Exhilarating ‘WEAPONS’ Unloads a Doozy of a Horror Story

Prepare the crown, there’s a new king to be anointed. Zach Cregger, formerly of the sketch comedy troupe The Whitest Kids U Know, burst onto the horror scene in 2022 with Barbarian. It’s a masterful, devilishly fun “something’s in the basement” thriller that taps into audiences’ fear of negative space and relationship dynamics, all while embracing the over-the-top camp that made ’80s and ’90s horror so unserious and so much fun. Barbarian was a killer debut, promising a new horror voice less concerned with using the genre as a Trojan horse for social issues (Peele), plumbing mythic universalisms and medieval tonalities (Eggers), or turning grief into bone-chilling metaphor (Aster, and his knockoff army), and more into being a little scary, a little funny, and a whole lot of fun. His follow-up, Weapons, which WB declined to screen for most critics for some inconceivable reason, is both a worthy continuation of Cregger’s voice and a clear step up in craft. This guy may just be the horror prince the 2020s were promised.

Among the standout new voices of the 2020s are a few worth watching closely: Emerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman, Saltburn, and the upcoming Wuthering Heights adaptation), a bold dramatist with a flair for the theatrical and toxically cutting dialogue; Emma Seligman (Shiva Baby, Bottoms), one of the brightest new comedic voices in ages; Celine Song (Past Lives — outstanding; Materialists — a total miss); and horror brethren the Philippou Brothers (Talk to Me, Bring Her Back), whose work is both deeply unnerving and surprisingly affecting genre filmmaking.

But none have shown such a clear escalation in thematic ambition and directorial skill as Cregger. Weapons, while technically a horror film, folds in a mass of genres and ideas. At times, it plays like a dark suburban fairytale, a whodunit mystery, a police procedural, a supernatural, vaguely Asian-influenced phantasmagoria, a thematically-heavy interrogation of student trauma and gun violence, and eventually, a straight-up camp fest. It’s everything all at once for the genre with a narrative and thematic cohesion few films manage to balance. A deliverance from the deadly serious trappings of prestige horror.

Weapons begins with a story. At 2:17 AM, two weeks prior, the entire third-grade class of Mrs. Gandy (Julia Garner) vanished into the night. All except for one quiet student: Alex (Cary Christopher). There’s no sign of abduction. Surveillance footage shows the kids opening their doors and running into the night of their own free will. The town—including local father Archer Graff (Josh Brolin)—immediately suspects Mrs. Gandy. No other teacher’s students were affected. How could she not be involved? What exactly was this witch teaching them? And where have their children disappeared to without a trace?

The script, also written by Cregger, unfolds at first like an interrogation. Like a well-wound chapter book, he parcels out fragments of story through the POVs of several characters: the anxiety-wracked Mrs. Gandy, fearful of her neighbors; Archer, desperate to find his son Matthew, even if it means taking the investigation into his own hands; Principal Marcus (Benedict Wong), trying to quash a full-blown revolt before it upends the school; local cop Paul (Alden Ehrenreich), whose angry outbursts and alcoholism make him probably unfit for the badge; and twitchy junkie-thief James (Austin Abrams), who steals petty goods and scenes alike. Each chapter sets the foundation for its character before crescendoing into a series of truly WTF moments, the audience left to piece together how it all fits.

The performances across the ensemble pop, adding dramatic weight to this horror story, but it’s the eventual arrival of Amy Madigan’s “Aunt Gladys” that sends Weapons into a whole new orbit. Madigan’s turn introduces a level of gleeful camp and devilish fear that makes her one of the best horror villains in recent memory—a fact only heightened by her horrific tabby-cat-orange wig. While Garner and Brolin bring a certain dramatic heft to their roles, Madigan is the buzzing counterweight, jettisoning Weapons from straight-faced tragedy into something that doesn’t fully take itself seriously. And that’s when horror movies are at their best: the collision of comedy and terror. The push and pull between absurdism and tragedy. It’s no coincidence that some of the best horror films of this era have come from people who started in comedy. They run on similar rhythms, hit similar beats. A great jump scare is grammatically not dissimilar to a great punchline. And both—when unearned—feel cheap. That’s never the case here.

There are plenty of well-earned scares to be had in Weapons, and though it’s not obsessed with whether audiences take it “seriously,” it clearly has a lot on its mind. With a fairly grim finale, it hardly pulls any punches on the way there. Some of the imagery is intentionally provocative, some absurdist camp, others just great visual sight gags, and still more genuinely alarming and disturbing. With Weapons, Cregger really does just wrap his arms around as much as he can and squeeze it for all it’s worth. It’s scary, it’s funny, it’s well-crafted, it’s smart, and it’s effective. I already can’t wait to revisit this horror story and so begins the long wait until he drops his next hit.

CONCLUSION: Cregger delivers just about everything a genre fan could ask for with Weapons: a twisted, well-acted dark fairytale with an unforgettable villain turn. It’s truly one of a kind – ambitious, unafraid to swing for the fences, and packed with ideas. Easily one of the bests of 2025.