Weapons is an eerie and personal horror film that is impossible to predict. Photo: Warner Bros. Discovery.
Let it be known, I don’t love horror movies.
I’m a scardy cat, a wuss, a worrywart and whatever synonym one may have for someone who doesn’t love going to a dark cinema to be jumpscared in front of tens of people for two hours.
I’ve tried to buck this trend in 2025, and I must admit, it’s been a great decision because there have been some fantastic films this year.
So far this year, we’ve gotten Sinners (a modern masterpiece, albeit not that scary), Companion, 28 Years Later and Bring Her Back. All of these movies deserve their own time in the sun, but the best of the bunch has to be Weapons, directed by Zach Cregger.
Following the disappearance of 17 students from a single classroom, who all get up and walk out the front doors of their respective homes at exactly 2:17 am, Weapons follows the perspective of several characters, each trying to uncover the truth of where the kids went and what caused them to disappear.
Before going into the film, I had no more knowledge than what I had previously stated, and that’s exactly how everyone should go in.
There has been a lot of critical buzz leading into the film, which ultimately led me to see it in the first place. The tipping point personally was hearing that popular horror director/producer Jordan Peele fired members of his production company after it failed to secure the rights to the film.
My expectations were already pretty high, but I was still blown away.
The movie’s timeline only spans the course of only a couple of days; however, the film’s structure has each chapter retelling the same period from the perspective of different characters, whether that be the teacher of the missing students, one of the parents, a cop looking for the kids, the principal of the school or the remaining student. The viewers learn something new each time.
It is a brilliant way to tell this story.
Each of the characters knows something different about what happened, but it’s not until we, as the viewers, see the character’s perspective that we learn what has transpired.
The narrative is expertly crafted and storyboarded and is only heightened even further by the performances by the lead characters, particularly Julia Garner as the teacher, Justine Gandy, and Josh Brolin as one of the parents, Archer Gaff.
Each of the lead actors portrays their character’s grief and dread differently, whether it be Justine’s increasing alcohol dependence or Archer’s consistent looking for answers, to name a couple.
Each of the characters’ vices allows the audience to care for them in different ways, whether that be hatred, empathy or worry. It means that when the ball does drop, the reveals are a bit more powerful and emotional.
The vision and direction from Zach Cregger are top-notch. He draws on his grief following the death of his close friend Trevor Moore; it is clear he put a bit of himself and his experience into this film.
It makes the imagery and the scares feel so much more heightened and personal, elevating the drama to more than just shocking visuals or jump scares.
The film is also littered with allegories. Whether it be Biblical references, motifs of school-related violence, or even foreshadowing of the eventual reveal, it is all expertly crafted and warrants the viewer coming back for a second or even third viewing.
Unlike other horror releases like Sinners, which was a masterpiece in set design and production on a large scale, Weapons is the opposite. It does more with a little. The film revisits the location and scenes from a different perspective, building viewer intrigue by revisiting what we’ve already seen.
Some viewers may think it’s annoying or tedious, but for me, it felt like I was a detective uncovering clues to a larger plot.
It made the final reveal very satisfying, although I can envision some disliking the final 30 minutes due to some story-related decisions.
When all is said and done, Weapons fires on all cylinders. It was tense yet oddly comedic, compelling without being boring and in some places gory and frightening without being off-putting.
If this is the quality of what’s to come in the horror genre in the near future, I might need to harden the hell up, because Weapons was awesome and an example of top-notch filmmaking.
Weapons is showing in cinemas across the country.
