Weapons

When writer/director Zach Cregger’s film Barbarian was released in 2022, horror fans recognized that rare thing – an original voice, with the talent to back it up. That combination doesn’t come around that often. Frequently one sees visual stylists working from scripts teeming with cliched tropes, or perhaps a small character study with decent atmosphere but no scares. Barbarian had stylish, spooky atmosphere to spare, plenty of suspense, good performances and an off-kilter, surprising sense of humor. Everyone was looking forward to his next project, hoping it would be even better. Weapons is that next film, and it’s better than its predecessor in every conceivable way. It isn’t just a great horror film – it’s a great film, period. As this movie has only recently been released, I’ll try to keep this review as spoiler-free as possible.

One evening in the town of Maybrook, Pennsylvania, seventeen elementary school children all got up at 2:17 a.m., left their homes individually, were recorded running off into the night on door cameras, and were not able to be located by their parents or the police in the following weeks. One thing that seemed suspicious was that all of the students were in new teacher Justine’s (Julia Garner) class, and that one student, Alex (Cary Christopher), was still present after all of his classmates had disappeared. Justine and Alex both claim to have no idea of what is going on, but angry parents such as Archer (Josh Brolin) don’t believe her and want to confront her in person.

Married cop Paul (Alden Ehrenreich) chases suspicious-looking young James (Austin Abrams) when he sees him attempting to break into a building and gets more trouble than he was expecting. School principal Marcus (Benedict Wong) strives to keep the peace, strongly advising Justine to stop trying to contact Alex. James tries to steal anything he can to support his drug habit, which leads him into seeing something he really shouldn’t have. And little Alex continues going to school, keeping to himself. It’s been a month now since the disappearance, and everyone is still frantically wondering, where have those seventeen children gone? Someone knows, but none of those searching will like or believe the answer to that question.

Garner is terrific as Justine, the first role I’ve seen her in that allows her as much dramatic/comedic range as her award-winning performance on Ozark. Justine is a well-meaning but impulsive, angry mess, drinking too much and ignoring advice (not especially covertly snooping around in her car that angry locals painted the word “WITCH” upon), and Garner leans into that with a loose cannon, sparky vitality. Brolin is a portrait of frustrated masculinity as Archer, a big, loud man used to getting his way (ironically his missing son is revealed to have been a bully) now having to slow down and think his way through the problem. He loves his child and is unable to stop watching the Ring cam footage of his son running away into the night, and Brolin successfully brings the nuances of the complicated role to life.

Ehrenreich vanishes perfectly into the character of Paul (you’d never know he played young Han Solo seven years ago), expertly playing a guy who thinks he’s in control of things but very much isn’t. Wong is sympathetic as the guy who’s just trying to keep a lid on a very volatile situation, and he gets to successfully display some acting aspects here that he likely hasn’t before. Amy Madigan is almost unrecognizable as Alex’s elderly relative, Gladys, resplendent in a terrible orange wig, garish clothes, too much makeup and squeaky shoes, and she delivers a hilarious performance. Christopher is very good as the brave Alex, and Abrams steals the show as desperate James, memorably funny in a scene in which he tries the door of every car as he walks down the road, looking for things to steal, trying to scam a relative on the phone for money at the same time.

Cregger’s direction is assured, from its perfect pacing to making sure that each scene gets exactly where it needs to go and crisply moves on to the next shot. He’s in command of different tones, from ratcheting up suspense to releasing tension with unexpected humor. The opening sequence, in which the children run away from their homes off into the night, is almost lyrical in its impact, the kids’ arms spread out from their sides as if they’re flying off into a fairy tale, with George Harrison’s song “Beware of Darkness” as an inspired musical accompaniment. Cregger also has a fantastic, energetic chase scene that will startle and impress the audience with its sheer relentlessness. Director of photography Larkin Seiple makes everything look great, infusing even the daylight scenes with the feeling of shadow, as if the entire town is under an oppressive curse.

On one level, the most impressive thing about Weapons is its script. Cregger has crafted a nonlinear puzzle of a film in which all of the pieces are important, all of the characters have interesting things to do, and in which the ending is satisfying (albeit bonkers in the best kind of way). The script is crafted so compellingly that I think even non-horror fans would enjoy it, and every other aspect of the movie just adds to its appeal. One thing that’s amusing is that there are so many crazy events in the film that the instances of people yelling out in exasperation, “What the fuck?!,” begin to pile up in a delightful way.

Weapons reminds me of Hereditary and Longlegs in terms of the originality of its story, the brilliance of its script construction and the excellence of its execution. There is a lot more I could write about, but I don’t want to ruin any of the experience for any reader who hasn’t seen the film, but trust me when I say that I’ve only scratched the surface on this movie. It’s one of the best films of the year.