20th Century Studios
Released in 2022, Zach Cregger’s “Barbarian” created quite a buzz in the film industry. Despite being made on a humble budget of $4.5 million, the film managed to gross $45 million at the box office. This unexpected success caught the attention of horror movie enthusiasts who are always on the lookout for fresh and innovative content.
“Barbarian” is a part of the growing sub-genre of horror films that revolve around Airbnb rentals — a trend that could be aptly called Fearbnb. These films feature protagonists who rent a house, only to find something eerie or threatening about the place. This genre, which includes films like “The Rental,” “Superhost,” “You Should Have Left,” and “Room for Rent,” resonates with the public’s anxiety over the lack of regulation in the burgeoning self-rental business. After all, if there’s no oversight, who’s to say there isn’t a monster lurking in the basement?
This is precisely the premise of “Barbarian.” The film tells the story of an Airbnb owned by a disgraced movie star named AJ (Justin Long), who is trying to hide a recent sex crime. After an incident occurs at the property, AJ visits the house and discovers a basement he was unaware of — and an eight-foot tall woman, known as the Mother, who’s been living there for years. AJ then finds himself trapped in a labyrinth of catacombs, trying to evade the silent, menacing woman.
The Mother, a character mostly hidden in shadowy tunnels, is a nude, monstrous figure played by actor Matthew Patrick Davis. Despite his conventional good looks, Davis was transformed into the Mother with the help of an elaborate monster suit.
Introducing Matthew Patrick Davis
BYUtv
The image above features Matthew Patrick Davis, known for his role in the 2019 TV series “Dwight in Shining Armor,” aired by Brigham Young University. Davis has also portrayed Ace Ventura in episodes of “Tosh.0” and “The Sarah Silverman Program,” played a bone monster named Kevin in “Henry Danger,” and donned a Xenomorph suit on “The Late Late Show with James Corden.” His tall stature and slender arms have often landed him roles as monsters, despite his good looks and talent as an accordion player.
When Davis auditioned for the role of the Mother, he had a somewhat unusual experience. During a Zoom call, he was asked to act out a scene where he was to kneel and pretend to decapitate a live rat, using food from his kitchen as a prop. The process, he admits, felt a bit absurd.
He recalls, “I was in my office. I was going to grab a sausage or something, but then there were pickles in my fridge, so I grabbed a pickle. And that was the move because it gave a good proper crunch. And then it gave a good Xenomorph drool situation. And so I had towels laid out on my floor, and it looked weird. I took my shirt off, it looked weird with me in shorts. So I was just in my underwear with a weird side-light, drooling pickle juice all over my floor as my small dog, Morty, was just sitting in his bed just looking at me as if nothing was out of the normal.”
Despite the strangeness of the audition, it worked in his favor as he was speaking directly to the film’s casting agent.
Mother! Oh, God! Mother!
20th Century Studios
To prepare for the role of the Mother, Davis was advised by his director to research real-life instances of “feral” children who grew up without adequate supervision. This research led him to empathize with the Mother, recognizing her not as a monster but as a victim of a cruel kidnapper who kept her isolated from the world. Once the makeup artists of “Barbarian” began to apply the prosthetics and makeup, the character truly started to take shape.
“Then the prosthetics happened, and then that brought me 50% all the way there. What a greater gift to immerse yourself into a role than to sit in a makeup chair for four hours and watch yourself slowly transform into someone that looks completely different than you. So it was the combination of those two things.”
To get into character, Davis spent time exploring the catacomb sets between takes, trying to familiarize himself with the environment, just as the Mother would have. Since “Barbarian,” Davis has secured several significant acting roles, including playing four different characters in four different episodes of “American Dad!” He is also set to appear in a short film called “Mother’s Love,” which is not a sequel to “Barbarian.” Above all, Davis is a comedian, having performed with the Upright Citizens Brigade and on “Comedy Bang! Bang!” He also had a stint on “Days of Our Lives.”
If a sequel to “Barbarian” ever comes into fruition, it’s safe to say that the filmmakers would want Davis to return.
Credit: www.slashfilm.com
