#176: Weapons

Release Date: August 8th, 2025

Format: Theater (Cinemark at The Pike Outlets in Long Beach, CA)

Written by: Zach Cregger

Directed by: Zach Cregger

4 Stars

Okay, Zach Cregger. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

Halfway through watching his debut film, Barbarian (2022), earlier this year, I was pleasantly surprised and mildly shocked. 

This is the same dude from the silly sketch comedy show, The Whitest Kid You Know? Who knew he had this creative depth, and talent? I liked the film, and watching it, I had the feeling that he might even have more in the tank. I wanted to see more. In my own words from my Barbarian review, “...sign me up for future Zach Cregger horror joints.”  

Well, here we are in the summer of 2025 and we have his second film, Weapons. 

It’s an ambitious, passionate, fun, dynamic, modern horror masterpiece. I’m pretty confident that it is going to end up being a classic. 

It’s really good, and I’m done doubting Zach Cregger. My apologies, sir. 

The story involves 17 students from the third-grade class of Ms. Gandy, who one morning simultaneously run away from their homes at 2:17am and disappear. The school, and town, are left devastated and without answers. 

How could this happen? And how could Ms. Gandy not know anything about it?   

There is one boy from her class who doesn’t run away, Alex. But he claims he doesn’t know anything either. Ms. Gandy, desperate for answers and overburdened with guilt, follows him home one day and finds his house’s windows are covered with newspaper. She knocks, but nobody answers. Something is going on here.

Kudos to Zach Cregger for burying the lead. This is a movie that likes taking you down winding paths until you’re not sure exactly how to find your way home. Just like Barbarian, he adeptly shifts from one horror subgenre to another, exploiting tropes and viewer expectations for his and our amusement. Sure it’s scary, but it’s fun too.

I love Cregger’s enthusiasm for storytelling. Weapons is clearly a love letter to suburban slashers of the ‘80s. His camera perfectly captures friendly, sterilized neighborhoods that look increasingly eerie when we realize that something sinister is lurking. One of the most affecting shots in the movie is a simple long shot of a front door opening wide, but there’s nothing there. All we see is darkness. What will come out? 

Cregger also indulges in homages to Kubrick’s The Shining and Cronenberg’s The Brood, and a couple other homages that I won’t mention lest I give away the plot.

He also employs non-linear storytelling, and voice over narration, and character chapters…this is a filmmaker who is having a ball. Good for him. 

Is the script a tad too long? Are there scenes that could have ended up on the cutting room floor? Could this thing be re-structured or told from a different perspective?

Maybe, but I don’t care. The film works so well and is so passionate to entertain, I was won over by Cregger’s confidence in his own vision.

I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again, sign me up for future Zach Cregger horror joints.