HBO's Barbarian Delivers One of the Grossest Scenes in Film History
When Barbarian did remarkably well during its release in September, grossing over $42 million worldwide at the box office, it was clear that the film was going to be a memorable one.
Now audiences are being introduced to the horror once again after its release on HBO Max. And viewers cannot get over one part, in particular, described as one of the grossest scenes they have ever seen in a horror.
Barbarian follows the story of a young woman named Tess (Georgina Campbell), who discovers the rented house she has booked is already occupied by someone else. Tess decides to stay anyway, only to find a dark secret within the property that she cannot escape.
[Warning: Spoilers Ahead]
For those who are not bothered by the film's plot being spoiled, Tess soon runs into an agitated naked woman (Matthew Patrick Davis) who has been living under the basement. Obsessed with nursing Tess along with a fellow captive AJ (Justin Long) and treating the pair as her children, she forces them into several horrific acts, which seem both disturbing and almost humorous at the same time.
There's one scene, however, which has been labeled by some viewers as the most disgusting of all. 'The Mother', as the film's antagonist has been named, attempts to feed her captives her breast milk from a baby's bottle. Not only is the scene disturbing enough that the two characters are made to drink, but the bottle itself is covered in her repulsive hair.
Tess, of the two, reluctantly drinks from the bottle for survival. However, AJ is not as willing and instead gets dragged away, giving Tess the chance she needs to attempt escape. The mixture of repulsive visuals in this scene is enough to make anyone feel a little queasy.
Georgina Campbell has talked about filming the scene in particular, and how exactly it came to appear in the movie. In an interview with Digital Spy, Campbell remembers how on the day of shooting the scene, the bottle started out with very little hair on it. And yet director and writer Zach Cregger (of which this is his solo directorial debut) wanted the scene to appear increasingly more gross and disturbing, adding more and more hair for each take until eventually, it looked very disgusting and hair ridden. She admits however, they found it ridiculous and difficult not to laugh at the time. Putting the effort in to get through it for their art.
"Mostly it was hard not to laugh because as soon as that bottle came down, we were all like, 'Oh my God, this is ridiculous'," the actress says.
Fortunately, the disturbing nature of the film has not put off much of its audience from enjoying the movie. Twitter users have posted their own thoughts after watching the film. Some are stating that Barbarian is "...one of the most interesting and well-made horror films of 2022". Others are also expressing their enjoyment of the movie's twist. Admitting they had no idea what was coming, and how they found the movie overall a 'thrilling ride". Clearly Barbarian has been made to shock its audience with some of its more disturbing conceptions and imagery. And in doing so has rightly won a spot as including one of the grossest yet most captivating horror scenes ever made.