Barbarians is sometimes a comedy of ill manners, sometimes an exhilarating thriller, but it’s also an amusingly clever and sometimes violent parable about venality, vulgarity and territoriality.

We’ve reached the depressing stage of our society where taking the tiny step from rage into action no longer seems that big a leap. When it comes to exposing the whited sepulcher of modern life, Barbarians can’t compete with the news.

Charles Dorfman carries out his ultimately banal aims with commendable dispatch.

Charles Dorfman never gets this blend of satire, psychological thriller and chilly, understated horror to congeal into something memorable.