Weapons | The Deight Night Review
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| Weapons (Zach Cregger, 2025, Warner Bros) |
Before its marketing campaign even really began, Weapons' publicity team got some very easy free advertisement in a news scoop that was doing the rounds online. It had been reported Zach Cregger, director of smash hit debut horror feature, Barbarian, had written a new script with eyes to direct once again and the production rights for this were put up for a bidding war. The rights, in the end, went to New Line Cinema, in conjunction with Warner Bros., however, in the race was Jordan Peele, the man behind modern horror classics such as Get Out and Nope, and his company Monkey Paw. Peele had been so angry that his company didn't win the rights that he fired his team who represented him in the bid. While this story didn't paint Jordan Peele in a particularly great light, it did raise the eyebrows of many a horror fan, that a man so clearly entrenched in the modern horror zeitgeist was desperate to produce this film. With Weapons' release finally coming up on the horizon, it's now very clear why Peele was so bitter about losing out on this film.
Much like Zach Cregger's first film, Barbarian, it's best not to know too much going in as the film revels in the element of surprise, but the basic premise of the story has been well advertised in posters and trailers alike. One night at exactly 2:17am, in Maybrook - a suburban town in middle America - all of the children from the class of teacher, Justine Gandy (Julia Garner) run out of their houses, into the night, never to be seen again. The mystery ensnares the town in a riot of confusion, blame and despair. Many are frozen by hopelessness, while others are determined to solve the enigma like parent, Archer Graff (Josh Brolin). The stories of many a town resident are told and come together to reveal the dark truth that led to the disappearance of the class.
Weapons is an example of the best kind of horror film, one that trades jumps scares and screeching violins for character, story and atmosphere. While many of the former are still present, Cregger is determined to give his audience the personal journeys of several residents and how their lives are affected by this local crisis. He does this by separating the film into designated chapters dedicated to specific characters, all giving that person's perspective of events in an almost Rashomon style edit. This is where the film's genius truly starts to seep out, providing the stories of residents, some seemingly unconnected to the initial mass disappearance, shows the ripple effect a tragedy can really have on a town. It's also an intriguing way of unraveling the film's central mystery, feeding the audience pieces of the puzzle little bits at a time until culminating in the final chapter which reveals all - while there are some things left to interpretation, Cregger does indeed provide an answer and conclusion to what's going on in Weapons, even though it sometimes feels like he won't.
What puts Weapons above a lot of horror is that it clearly has something to say, it revels in its character drama and really analyzes the effects of a tragedy. In some ways, it could have gone further with this, the scale of the film's scope sometimes doesn't go wide enough and this is one of the drawbacks of its somewhat limited narrative framework. With chapters dedicated to specific characters, it can sometimes feel like others are pushed aside. For instance, you never really get much of a perspective of any of the parents of the missing children and it can sometimes feel like Josh Brolin's character, Archer, is the only person who cares that his son is missing. Additionally, the pacing suffers somewhat as it becomes obvious that the big reveals will be given in the chapter dedicated to a particular character whose perspective will clearly be the most revelatory. Nevertheless, Weapons' message is clear, America has a problem. Tackling the repercussions of school shootings and the effects of poor policing, intertwining them with teeth clenching atmosphere, horrifically memorable moments and a terrible feeling of despair, Cregger doesn't hold back with his anger of what's become of his country while also providing a horror film destined for cult status.
Weapons is a film that horror fans dream of, it has everything an audience could want from a terrifying cinema experience and cements Zach Cregger as a horror auteur to be treasured. It's an absolute pleasure to watch the mystery slowly unravel and climax in a heart stopping final act. With its puzzle like structure and deep hidden messages, it's not only a film that needs to be viewed blind but also a horror classic that demands to be rewatched.
⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2
