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I, I just want to say that I'm really really sorry if I did anything that night that might've, like, offended you, or... you know, people can have different versions of the same thing, and I'm actually not even mad at you about it, and I hope you're not mad at me, 'cause I, I'm really sorry...
~ AJ's drunken voicemail to the woman he raped
I can get away, but you're gonna have to slow her down.
~ AJ to Tess as he heartlessly sacrifices her to The Mother.

AJ Gilbride is the secondary antagonist of the 2022 comedy horror film Barbarian.

He is an actor whose career is ruined after he is accused of rape by a costar, and who tries to sell one of the properties he owns to pay for his legal defense, only to encounter a terrifying creature living under the house.

He was portrayed by Justin Long, who also played a possessed Nathan Bratt in Goosebumps and Henry Waters in It's a Wonderful Knife.

Biography[]

Background[]

AJ was filming a pilot episode for a sitcom in Los Angeles when he started being "sexually aggressive" to his female costar one night. She told him no, but he overpowered and raped her.

Soon afterward, his costar publicly accused him of rape and pressed charges against him, which resulted in AJ getting fired from the show. He then went to his financial manager, who told him that a trial would bankrupt him; his lawyer, meanwhile, told him that he would likely be arrested in the near future.

Barbarian[]

AJ drives to a house he owns on Barbary Street, hoping to sell it to pay for his legal defense. When AJ arrives at the home, he found the belongings of other people. AJ called the company that was renting out the home to fix the problem, but they didn't help. Frustrated, AJ goes out drinking with a friend, to whom he rationalizes having raped his costar by saying he was merely being "persistent" with her until she "got with the program".

AJ arrives back home intoxicated and leaves a voicemail with his costar to apologize for "offending" her, before discovering the basement door to be open. He begins to inspect the basement before realizing there are tunnels hidden in the basement. Excited at the possibility of more square feet to his property, which he believes will make it more valuable, AJ heads down the tunnels to measure them before hearing a series of growls and grunts. Frightened, he runs through the tunnels before falling down a crude trap, in which a woman named Tess is also imprisoned. She explains to him that the creature that was chasing him, known as the Mother, wants them both to be her babies. Before she can explain further, the monstrous woman, known as The Mother, reappears and tries to force him to suckle at her breast.

The Mother runs away after Tess tries to catch her, which gives AJ time to run away into another room, where he encounters an old man. Initially believing that the old man is another victim of the Mother, AJ tries to help him by moving a desk with a water bottle on it closer to him, while reassuring him that the police would soon arrive. AJ discovers a shelf full of videotapes of the old man raping various women. Horrified, AJ demands to know what the old man has done, but when the old man points a gun at him, AJ begins cowering and begging for his life. The man then turns the gun on himself and commits suicide, right in front of AJ.

AJ takes the gun and ventures through the tunnels. He sees someone coming toward him and opens fire, only to realize that he has severely wounded Tess, who had come back to save him. AJ helps Tess out of the tunnels, and they both take shelter in a water tower with a homeless man named Andre. In an uncharacteristic moment of self-reflection, AJ admits that he is not a good person, but he promises to atone for the wrong he has done by helping Tess and Andre get to safety. At that moment, however, the Mother breaks through the water tower and kills Andre.

Tess and AJ run up the water tower, with the Mother in hot pursuit. AJ aims the gun at the Mother, but he drops it down the tower before he can fire. AJ then shows his true colors by throwing Tess off the roof in order to distract the Mother so he can get away. The Mother jumps off the roof after Tess in an attempt to save her "baby", and they are both seriously injured when they hit the ground.

AJ climbs down to the ground to Tess, whose leg is broken. He hypocritically begins to apologize to her before the still-alive Mother grabs him, gouges his eyes out with her fingers, and rips his head open, killing him.

Personality[]

AJ is deeply immature and impulsive, often behaving like a rowdy frat boy rather than a middle-aged man. Though he seems rather goofy and harmless, AJ's childishness belies a deeply predatory nature, having pressured an actress into non-consensual sex because he was unable to think of the implications of what he was doing. AJ's immaturity has similarly damaging effects on himself, as he has wasted large amounts of his wealth on frivolous spending and investments. AJ is a foul-mouthed person, as he would frequently cuss whenever he is by himself, by his family, or by the public, like he constantly cussed about the rape accusations and unfortunate personal moments for example. AJ is rather cowardly, refusing to take responsibility for his actions and attempting to sacrifice Tess so that he can escape from the Mother. AJ is also cocky and arrogant, as he believed that The Mother would finally die as she jumped off to save her "baby" after AJ threw Tess off the lengthy water tower.

However, despite his obvious irresponsibility and immaturity, it would appear that AJ has some redeeming qualities. Once AJ temporarily escaped the Mother by entering a room where she was totally afraid of getting nearby, he genuinely tried to help the old man who was bedridden, believing him to be another victim of the Mother. While AJ could not understand the old man's interpretations, he passed the old man water and other things as he tried to come up with something for them both to escape. Despite his previous perverted actions against his co-star, AJ expressed disgust and loathing once he saw the videotapes of the old man raping various women, and it would be supposed that AJ would try to report the old man to the authorities after ending the entire scenario with the Mother. He expresses remorse for his actions and briefly attempts to redeem himself during his conversation with Tess and the homeless man, who briefly gave the duo shelter before being hunted down and ambushed by the Mother. Ultimately, he abandoned it all to escape the Mother, thus revealing his true incapability to achieve genuine redemption.

Trivia[]

  • Justin Long also previously played another character who died by having a monster gouge his eyes out in Jeepers Creepers.

Navigation[]

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