Weapons
Zach Cregger first made a splash in the world of cinema with his 2022 horror film Barbarian, winning multiple awards for his efforts. Weapons is Cregger’s latest brainchild and a clear step up in scale, but nonetheless has attracted attention from major production companies Netflix and Universal Pictures. Warner Bros’ New Line Cinema eventually came out on top, and after two years and various recasts, the final product is here.
The plot revolves around one central question: why did all of the children from the same elementary school class get up one night and run off into the darkness, never to return? As the community is left reeling, the story follows the movements of six characters in the days after the children’s disappearance, including their teacher, Justine (Julia Garner) and police officer Paul (Alden Ehrenreich) as they search for the answer that might bring the children home.
Courtesy of Cregger, Weapons has compelling storytelling, with the narrative split into multiple different chapters that follow each character until they all come together in a crosshair. No single story arc feels more important than another, from Justine drug addict and burglar Anthony (Austin Abrams), and each chapter plays its part in perfectly ratcheting the tension up notch by notch, as we head towards a finale that sees all of the pressure building released at once. Garner continues to show she is a natural scream queen, having also appeared in Leigh Whannell’s Wolf Man earlier this year, and Brolin, who plays a father determined to find his missing son, brings a strong and comforting presence to the blood-curdling drama unfolding.
To put it simply, Weapons is brilliantly creepy, and you shrink into your seat in fear. Scares are accompanied by vicious violence, and this shocking brutality is welcomely countered with moments of dark humour. Abrams, in particular, provides the comic relief, but his character also proves a vital vehicle in connecting the dots. The director’s filming style has been fine-tuned, and cinematographer Larkin Seiple brings this vision to life with dynamic camera movements that prove transportive and magical to behold, from tracking shots in chase sequences to pivots around a character. Ryan and Hays Holladay also create a clanging soundscape that expertly induces a sense of dread whenever called on.
You can see why Jordan Peele was rumoured to have been keenly bidding for the rights to this movie, because it does bear stylistic similarities to the director’s previous works, such as Get Out and Us. However, we can be just as glad that the path to the creation of Weapons is what it was, because it is difficult to imagine a world where there is an improved version of this movie. One of the best horror releases of the year? Absolutely.
Guy Lambert
Weapons is released nationwide on 8th August 2025.
Watch the trailer for Weapons here:
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