Zach Cregger’s Barbarian was an inventive horror film that announced a genre filmmaker with natural talent and creativity. Weapons, Cregger’s sophomore effort (as a horror filmmaker) makes good on the promise shown in his 2022 treasure. Armed with an intriguing screenplay, a great cast, and a demonstrable respect for the filmmaking process, the director has injected a so-so Summer movie season with one eerie, electrifying, entertainment.
The set up sounds like the beginnings of a spooky campfire tale. One night, at 2:17 a.m., in the town of Maybrook, PA, 17 children left their homes and went missing all at once. Home security cameras capture how each child was not coerced or kidnapped. They simply woke up and ran out into the darkness, never to return.
The town and the parents of the missing children are rightfully confused and angry. They want answers, as the kids were all students in Justine Gandy’s third-grade class. No other classroom was affected. No other children went missing. The only student from Miss Gandy’s class who didn’t vanish is an introverted boy named Alex (Cary Christopher).
Though thematically very different, the beginning of Weapons brings to mind Peter Weir’s 1975 masterwork, Picnic at Hanging Rock. In that film, a group of Australian schoolgirls venture into the titular rock formation, never to return. Weir’s picture had a disturbing aura that gave way to something darkly poetic. Creeger’s film is equally disturbing, but his screenplay doesn’t go for poetry. This is a film meant to unnerve its audience and the director keeps viewers in his tight grasp with a chilling suspense that holds tight until the finale, where all is revealed.
Zach Cregger keeps an unrelentingly creepy vibe throughout, using darkness and the bright of day to equal chilling effect. As the film progresses, the fluidity of Larkin Seiple’s camera and methodical framing builds the tension to Hitchcockian levels. As certain characters hallucinate or experience disturbing dreams, the director and his cinematographer tap into the terrors that scare us. Brolin’s character experiences a particularly twisted dream. He sees his son leave the house and runs after him. Across the street, Archer stops and sees a vision of a giant AR-15 hovering over the neighborhood. Whether or not it was the filmmaker’s intention to make a commentary on the endless children lost to gun violence in America, the moment holds a striking power.
As a parent, to lose a child is unfathomable. Cregger’s screenplay plays into that fear, as it is the affected parents who see the most horrible visions while dreaming; their confusion and pain twisting their slumber into an unimaginable nightmare.
Weapons tells its tale in chapters, each one named after a character. We begin with Julia Garner’s Justine Gandy. As the disappearance only affected her class, the parents want answers from her that she cannot give. Justine is as stunned and confused as the rest of the town. She has no idea why this happened and the pressure has driven her to drink; an area where she has a problem. Garner has always been great at embracing characters who are outwardly strong but breaking inside. The actress is as great here as she has ever been.
With each new segment, the audience experiences the film’s events through a fresh set of eyes. Josh Brolin as a grieving father Archer, Alden Ehrenreich as Paul, a beat cop and ex-lover of Justine, Toby Huss as a police captain, and Benedict Wong as Andrew, the school’s administrator all turn in fine performances. Working with this type of storytelling structure, Cregger achieves a tighter and more terrifying atmosphere than even his own Barbarian.
There is another character who enters at the film’s halfway mark, but it would be unfair to spoil their purpose to those who haven’t seen the film. I shall only state that the person who plays the role is unforgettable and enhances not only the film’s mystery, but the horrors of Cregger’s story. You will not soon forget their presence.
Proper atmosphere is the number one ingredient to achieve a proper cinematic horror experience. So many of today’s films seem to have lost the ability to create palpable terrors through atmospheric immersion. With his latest film, Cregger proves he has what it takes. With only two horror pictures under his belt, he joins the ranks of modern genre directors such as Jordan Peele, Ari Aster, and Robert Eggers. These excellent filmmakers have demonstrated their respective skills at achieving unrelenting tension and pure terror; all three having crafted masterful horror films that are among the finest of the last two decades. Peele has Get Out and Us. Aster has Hereditary and Midsommar. Eggers has The VVitch and Nosferatu.
Now comes Zach Cregger. Barbarian was a blast of a horror movie. Creepy and creative, that film left its mark. Weapons is an even stronger piece.
There is so much that one could discuss about the plot intricacies and the continually shifting character arcs, but readers won’t find any spoilers here. This film is too good to ruin the experience and it would do the viewer a service to go in cold. Cregger has fun playing with his audience, and has designed a work that will appeal to horror fanatics as well as the casual horror watcher.
There is a lot to see in this magnificent film. Dark humor, eerie intensity, and unsettling chills are wrapped tight in a mystery of undeniable horror. Weapons is a unique, well-executed, vision of pure terror.
Weapons
Written & Directed by Zach Cregger
Starring Julia Garner, Josh Brolin, Cary Christopher, Alden Ehrenreich, Benedict Wong, Austin Abrams, Toby Huss
R, 128 Minutes, New Line Cinema, Vertigo Entertainment, Subconscious
