Zach Cregger’s ‘Weapons’ is smart, creepy, and almost great | Movie Review

If you’ve seen ‘Barbarian’, you’ll know it’s the kind of film that leaves your nerves jangling. Directed by Zach Cregger, it was a bloody, disturbing horror ride that won over genre fans. So, when Cregger announced his next project, ‘Weapons’, expectations were sky-high.

Now that the film has finally hit theatres, it’s drawing strong praise from audiences for good reason. The story hooks you right away: seventeen children from the same class mysteriously vanish. Only one student, Alex Lilly, remains. Strangely, every missing child was last seen running toward something, but no one knows what it was, or why they were drawn to it. It maintains its momentum right up to the final act, but the payoff doesn’t quite match the build-up. After so much carefully constructed mystery, the ending feels a little overinflated. The film plays out in an episodic format, with each segment centring on a different character’s experience, a smart structural choice that keeps the story gripping.

The film’s muted colour palette adds to that unease, making us feel trapped alongside the characters in a place where something is undeniably off. That’s one of the movie’s key strengths. Another is the performances. Josh Brolin is absolutely convincing as Archer Graff, the father of one of the 17 missing children, haunted by his loss, traumatised, yet coping in his own way. Cary Christopher is equally impressive as Alex, the only child who hasn’t vanished. He brings a gentle, lived-in depth to Alex, and you can’t help but wonder how this small boy is really making sense of all the strange, unsettling things happening around him.

Now, onto what doesn’t quite land. There’s a certain emotional distance from the characters that makes it harder to fully connect. Take the bond between Archer Graff and his son, Mathew. Without giving too much away, it often feels one-sided because we only see Archer’s perspective. There’s little shown to truly establish their relationship, so it lacks emotional weight.

Some character-focused episodes also feel unnecessary, stretching the story without adding much depth. The climax suffers from a similar issue. There’s a particular moment near the end that’s satisfying in a moral sense, but in true Cregger fashion, it’s quickly undercut with something uneasy and downright gross.

The scares land well, though some end up feeling unintentionally funny simply because horror fans have seen similar tricks before. The tension-driven moments are particularly effective, but given it’s Cregger, you can’t help wondering, “That’s it? Nothing as deeply unsettling as in ‘Barbarian’?” By the time the film reaches the midpoint, you might find yourself unsure where the story is headed. It often feels like a lot is happening at once, yet in the second half, Cregger tightens the focus and narrows the scope.

'Weapons' is, at its heart, a solid film. It knows how to create that uneasy, lingering sense of dread that keeps you hooked. But it’s hard to ignore the shadow of 'Barbarian', and that comparison does weigh it down. Taken on its own, it works well, but once the mystery is laid bare, the film doesn’t give you much to hold on to in terms of answers. There’s a streak of dark humour that hits the mark, but you can’t help wishing the story offered just a bit more clarity.