10 Smartest Decisions In Recent Horror Movies

1. Drinking The Milk - Barbarian

Barbarian Tess Mother
20th Century Studios

When people talk about how horror is absolutely thriving right now, last year's Barbarian is a prime example of why it's such a great time to be a horror hound these days.

While it's one thing to deliver a spine-chilling trailer, it's something else entirely to follow through on that promise and deliver a spine-chilling final product. Thankfully, Barbarian did just that.

Plot-wise, this Zach Cregger-helmed offering initially centres on Tess (Georgina Campbell) and Keith (Bill Skarsgard), two strangers who have been double-booked in the same Airbnb house. Given how Tess is the audience's 'in' for the picture, there's a suspicion that maybe Keith isn't quite as pleasant as we're led to believe... even more so when Tess discovers a hidden room with a bloodstained mattress and camcorder in it.

The tease is that Keith is responsible for what's in this hidden room, and subsequently he's well aware of the underground tunnels that this leads to. Of course, he's not, and the poor fella is brutally beaten to death by the deformed figure of Mother.

By the time Tess and the house's owner AJ wind up in the clutches of Mother later in the film, Campbell's character disgustingly has to drink Mother's 'milk'. By doing this, she unknowingly formed a bond with the creature; a bond that saw Mother save Tess in Barbarian's climax after AJ had pushed Tess to her likely death in order to save his own skin.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.