There are no “rules” in storytelling that can’t be creatively and successfully broken, and writer/director Zach Cregger wonderfully demonstrated that with his 2022 horror debut Barbarian. Spending 40 minutes setting up one narrative only to pivot to a completely new protagonist with no relation to the previous story seems like a preposterous way to structure a movie, but what might be perceived as its most challenging aspect is actually its greatest strength, as the film successfully blindsides the audience in such a way as to release all expectations and open them to any wild surprise that might be coming next.
Weapons
Release Date: August 8, 2025
Directed By: Zach Cregger
Written By: Zach Cregger
Starring: Julia Garner, Josh Brolin, Alden Ehrenreich, Austin Abrams, Benedict Wong, Cary Christopher, June Diane Raphael, Toby Huss, and Amy Madigan
Rating: R for strong bloody violence and grisly images, language throughout, some sexual content and drug use
Runtime: 128 minutes
This successful audacity has helped pave the path for Cregger’s second genre venture, which is not only even more audacious, but more successful – in that it’s not just “good” or even “great,” but phenomenal. We may now be only a little more than halfway through the year, but I am wholly confident that Weapons will be remembered as one of the best films of 2025 and regarded as one of its most spectacular big screen experiences. It weaves together in a way as to always keep you in the dark about what is coming next, unfurling a collection of character-centric, overlapping vignettes that each contribute to the epic larger picture. And as it keeps you on the hook, it jabs at you with spikes of terror and horror (along with some laughs) that will have you jumping and yelping.
Set in the fictional small town of Maybrook, the movie begins one month into a mystery that has devastated the local community. On a random weekday in the middle of the night, all but one of the children in a single third grade classroom arose from their beds, left their homes, and went running out into the night without leaving a trace. While authorities have some video footage courtesy of doorbell cameras – the kids seen creepily running at full tilt with their arms angled out at their sides – they are baffled by the development, as there is no evidence of any kind of coordination or planned abduction. The parents of the 17 boys and girls are all confused and scared, and a prime target of their angst is Justine Gandy (Julia Garner), their teacher.
Justine has a history of misconduct and, unbeknownst to anybody, an unaddressed drinking problem, but she cares about what happened to her students as much as anyone, and when she is put on administrative leave, she doesn’t stay at home and do nothing. She instead starts a bit of independent investigating, and shocking discoveries she makes see her story collide with those of Archer, a grieving father (Josh Brolin); Paul, an ex-boyfriend/beat cop (Alden Ehrenreich); James, a meth-addicted thief (Austin Abrams); Marcus, the school principal (Benedict Wong); and Alex, the only kid in Justine’s class who didn’t disappear (Cary Christopher).
As he did with Barbarian, Zach Cregger uses an unorthodox structure to tell a wicked and horrifying tale.
Weapons holds on dearly to its secrets and successfully maintains the answer to its core mystery until its closing act full of wild revelation, but the film’s brilliance is offering teases and stakes purely through its characters. It starts with Justine, who is a flawed individual, but the love she has for her kids is very real (made particularly palpable by Julia Garner’s outstanding performance), and her investment and care becomes ours. She is stubborn and smart, and makes some key discoveries as she follows her instincts. And just as pieces are starting to slot together… Zach Cregger keeps you hungry by switching protagonists and adding whole new dimensions to the puzzle with different insights and clues unearthed by Archer – whose entire life has become background noise as he desperately hunts to figure out what happened to his son.
But what makes Weapons so cool and special is that it’s not simply a Rashomon-esque collection of perspectives on the same incidents; it can be more accurately described as an anthology film with a single continuity and linked characters. Paul is romantically entangled with Justine (and “entangled” is definitely the right word to describe their collective messiness), but he isn’t assigned to the case with the missing children and has his own disasters that he has to try and deal with. His story is great and compelling in its own right as he desperately tries to mop up conflicts of his own creation… but his narrative also gets sideswiped and caught up in the big picture chaos growing in Maybrook.
It’s all sewn together with remarkable panache and confidence, as Cregger delights in toying with his audience – perfectly evidenced by the excited gasps that are evoked each time one segment ends and the next one begins. It’s layered in a way as to have you constantly asking new questions to yourself and pondering how certain cliffhangers are going to be resolved, keeping you hooked at every second, and each answer it offers is blissfully satisfying.
There is a point in the final act where the pacing slows because the movie needs to fill in some vital gaps, but it’s in service of keeping an eye on the prize: the unholy and explosive finale is unequivocally one of the most magnificent things I’ve seen on the big screen in recent years. I hesitate to even describe the complex tone of the finale as to avoid spoiling anything about what audiences are going to experience, but I will tease it by saying that I can’t remember the last time I sat in a theater full of adults and witnessed such a wild reaction to a film.
Weapons is full of scary and unforgettable terrors.
You’ve probably guessed by this point, but Weapons is not just made with spellbinding story construction; it’s also beautifully scary and unnerving. In collaboration with cinematographer Larkin Seiple and editor Joe Murphy (the latter a Barbarian reunion), Zach Cregger demonstrates an adept eye for lingering horrific images and stabbing jump scares that lift you out of your seat but never feel cheap. Unflinching moments of brutality and gore will drop your jaw, but you’ll also be stunned by moments of extended stillness and silence. The cast deserves immense credit as well, as the genuine terror felt by the characters becomes our own (Josh Brolin delivers an all-timer “What the fuck?!” after being on the receiving end of a monstrous jolt), and while the less said, the better in this spoiler-free space, I am compelled to throw a special spotlight on the work of Amy Madigan, who will be REMEMBERED.
As a horror fan, I feel as though I am being blissfully spoiled thus far in 2025. From Drew Hancock’s Companion, to Osgood Perkins’ The Monkey, to Ryan Coogler’s Sinners, to James Ashcroft’s The Rule Of Jenny Pen, to Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein’s Final Destination: Bloodlines, to Danny and Michael Philippou’s Bring Her Back, to Danny Boyle’s 28 Years Later, the genre has been the great cinematic highlight of the calendar year, and Weapons is the best new release yet. It’s intimate while also being epic, it’s scary while expertly utilizing humor as punctuation, and even the most dedicated cinephiles will be rocked by its surprises. It’s perfect and a must-see.