The uneasy eerie feeling you get from a well made horror film is a thrill no other genre can capture. Before choosing a horror film in theatres or at home you can expect to face a mixture of emotions such as fear, knowing that it’ll make you jump out of your seat, and suspense that’ll push you to bite your nails out of anticipation. Never a dull moment with a horror film and both Sinners (Ryan Cooger, 2025) and Barbarian (Zach Cregger, 2022) do an excellent job keeping the audience engaged. Barbarian takes the familiar route of the protagonist being in an unsafe place and takes it to the extreme with continued plot twists, while on the other hand Sinners focuses on the internal dangers that come with the wrong doings and consequences from one’s own action.
Both these films fall under the same genre but the directors took different directions while making them. While both use their surrounding atmosphere and pacing to build tension, but the twist being the source of danger is different in both movies. With Barbarian the threat is more external, such as the creepy house in the abandoned neighborhood, the hidden basement that kept going down a maze, and of course the basement monster. In Sinners, the threat comes from a more internal horror like the battle between good and evil, and sin from within the characters themselves which attracts vultures who are out for blood.
Modus legendi is the latin phrase that translates to “the way of reading”, and both these films use this symbolic interpretation to demonstrate that most things are more than just surface level and actually have a deeper meaning. With Barbarian, the monster in the basement or known as “Mother” represented more than just a creepy monster. This women like monster is a product of generations of incest and abuse by a predator who kidnapped women for sport. Once you know the history, she becomes more than just a monster. Mother symbolizes decades of patriarchal violence and how abuse can mutate into something monstrous. The hidden basement becomes a representation of trauma, buried deep below the surface from reality. In contrast, Sinners main symbolism is tied to religion. As we watched in class we were introduced to Samuel Moore, our protagonist, better known as Sammy. He is the preacher’s son and was warned that music and hanging with the wrong crowd is the work of the devil and doing so will essentially burn the barn to the ground. Which is exactly what happened, after a fun night of freedom and expression, the fangs came out and the bad took all the good. Both films prompted us to look deeper than just the surface of the story line.
The visual techniques for Barbarian really strengthens the story line especially during the scenes in the basement. Following Tess, the protagonist, through dark hallways with a tight framing giving that claustrophobic feel, leaving the viewers trapped with Tess. As we follow we anticipate danger or a jumpscare but instead the suspense only continues to grow keeping us alert and uneasy which really heightens the reveal. In Sinners, the visual techniques are a bit more of a slow burn. Building up to a big night, with warm tones matching the blue’s music. Until the flip when the darkness of the night comes in for a kill.
A pivotal point in Barbarian was when Tess breaks away from being trapped in the basement believing that she was free since it was shared knowledge that Mother could not leave the house during daylight. This theory was proven wrong when Mother came out of hiding to retrieve her “baby” (Tess) and shed light that she was more than just a supernatural monster. In Sinners, a pivotal point was the moment the alpha vampire, Remmick, is moments away from adding Sammy into his clan but Smoke, one of Sammy’s cousins, comes to the rescue with a stake through the heart of Remmick. Killing every vampire in the proximity because they are all connected. This all happens while the sun rises representing that the light always wins over the darkness.
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