I was a big fan of Zach Cregger’s horror movie debut, Barbarian, so I’ve been looking forward to his follow-up for a while. Like his first movie, Weapons benefits from the audience knowing as little as possible about it going in.

Indeed, the marketing for Weapons leaned into this idea of secrecy with a moody trailer that established the central mystery of the film:

At 2:17 in the morning, every single child from one specific elementary school class woke up in the middle of the night, went downstairs, ran out into the darkness, and was never seen again…

It suggested a film that was part psychological thriller, part outright horror — which turned out to be entirely accurate.

Beyond that, all I knew before watching was that Cregger suggested his movie could be viewed as a horror take on one of my all-time favorite films, Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia. (Dude, you already had me at 2:17 in the morning.)

The film is structured in chapters following individual characters one at a time. Their stories intersect, timelines overlap, and the details of the story are carefully doled out, slowly revealing the reality of what is going on, while simultaneously raising more questions and deepening the mystery.

The first segment belongs to Justine Grandy (Julia Garner) — the teacher of the class that disappeared. She is traumatized in the wake of the inexplicable occurrence, but she is also the scapegoat that the scared and angry community insists must somehow be responsible. People hammer on her door after dark, paint cruel slurs on the side of her car, and the school eventually puts her on administrative leave.

With the tragedy the only thing on her mind and with nothing left to fill her days, she begins her own investigation into what might possibly have happened…

As does one of the grieving parents, Archer Graff (Josh Brolin). His is the second segment. He’s taken the loss of his son, Matthew, especially hard and his distress is ruining his life. He initially considers Justine his prime suspect, but after she is violently attacked, the two of them compare notes and ultimately team up to pursue their mutual hot lead.

From there, the narrative follows a range of other characters — portrayed by Alden Ehrenreich, Austin Abrams, Cary Christopher, Benedict Wong, Amy Madigan, Whitmer Thomas, Callie Schuttera — all variously connected to the chilling happenings.

I won’t delve any further into the plot in an effort to keep this review relatively spoiler-free.

What I will say, however, is that the film does a fantastic job of transitioning between tones. What starts as a sober and dramatic exploration of grief becomes at turns darkly funny, outright slapstick, and very much a horror scare show — complete with an iconic villain destined to be this Halloween’s most iconic costume.

Weapons works — as Barbarian did before — in no small part because of its story structure. Where it ends up is not at all where you’d expect. I’d argue that aspects of its horror are even a little silly or kitschy, but Cregger makes it work and more than sticks the landing.

The very structure of how this story is told is what elevates the film. There’s a much more straightforward (and smaller) version of this story that could have been told instead — but the version that exists imbues everything with greater significance because we get to experience it all from several different perspectives, often trying to make sense of it all with what little knowledge the focal character themselves possess at that very moment. It makes everything feel more substantial, mysterious, and far more interesting than a more traditional straightforward telling.

It’s an incredible achievement and proof that Cregger is a modern horror auteur. I can’t wait to see what he does next — but before that, I can’t wait to watch Weapons again!

Horror Harwood

Weapons (Zach Cregger, 2025)