Three years ago, director Zach Cregger made his debut in the horror scene with his solo directorial effort, Barbarian. At the time, no one had expected how big a mainstream and critical darling that insane, clever movie would become, but it made Cregger a household name in horror, and kept audiences frothing at the mouth for his next project (including yours truly). Now, this coming August, the wait is finally over, as Cregger brings us his latest film, Weapons. And let me tell you folks – you are in for a messed-up ride!
Weapons has been building buzz like crazy with distributor New Line putting out incredibly creepy trailers and marketing materials that tease the mysteriousness of the project. And unlike what was done for Companion, the studio has been keeping things with Weapons under strict lock and key. I’ll say first hand, this is not only preferred, but necessary, as the less you know about Weapons, the creepier it is.
The film centers on an incident that occurred in a small town called Maybrook, where, overnight at 2:17 a.m., a group of 17 children from a single classroom got out of bed and disappeared into the night. The parents of the missing children are quick to accuse the teacher of the students, Justine Gandy, of knowing something about the disappearances. However, the deeper the investigation into the Maybrook Missing case goes, the more sinister the truth becomes, as various characters’ stories intersect to reveal something much more terrifying at play.
It’s interesting because after watching it, I compared Weapons a bit to Osgood Perkins’ Longlegs, from last year. This was a film that generated a lot of buzz and featured an excellent marketing campaign, accompanied by great performances all around. It was incredibly entertaining and brilliantly directed. However, it wasn’t without its flaws. Similarly, this can also be said of Weapons.
Like Barbarian, Cregger has crafted another clever tale, divided into segments, that explores the various points of view of characters within Maybrook through the events of the incident and the days that follow. It’s an ingenious and suspenseful way to tell his story, as every segment produces smaller clues for the overall puzzle, and the finales of each segment get you incredibly excited to learn more. It’s gripping and thrilling work that keeps the audience engaged, while also escalating tensions as new facts and segments are revealed.
The characters he creates are sympathetically human. Garner’s Justine, for instance, being the unfortunate target of the misplaced wrath of her students’ hysterical, mourning parents, is a character you truly feel sorry for. She cares about her students more than the district suggests she should, almost bordering on inappropriate impositions, though her intentions are in the right place. Yet, she’s also incredibly self-destructive and lost. And in many ways, her character alone is a microcosm of the various characters we meet, from Josh Brolin’s Archer Graff, the father of one of the Maybrook Missing, and Alden Ehrenreich’s Paul Morgan, a police officer trying to do good, but often led astray by his impulses.
These are imperfect characters that feel more human as a result of the dirtiness Cregger instills in them, and the result is very successful. They’re not the most likable, but such are the people we meet daily, particularly the ones undergoing various real-life crises. That’s something Cregger understands, but like with Barbarian, this sense of humanity in his characters is extra essential when something completely inhuman comes into the picture.
Cregger also directs Weapons with a confident hand, providing spine-chilling visuals and an alarming sense of creepiness through his imagery. One of my favorite aspects of his directorial style in horror is his preference for avoiding jump scares and instead focusing mainly on building dread. Several moments are incredibly creepy, from the way he choreographs the movements of some of his actors to the unforgettable images you see as he plays with darkness in the foreground and background. Cregger can make someone being followed utterly terrifying, even if it’s not a real threat narratively. And that’s because he chooses to leave a lot to the imagination, blending what you see with what you don’t, and capturing the creepiness of what you don’t see with brilliant sound editing.
In fact, that’s what makes Weapons so insanely creepy. Cregger can play with the sounds you hear and the sounds you don’t to create mood and tension. Things are infinitely more frightening because, although we don’t see what’s happening, Cregger allows the audience to make the connection with what is happening based on what they’re hearing, and the result is terrifying. One scene in particular features a background shot taken from the perspective of a sleeping character in a car. We witness an event that, in and of itself, is so frightening from a visual standpoint, set to absolute silence. However, the event/action goes off-screen one minute, only for the tension to break at the sounds of a car door opening.
It’s a simple, effective scare, arguably my favorite in the film, because it reinforces what makes Cregger a good horror filmmaker. He doesn’t just coast off blood and brutality, but a bizarreness that throws you off guard. He’s able to employ the simplest techniques to fully immerse the audience in the danger and dysfunction of a situation. He’s able to make walking or the opening of a door look unnatural, and therein lies his ability to unsettle his audience.
It does help that he’s working with a collection of terrific actors, like Garner, Brolin, Ehrenreich, and Benedict Wong. However, the most surprising MVPs of the film, in terms of performance, are young Cary Christopher, who plays Alex, the only child among Gandy’s class who doesn’t disappear, and Oscar nominee Amy Madigan. However, the less you know about Madigan’s character, the better. So I’ll leave it at that.
The score by Ryan & Hays Holladay, alongside Cregger, is well done, too. It gives off incredibly stylish ’80s vibes that would fit in well in an episode of Stranger Things. It’s unique, catchy, and sets the mood for the eerie creepiness of the entire story, with synth-inspired tones and an almost unsettling, grating eeriness.
All this being said, I must address one of the film’s most significant flaws: the logical inconsistencies. This is, once more, an excellent movie that you’ll have fun watching. However, as soon as you start thinking about the film, it begins to fall apart. Enter my previous comparison to Longlegs. Longlegs was a great, scary movie with magnificent performances. Still, it never quite successfully conveys what the film is really about (though one could argue that Longlegs was about religious fanaticism). This is also how I felt about Weapons.
Watching it, one gets the sense that perhaps there isn’t any satire for this one, and that Cregger just wanted to do a movie that harkens back to films like Halloween III: Season of the Witch. And that’s alright. You don’t always need a profound message with horror films, though these days many do have deeper satirical elements, like the aforementioned Cregger-produced Companion‘s themes about toxic masculinity. However, Weapons is content to be simply a messed-up blast, and keep its focus on the horror, which it does effectively. It is somewhat of a missed opportunity to delve deeper, but again, it works solely as entertainment.
Above, I praised the screenplay for the film because it is incredibly clever and well-executed. I do believe that to be true. However, for as smart as the screenplay is, when you end up thinking about it a bit too much not long after, things begin to fall apart. There’s certainly a central plot hole that, unfortunately, does end up calling into question the entire concept of the movie, which, admittedly, I wasn’t thinking about while watching it. It was only after that I discovered it, and even Cregger himself would admit himself to the plot hole. I’m very curious to know if audiences will be as bothered as I was after seeing the film about it.
That being said, plot hole or not, it doesn’t diminish the movie’s impact, nor does it suggest anything negative about Cregger and his talent. Much like Osgood Perkins, both filmmakers are fine writers who know how to establish tone and tension to disturb and terrify audiences visually and psychologically. Weapons is no exception. It’s creepy, well-performed, well-shot, well-edited, and (apart from the plot hole) well-written and executed. My advice to everyone is to go for the ride on this one. Don’t take it too seriously. There are even some incredibly hilarious moments at the end, which had me laughing hard in my seat, thanks to the greatest payoff scene in a horror movie in some time!
Overall, Weapons is a great time at the cinema and a well-made horror movie. As far as I’m concerned, Cregger’s solo efforts are officially 2/2. And once more, as I did with Barbarian, I see myself looking at a strong, if flawed, sophomore effort that will once again have you craving his next directorial effort!
Rating: 8/10