Starting August 7, you can watch the detective horror film Weapons by director and screenwriter Zack Cregger, whose horror film Barbarian was deservedly praised by critics and made a lot of noise three years ago. As for Weapons, after first perfect grades on Rotten Tomatoes hasn’t dropped much at the moment, with an impressive 96% freshness rating based on 209 reviews. In the review below, we will find out whether this film is fairly called one of the best films of the year.
Pluses:
a fascinating story supported by an interesting intrigue; the film is open to interpretation by the viewer; the film provides a whole bunch of emotions — from scary moments to hysterical laughter; in terms of form (editing, makeup, cinematography, etc.), it is a perfect movie; a good cast and no Pedro Pascal;
Minuses:
some will find themselves simply unprepared for what this movie offers; there are small narrative slumps;
“Weapons”
Genre horror detective
Director Zach Cregger
Starring Julia Garner, Josh Brolin, Alden Ehrenreich, Benedict Wong, Austin Abrams, Amy Madigan, June Diane Raphael, Toby Haas, Justin Long
Premiere movie theaters
Year of release 2025
Website IMDb, official website
At 2:17 a.m., something very strange happened in an ordinary American town: almost all the students in the classroom of young teacher Justine Gandhi (a vulnerable Julia Garner, who played the Silver Surfer in the new “Fantastic 4”) left their homes and mysteriously disappeared into the darkness. As if nothing had happened, in the morning only young Alex showed up for class, but for obvious reasons, the stunned Mrs. Justine did not give any more lessons.
The police launched an investigation and interrogated all those involved, but it did little good. The teacher went on a forced indefinite leave of absence and began to drown her grief in alcohol, still hoping to find out what happened to her class. One of the missing boy’s parents, Archer Graff (a stalwart Josh Brolin, who replaced Pedro Pascal, but don’t laugh), is also determined, making a desperate attempt to find the child on his own. This mysterious story will also feature local cop Paul Morgan, school principal Andrew Marcus, a lost drug addict James, and more.
When Barbarian came out in the fall of 2022, it became clear that another extremely talented horror maker was on the horizon, one who has something to surprise in the eerie genre that has been rapidly gaining momentum in recent years.
It makes sense to compare Zack Cregger’s newest path, previously focused on comedies, to that of brothers Danny and Michael Philippou — there are so many similarities between them. Australian filmmakers started not only with a different genre, but with a different format — videos on YouTube. Just like Cregger, they made a name for themselves around the world with their audacious debut horror, Talk to Me. Just as the screenplay for Weapons was born out of the death of Cregger’s close friend, Philippe’s was written in the wake of a bereavement.
As a result, in 2025, the Australians released their own shocker “Bring Her Back” (it appeared in Ukrainian cinemas literally the same week), and the American director — Weapons, and both films are described as the best horror film of the year. That is, the guys managed not only to successfully cope with the “second movie syndrome” but even to surpass their previous films. In this context, we can’t wait to see Cregger’s «Resident Evil», scheduled for next year.
However, unlike Philippou, Cregger prefers not so much to shock as to surprise, to captivate and not to let go. And with the help of much more sophisticated cinematic means than the lowly abuse of children in the frame, despite the fact that kids play an important role in his story. The film often resembles something truly King-like: a quiet, sleepy town (except in Maine) where some kind of devilish thing happens to schoolchildren; useless adults who don’t really listen to their children; hints of a scary clown from whom there is no escape. Again, an obvious reference to the mad Jack Nicholson in Kubrick’s The Shining…
Kregger’s story, which he says is inspired by Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia (1999), is divided into chapters, each of which is responsible for the subjective point of view of a particular character. Each time the author throws in some new details, so there is no time to get bored. But there is plenty to be scared of, and no one here abuses the long-bored screamers.
But the really fanciful staging and filming style are made in such a way that the ominous aunt in a red blouse who chases the formally main character in the supermarket can scare much more than any creepy thing. It suddenly appears from behind a corner. This particular moment makes me think of It Follows directed by David Robert Mitchell, which was an obvious allegory for deadly sexually transmitted diseases.
So what is the movie about? One of the first things that comes to mind is the message, which is also relevant to the United States, about school shootings, especially in the section dedicated to Josh Brolin’s character. More on the surface is the interpretation of how easy it is today to manipulate unrefined minds and weak-minded idiots, to literally zombify them. Suffice it to recall our stupid neighbor, where the zombies with the weapons mentioned in the title rush headlong to kill on the orders of an old scarecrow.
Zack Cregger probably didn’t intend this particular meaning in his creation (although who knows), but it will be easy for the Ukrainian audience to see it, because for us it is the most relevant, the most painful, the most powerful. In the end, it doesn’t really matter what the movie is about. Because it is impossible not to be impressed by what kind of movie it is. It is an inspired, sometimes extraordinary genre product that can evoke a whole range of emotions, from fear or disgust to laughter. Yes, you heard right: at some point, Weapons gives you reasons to laugh out loud.
Toward the end, you probably won’t know whether to be scared or laughing or maybe crying or both, but that’s the paradoxical power of the film. What shouldn’t have worked, but should have caused dissonance, works almost perfectly for Cregger. And the intrigue, which is revealed gradually, without haste, does not allow you to tear yourself away from the screen. It is extremely interesting to unravel the local tangle of mysteries.
Of course, Weapons is rightly called one of the best films of the year, and this is a fair judgment. It is also true that karma will literally catch up with the puppeteers, whose hands are stained with blood and for whom their own miserable goals are above all else. And human lives, including children’s, are worthless.
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