“Weapons” Review: A Refreshing Return to Genre Thrills
After years of “elevated horror” debates, it’s clear that audiences are ready for something new. Zach Cregger, the director behind 2022’s breakout hit Barbarian, delivers a wildly satisfying antidote with his latest movie, Weapons. While it doesn’t quite live up to the subterranean terror of its predecessor, this movie is a sad, sprawling, and incredibly fun exploration of suburban despair. It takes a high-concept premise and grounds it in a low-fi, genre-driven story that’s both thrilling and emotionally resonant.
A Wild Premise, A Shared Trauma
The core of Weapons‘ premise isn’t about a sudden scare but a process of collective self-discovery. The movie begins a month after a bizarre incident in the sleepy town of Maybrook. At 2:17 a.m. one night, all but one of the 18 students in a third-grade class got out of their beds and vanished into the darkness. The parents, desperate for answers, turn their frustration toward the one person who might know something: their seemingly meek teacher, Justine Gandy (Julia Garner). .
Justine, however, is just as determined to find answers. As a relapsing alcoholic, her delicate appearance hides a fierce determination to uncover the truth. Her parallel investigation mirrors that of Archer Graff (Josh Brolin), a local dad whose son is among the missing children. The movie unfolds in a series of interconnected chapters, each focusing on different townspeople—from Justine’s ex, a cop named Paul (Alden Ehrenreich), to the gentle school principal Andrew (Benedict Wong).
Blurring the Lines Between Genres
What makes Weapons stand out is its ability to blend horror and comedy seamlessly. Inspired by the sudden death of his friend and castmate Trevor Moore, Cregger meets each character at their most vulnerable. He then exposes their powerlessness, creating a tragic but often hilarious domino effect of people hurting one another until they’re all caught in a shared nightmare. The movie’s minimal character depth is a small price to pay for its sheer audacity, especially in the final 15 minutes, where it morphs into a sublime mix of abstract anxiety and cartoonish ultra-violence. It’s a bold choice that pays off, creating a harmonious blend of psychological terror and absurd comedy.
A Refreshing Take on Storytelling
Some critics have compared Weapons to Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia due to its sprawling, multi-character narrative. However, that comparison feels a bit off. While Magnolia is a symphony of interconnected stories, Weapons is a simpler canon. It’s a series of rigid stanzas: a character is in crisis, they try to cope, they seek answers, and something weird happens, only for the cycle to repeat. The non-linear structure isn’t a puzzle to be solved; instead, it condenses the distance between horror and comedy, terror and relief. It’s about how these characters stack on top of each other, like the floors of a house divided by a shared pain.
In the end, as a child’s voice ominously whispers at the beginning, “A lot of people die in a lot of really weird ways in this story.” But what makes Weapons truly deadly is the weirdness and tragedy of how these people live, trying to make sense of an unimaginable loss. This movie is a welcome departure from the horror trends of the last decade, proving that you can tell a smart, emotionally satisfying story without sacrificing the exhilarating, low-brow thrills that made the genre great in the first place.
Grade: B+
Weapons will be released in theaters by Warner Bros. on Friday, August 8.