Vacation and other home rentals are not without their scary stories. People have told stories about finding cameras and dealing with harassment among many more terrible things. It makes some people (it’s me, I’m people) never want to try them. As tempting as it would be to stay in the Mystery Machine, I will have to pass. Still, there are others who swear by those services… for now. The trailer for Barbarian, an upcoming horror film, might change everyone’s mind for good.

It was a dark and stormy night. Tess (Georgina Campbell) arrives at her rental home only to discover there’s a man (Bill Skarsgård) already there. Despite red flags virtually smacking her in the face when Keith says she can “just crash here.” She goes to sleep in the bedroom while he’s on the couch. But a locked door isn’t enough to save Tess from terror. She wakes up in the middle of the night to see her door open.

Tess continues to break all the horror rules (in the worst way) by going into a dark basement. Things go awry in the remainder of the Barbarian trailer with scared people popping up, a weird and gross room with a camera, and a strange narration. Yet another rule is broken when she watches a VHS tape. Did we learn nothing from The Ring?! Tess is into some mess that only she can free herself from. 

a woman stands in a dark room with a look of terror in barbarian trailer
20th Century Studios

What “overwhelming process” will Tess have to endure? Who knows. I certainly don’t believe that anything happening there is natural at all. And, I love the final shot of the house. There’s always something intriguing about an idyllic setting like a suburban house or a small town harboring darkness beneath its surface. Barbarian hits theaters on August 31, so the answers are not too far away.