Though “Barbarian” attempts to make commentary on violence against women, it fails on that front as well. Instead, it unfolds into a shallow film that uses the hagsploitation trope despite also trying to comment on said trope. By using a Black woman as a vessel for the audience, this could have been a strong exploration of what violence against Black women looks like. In the end, like most films, Tess’ existence is strictly there to aid in AJ’s character development. Though this ends in AJ being justifiably killed – halfway through his section of the film, Cregger reveals that he’s a serial abuser – it still doesn’t allow Tess to exist outside of him, and the danger that lurks beneath the house.
Instead of attempting to create an intriguing Black Final Girl, Cregger is more concerned with creating nothing but shock value, and Tess suffers the brunt. While Tess becomes a side character in her own story, the 2023 A24 hit “Talk to Me” is led by a Black woman the whole way through. The film follows Mia (Sophie Wilde), a young Black girl mourning the loss of her mother, who becomes desperate to connect to the other side. In her desperation, she causes the mutilation of Riley (Joe Bird), the son of the white family she often resides with. Her grief forces her to become the film’s protagonist and antagonist in the eyes of her friends and the audience.
Mia is subsequently put through the wringer. Her friends leave her alone, the ghouls from the other side haunt her every move, and her tense relationship with her father fractures even more. At the core of this is Mia’s newfound guilt for Riley’s mutilation and subsequent damnation to hell. To make things right, Mia eventually, and predictably, sacrifices her own life to save his soul. She throws herself into oncoming traffic, and the final shot shows her battered body, legs, and arms pointing in opposite directions on the freeway.
