10 Recent Horror Movies That Broke All The Rules
9. Barbarian (2022)
Rule Break: Tossed out traditional structure and genre rules in favour of sheer, escalating chaos.
From the very first scene, Barbarian wants you uneasy. Zack Cregger’s directorial debut leans hard into dread, delivering long silences, uneasy glances, camera angles that linger just a little too long, and that ominous audio that never lets up. You’re not quite sure why you're uncomfortable... until the film makes it very clear that you should be.
What begins as an awkward Airbnb mix-up spirals into a wild, rule-breaking descent through horror’s deepest subgenres, including psychological thriller, torture horror, revenge drama, and full-blown creature feature. There’s even a jaw-dropping midpoint shift that ditches the main characters entirely for a whole new protagonist, before stitching everything back together in a way that somehow works.
The final act admittedly loses some steam, and there’s an odd Hollywood power-play metaphor that doesn’t quite land, but by then you’re strapped in for the ride. With standout turns from Georgina Campbell, Bill Skarsgård, and Justin Long, not to mention Richard Brake doing what Richard Brake does best (i.e. make your skin crawl), Barbarian is the kind of movie that shatters structure, makes you scream, and leaves you wondering what the hell just happened - in the best way possible.