A new horror movie named Barbarian has been released in theaters, and audiences may be wondering about what happens at the ending. This film stars Georgina Campbell, Bill Skarsgård, and Justin Long. It follows a woman named Tess who discovers a man named Keith staying at her rental home and discovers a dark secret inside. This is an explanation of what happened at the end of Barbarian.
Who is the killer in Barbarian?
The killer is The Mother. The marketing for this film does an excellent job of keeping the premise vague. Tess comes across Keith in her Airbnb, and he invites her to stay the night. While he comes across as kind to her, it is hard to trust him fully. When Tess tells Keith that she discovered a secret room in the basement, he does not believe her and goes down to investigate himself. After Keith does not respond to Tess, she goes down to the room to see what happened.
At first, it seems like the movie is setting up Keith to be the killer, luring her downstairs and hiding secrets from her under the guise of a nice man. However, when Tess goes downstairs and discovers Keith, he is suddenly killed by a nude old woman credited as The Mother.
The Mother is a woman born out of rape and incest. Frank (Richard Brake) lived in the house in the 1970s and committed these unspeakable acts. The Mother wants to take people to be her child, breastfeeding them and killing those who get in her way. The ending has The Mother killing AJ and Tess shooting The Mother in the face.
The way The Mother is kept out of the marketing allows her sudden appearance to feel unexpected. While it first feels like Keith will be the antagonist, the sudden appearance of this character and her terrifying backstory allows Barbarian to stand out amongst others in the horror genre.
