10 Exact Moments Recent Horror Movies Won Us Over

Barbarian's early goings are marvelous. With that being said, the film's initial vibe is arguably more reminiscent of a taut psychological thriller, as opposed to a fully-fledged horror.

Director Zach Cregger makes excellent use of the gendered tension between two strangers - Georgina Campbell's Tess and Bill Skarsgård's Keith - sharing a double-booked rental property to steadily cultivate an uneasy atmosphere. However, despite doors opening inexplicably in the night, the neighborhood surrounding the property being ominously dilapidated and Keith making an array of questionable noises during his sleep, nothing in the early goings is enough to make the viewer's blood run cold.

That is of course, until a secret tunnel duly reveals a subterranean labyrinth - the stairs descending endlessly into the darkness could be mistaken for the entrance to Hell. Upon investigation, the pair are soon attacked by a nightmarish tormentor - an enormous disfigured woman, who caves Keith's head in like a melon. The screen cuts to black as this naked monstrosity roars dementedly before picking up with an entirely different thread of the narrative by segueing to Justin Long's AJ Gilbride.

It's the mother of all cliffhangers to end Barbarian's first act. It's also the moment that Cregger's effort firmly establishes itself as a blood-curdling horror.