Weapons isn’t the first horror film from writer-director Zach Cregger. That would be 2022’s Barbarian, a critically acclaimed, wickedly weird movie about an Airbnb booking gone wrong. But, with a starry cast, two years of juicy production rumours, and an almost-aggressive marketing campaign behind it, Weapons is easily the most hyped. On its release last week, it topped the box office, set a new record for Warner Bros, and, for several days, enjoyed a rare 100% Rotten Tomatoes rating.
Narrated by a young child, the gripping trailer lays out the film’s unique premise: at 2:17am, 17 children from the same elementary school classroom got out of bed, walked downstairs, and left their homes, running into the darkness with their arms outstretched like creepy little fighter planes. “And they never – came – back.” It’s unsettling, eerie, and, according to the unseen child narrator, a “true story”.
Yet, after seeing Weapons, I can’t help but feel that the marketing is somewhat misleading. Is the film creepy? Yes. Is it scary? Sure – at times. Is it overhyped? Also yes. Is it worth watching? Yes…although this does ultimately depend on what you’re looking to gain from the experience. Because, before anything else, Weapons is fun. On several occasions, it’s laugh-out-loud funny, and during my viewing, there were times when the whole cinema was howling.
Stating that a film is fun or funny isn’t a criticism, of course. But, because Weapons is billed as a serious horror-mystery, its playful humour may come as a surprise – and maybe even a disappointment. This comical element is perhaps even more unexpected considering the film’s opening, which is a longer rehashing of the trailer. Serious, intense, and with all the dark, gritty aesthetics of the true crime genre, it feels as though we’re in for a dark ride.
A whole class of children, bar one little boy, is missing. The small-town police are dumbfounded, the grief-stricken parents furious. The children’s teacher, Justine Grady (Ozark’s Julia Garner), has, predictably, become the target of this rage, and it’s her perspective the film follows first.
Then there’s another surprise: Weapons isn’t told in a traditional linear format, but rather six flashback chapters, each from a different character’s viewpoint. Aside from Garner, the other perspectives include a father (Josh Brolin), a police officer (Alden Ehrenreich), a small-time crook (Austin Abrams), the school’s headteacher (Benedict Wong), and the one child who didn’t run away (Cary Christopher).
Initially, the film is a slow burn, with intrigue building as the chapters unfold and interlink, and the first chapter is arguably the most compelling; it follows Justine, a seemingly well-intentioned young woman with a drinking problem, who, despite the paranoia surrounding her, insists she had nothing to do with the children’s disappearance.
Cregger is undoubtedly an expert at building dread, and Weapons is most powerful when it’s being serious; the nightmarish footage of the children running through the night never fails to get under your skin, and there are themes of grief, police brutality, child abuse, and addiction.
The absent children and town in mourning draw parallels to school shootings, something the director insists isn’t intentional (however, the stark imagery of an AR-15 rifle – one of the ‘weapons’ of choice for mass shooters – floating in the sky during a dream sequence appears far too direct for this to be true). The way the parents treat Justine also has echoes of the 1980s Satanic Panic; someone even scrawls ‘WITCH’ on her car. It’s gloomy, unnerving, and you can’t shake the feeling of impending doom.
But the tone shifts in the second half, thanks in part to the introduction of an unexpectedly – yet quite wonderfully – camp antagonist. If you’re a fan of bleak horror movies, this shift might not be for you, but if you like your horror, violence, and gore with a side of comedy, you’re in for a treat. The gleefully sadistic final act is so expertly staged, shot, and cut that it manages to be just as funny as it is gruesome.
I found the fragmented perspective and constant looping back, however, somewhat frustrating, and by the end, I wasn’t convinced all the buildup had quite paid off. Some of the side characters, while undeniably amusing, just aren’t as interesting as the well-drawn Justine, or even Brolin’s grieving, angry father. The subplots seemed to distract rather than add, and, with a runtime of over two hours, a tighter focus would have made a stronger story.
Still, the film is extremely enjoyable, beautifully shot, and well-acted, and Cregger succeeds where it seemed improbable: turning a horror film about missing children into a riotous crowdpleaser. But I was left wanting more. The trailer and marketing of Weapons – and the first hour – suggest that it’s a film about deeply harrowing subjects. And while it does touch on these topics, it never quite capitalises on them, and I can’t help but feel that the uniquely unsettling concept was somewhat wasted.
Not every horror film has to be a social commentary, of course. But the terrible ways people treat each other because they’re afraid of a monster are usually more frightening than any monster itself – and not exploring this further ultimately feels like a missed opportunity.
Weapons is now showing in UK cinemas.
Images courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
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