Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
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Do you remember the horror classic “Psycho”? Of course you do, or at least I certainly hope so.
It’s the quintessential example of a filmmaker turning around the narrative direction to thrill the audience. When star Janet Leigh died 44 minutes into the film, viewers had no idea of where the story would go next. The legendary ending was just as shocking.
Sixty-two years later, a relatively unknown filmmaker named Zach Cregger directed a film called “Barbarian.” Again, viewers in 2022 were introduced to a story whose narrative GPS was offline; what began as a tense drama about two strangers double-booked into an Airbnb took a smart-yet-bonkers change of direction and became an instant hit with the horror homies.
Did I just compare Cregger to Hitchcock? I did. “Psycho” is credited with inventing the concept of the spoiler alert. “Weapons,” Cregger’s second effort, is an incredibly mysterious thriller that unravels in a most unpredictable way. I should know — I saw it four times in eight days after its August debut.
I could go on about its incredible $70 million opening weekend, but while I’m pleased about the film’s commercial success, I’m actually here to tell you why “Weapons” is the most intriguing horror film since “Get Out.”
Did I just compare a Zach Cregger picture to a Jordan Peele film? Yes, I did. Glad you see the pattern. Similar to “Get Out,” in “Weapons,” crucial facts are withheld from the viewer at the beginning of the film, only to be revealed later for maximum tension and drama.
Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
By now, you’re probably aware of the premise: 17 third-graders go missing, running from their homes with arms outstretched into the dark night. They’re all from the same class, and only one boy seems to have escaped the strange phenomenon. The townsfolk are frantic and pointing fingers at the class’s teacher, played by the always-compelling Julia Garner.
And then what? Well, that’s what the whole film is about: How did we get here? What follows is an elaborate and well-crafted story about the terrifying cause of their disappearance. We see the explanation through a series of segments, each from the perspective of a different character: Alden Ehrenreich’s guilty cop, Josh Brolin’s angry father, Benedict Wong’s bewildered school principal. Like films such as “Magnolia” or “Pulp Fiction,” the plot is like a tangled ball of Christmas lights that smooths out after being picked apart from different angles.
Did I just compare “Weapons” to a Tarantino film? Yes, I did. “Pulp Fiction” and “Weapons” fall into different cinematic genres, but they share a nonlinear way of telling a story. As a matter of fact, Cregger has said that watching “Pulp Fiction” changed his life.
So perhaps by now, you’re intrigued, but you’re not into horror movies. Truthfully, “Weapons” is more of a crime/horror crossover in the way that “Seven” or “The Silence of the Lambs” transcended genres. And “Weapons” is just as highly rated and memorable.
And yes, I just put “Weapons” in the same category as “The Silence of the Lambs” as a horror/crime masterpiece. “Silence” was an awards powerhouse. Amy Madigan, who played Gladys, just won Best Supporting Actress at the Critics Choice Awards. Time will tell what kind of love “Weapons” gets during awards season, but in my book, it’s the best film of 2025.
