Character page for Zach Cregger’s Barbarian.
open/close all folders
Tess
Tess Marshall
"Nope."
Portrayed by: Georgina Campbell
- Final Girl: The only character in the movie to survive to the credits.
- Genre Savvy: When she finds the dark hidden corridor in the basement, she instantly knows not to go in there. Seeing as how she's currently stuck down there though, her curiosity eventually gets the better of her.
- Nice Girl: Tess goes back into the basement just to rescue AJ. Deconstructed in that her selflessness repeatedly lands her in dangerous situations and leads her to put her trust in people—like AJ—who don't deserve it.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: She goes through so much trouble to get back into the basement to save AJ. It leads to him accidentally shooting her.
Keith
Keith Toshko
"Do I look like some kind of monster?"
Portrayed by: Bill Skarsgård
An awkward, and suspicious guy who accidentally double books the AirBnB with Tess.
- Decoy Protagonist: He's the deuteragonist for the first half of the film before being suddenly and brutally killed by the Mother down in the tunnels.
- Dogged Nice Guy: While overall a decent man, his advances towards Tess come off as trying too hard.
- Good All Along: The audience is led to believe he's one of the villains of the film and is somehow responsible for the double booking of the house, but he turns out to be innocent of any wrongdoing.
- Innocently Insensitive: Keith comes across this way at times, paying lip service to how terrifying the double-booking experience must be for Tess but not really taking her discomfort as seriously as he should. We see this in a more malignant form with AJ, who seems genuinely blind-sided by the rape accusations against him, and it's clear that, in his mind, he did nothing wrong.
AJ
AJ Gilbride
"Hey, come get your baby!"
Portrayed by: Justin Long
- Alcohol-Induced Idiocy: AJ comes home drunk after a night of clubbing, and leaves a voicemail to the co-star who accused him of rape trying to apologize (the exact thing his lawyer told him not to do).
- Asshole Victim: Any possible chance of the audience feeling bad for him when he dies is out the window when he throws Tess off the water tower to save his own skin.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Has his eyes gouged out and his head ripped in two by the Mother.
- Dirty Coward: He tosses Tess off the water tower to save his own sorry skin, destroying any sympathy the audience might have had for him.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Despite being implied to be a rapist himself, AJ is absolutly disgusted by the heinous rapes Frank has committed and filmed.
- Ignored Epiphany: He seems to realize how horrible he's been after seeing what Frank has done but reverts to his selfishness in the finale when he betrays Tess to save himself.
- It's All About Me: AJ proves time and time again that he is completely incapable of thinking of anyone other than himself and has an almost supernatural gift for engaging in convoluted mental gymnastics to abdicate responsibility for his actions and make himself out to be the victim.
- Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: After what seems like the start of redemption for him, he quickly shows his true colors when he throws Tess off the water tower in an attempt to save himself.
- Manchild: AJ is at least in his late-thirties, but he still acts like a douchey frat bro in college and is completely incapable of sincerely taking responsibility for anything he does.
- Never My Fault: He never takes any responsibility for his shitty behavior, even claiming the woman accusing him of rape is just trying to ruin his career.
- Parental Issues: He expresses disbelief that his father is concerned about him, implying a rocky relationship between them. His relationship with his mother doesn't seem to be much better, as he did not tell her that he was back in Detroit, but did tell a friend of his.
- Role-Ending Misdemeanor: In-Universe. He gets fired from his TV show after accusations that he raped his co-star.
- Villain Protagonist: He's a selfish scumbag and probable rapist, and he is the only character onscreen for most of the middle portion of the movie.
The Mother
The Mother
Portrayed by: Matthew Patrick Davis
- Big Bad: The main threat of the film.
- Bunker Woman: She was born and raised in the underground tunnels of Frank's house.
- Evil Is Bigger: The Mother looks to be about seven feet tall and towers over everyone else in the movie.
- Feral Villain: As a result of severe Parental Neglect and being left in a small room for the majority of her life, with the only form of stimulation being a VHS tape for training mothers played on repeat, her mind is no more advanced that that of a small child, and knows nothing more than to be violently protective of her "children".
- Inbred and Evil: She's the product of several generations of incest. She's also feral and violent, though more of a Tragic Villain than outright evil.
- Mercy Kill: Tess shoots the Mother in the head when she gets the chance, understanding just how atrocious her life had been, and how much of a danger she is to others. The Mother appears to gladly accept this, as well.
- Sinister Nudity: Completely naked throughout her screentime, and almost always encountered doing something horrific.
- Super-Strength: She is very strong even for someone of her great size, enough to literally rip people apart.
- Walking Spoiler: She and Frank are not given any appearances in the trailers.
Frank
Frank
"I'm not going anywhere"
Click here to see him as an old man.
Portrayed by: Richard Brake
The original owner of the house.
- Ax-Crazy: He's kidnapped, raped and murdered dozens of innocent women for years, even filming himself while he did it.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: This appears to be how he gets his rocks off when raping his victims. In the tapes AJ watches, a woman can be heard screaming in pain.
- Collector of the Strange: "Strange" is just putting it very nicely. Frank appears to hoard all of the recordings, which involves the rape, torture, and possible murders of his victims, that he made, which appears to be in the hundreds. What he intended to do with these tapes leaves little to the imagination.
- Driven to Suicide: He takes a gun to shoot himself after AJ says he plans to bring cops to the dungeon once he escapes. This is before AJ even realizes Frank is a monster.
- Greater-Scope Villain: He's responsible for the creation of the Mother, but is too old and decrepit by the events of the film to pose any threat to the other characters.
- Horrifying the Horror: The things Frank has done are so vile that even AJ, who is a total scumbag, is genuinely horrified.
- Karma Houdini: He faces no consequences for the multiple women he kidnapped, raped and killed, and he takes his life on his own terms.
- Retired Monster: Seems to just spend all day in bed in his old age.
- Serial Rapist: He kidnapped many women and filmed himself raping them for decades.
- They Look Just Like Everyone Else!: There's nothing at all about Frank's appearance or demeanor from before to hint at what a monster he truly is.
- The Voiceless: Doesn't say anything in the present day scenes, probably from how weak and frail he is.
- Walking Spoiler: He and the Mother are not given any appearances in the trailers. Talking about him would additionally spoil the whole twist of the movie.
Andre
Andre
"You make a Copy of a Copy of a Copy, you get that."
Portrayed by: Jaymes Butler
A recluse who hides in a water tower
- Red Herring: In his first appearance, it appears as though he's going to attack Tess. When in reality, he was trying to warn her about the dangers living in the house.
- Tempting Fate: The Mother runs into shot to attack him while he's reassuring Tess and A.J. that she never comes out to where they are.
