It’s 2:17 am. Do you know where your children are?
Zach Cregger triumphs with Weapons, proving the success of his 2022 critically acclaimed horror movie Barbarian was no fluke. Indeed, the writer/director’s sophomore effort is the better picture. Clever, downright scary, and at times laugh-out-loud funny. Cregger’s new film brings freshness to a glutted genre in need of something new.
An opening voiceover from an unnamed little girl (Scarlett Sher) promptly hooks us, as she introduces us to a fairy tale-esque story from her hometown, the fictional Maybrook, Pennsylvania. Cregger’s choice to use a child narrator instantly ups the creep factor, as the inherent innocence of a young girl starkly contrasts with the terrible events she describes.
And terrible may be too mild a word for the tale the sweet-voiced narrator unspools. At 2:17 am one evening, we learn, 17 out of 18 students in teacher Justine Gandy (Julia Garner)’s third-grade classroom run into the night, never to be seen again. And from that beginning, just like the film’s characters, we immediately want to know the who, what, and why of such a baffling occurrence. But Cregger smartly takes his time with the reveal, creating a mystery that instantly absorbs us and keeps us guessing.
Cregger’s unorthodox structure helps immerse us in the drama. The picture is told in six chapters, each named for one of the story’s major characters. In each segment, Cregger rewinds so we can witness the same events from that character’s point of view. The effect is to make us question and rethink each preceding narrative, and make us consider more carefully character motivations and actions.
What also helps engage us is that each of the characters is complex and fully realized, unlike the cadre of dumb teenagers that have populated horror films in the days of shouting “don’t go in there!” at the screen. Here, Garner’s Justine is a compassionate teacher, but also an alcoholic. Brolin’s Archer, father to one of the missing kids, is overcome with grief, but perhaps not the best husband and father. Then there’s Alex (Cary Christopher), the shy, watchful, sole remaining child from Justine’s classroom. Why is he the only one left? Does he know more than he’s letting on? And what’s really going on with his eccentric great-aunt Gladys (Amy Madigan)?
Cregger leads us to these answers in ways both comical and frightening, tossing in more than a little cathartic gore for good measure. Suffice to say you may want to refrain from peeling your potatoes come Thanksgiving.
But what results is an unexpected, genre-bending horror film that isn’t just jump scares, but a nuanced, well-crafted allegory about suburban life, protecting our communities, and the loss of innocence that’s as humorous and poignant as it is frightening and perverse. Brolin and Garner are both terrific, and Madigan plays Gladys with just the right mixture of malice and overt benevolence. Christopher is the real find, a child actor who seems wiser than the adults, turning in a performance reminiscent of Haley Joel Osment in The Sixth Sense. This kid has promise. And with two stellar, singular horror films under his belt, Cregger sure does, too.
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Weapons is now playing in theaters.
