created The Mother through years of rape and deep incest.
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.
Planning to sell it to raise much-needed funds, AJ willingly goes down into the secret corridor as he views it as added value. Of course, he runs into The Mother too and as he tries to flee, he falls into a pit where he meets Tess who has been there for two weeks.
While Tess is gone, AJ discovers the underground “bedroom” where an elderly Frank has taken up residence. He unwittingly informs Frank that cops will soon be crawling through the house's tunnels, prompting Frank to shoot himself in order to avoid facing any form of justice.
The real villain of this movie is clearly Frank, for what he had caused and the decades of torture he put so many women and children through - The Mother was just the sad, unfortunate outcome of all of that.
Cregger recalled a chapter that encouraged “women to pay attention to these little minor red flags that men can give off in day-to-day situations.” This can be seen in the opening scenario between Tess and Keith in small moments like when Tess realizes he opened her bedroom door in the middle of the night.
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.
Parents need to know that Barbarian is a dark, extremely creepy/gory horror movie (with satirical elements) about a sinister house in Detroit. It's skillfully made and entertaining but saddled with a disappointing monster. Gore scenes include a head being bashed against a wall until it's a bloody pulp, eye…
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 was one of the best horror movies of 2022 because it's shocking and smart. It discusses the difficult topics of abuse and assault while presenting a unique horror story that has a big twist halfway. It's wise that the movie switches perspectives from Tess to AJ and shows him driving in his car.
