Zach Creggar directed the effectively creepy Barbarian in 2022. His follow up is another horror movie that is hopefully destined to find a bigger audience, as it is a step-up in quality. Julia Garner stars as school teacher Justine Gandy. One night, all but one child from her class of 18 mysteriously run off into the darkness. There appears to be no clues and the parents of the disappeared, particularly Archer (Josh Brolin), start to accuse Justine of being involved.
For quite a long period, Weapons seems to be more of a mystery laced thriller than a horror movie, but when the truth is revealed, there are some of the scariest scenes I have seen in some time. Creggar’s story telling technique is hugely impressive. He has split the film into chapters, each named after a key protagonist. We then see the same events as depicted in the previous chapter but from that person’s point of view and with additional material that feeds into the next chapter. That helps to ramp-up the feeling of dread and building the tension.
As well as being scary at points, Creggar provides a number of laugh-out-loud moments. Also, the singling out of the innocent Justine, and the abuse she subsequently receives provides another interesting facet of the story. In a week that a group of scouts in a camp in Wales were attacked online when they were mistaken for illegal immigrants, it feels very timely.
Garner and Brolin are really good but proceedings are stolen by Amy Madigan as one of the most terrifying villains in recent years.
Rating: 8.5 out of 10