Film: Weapons
Director: Zach Cregger
Rating: ★★½

After Barbarian’s global box-office success in 2022, director Zach Cregger returns to horror again with the equally eccentric Weapons, released earlier this month. 

Cregger’s highly anticipated follow-up applies a similar framework, but, much like its predecessor, Weapons ultimately cheapens itself with its horror-comedy formula.

That’s not to say Weapons isn’t a good scare, it just lacks the desperately needed substance for it to sit among the other great horrors of this generation — Hereditary, Midsommar and Nope.

One night, at exactly 2:17am, all 17 schoolchildren from Miss Gandy’s class — except for one student named Alex — flee their homes and vanish into the shroud of the night with their arms outstretched. Without a clear culprit, the devastated parents of the small town of Maybrook pursue a frantic witch hunt in search of an explanation.

For all its flaws — which we’ll unpack later — if there’s one thing Cregger knows how to do right, it’s how to craft the perfect fright. The entirety of the first act brilliantly and impressively succeeded in extracting many collective gasps and reflexive hands-over-eyes in my sold-out theatre session. The hauntingly eerie score acts as a character in itself, sneaking up behind each scene, never failing to make your heart skip a beat. Not to mention the cast’s solid performances. Particularly Julia Garner (Miss Gandy) and Austin Abrams (James), who were so enthralling to watch, you almost forget they’re fictional characters.

With that said, Weapons starts to fall apart in the second act after it starts to switch perspectives to the other characters entangled in the narrative’s web. Reminiscent of Paul Thomas Anderson’s 1999 Magnolia, Cregger relies on an episodic-like structure to unravel the story’s mystery. This tactic loses its novelty quickly and becomes tiring as it stretches out certain plot points that are not needed to understand what’s happening.

Similar to Barbarian, Cregger draws from his comedy background to sprinkle Weapons with a hint of comedic relief that’s become a hallmark of many modern horror films like Ryan Coogler’s Sinners. The humour in Sinners complements the absurdity of its premise and enhances the characters’ reactions to feel more authentic. In contrast, Weapons’ use of comedy yanks you out from the seriousness of the moment, disrespecting the tension it worked so hard to build.

Weapons is a film that aspires to be profound but struggles with its own narrative. Despite Cregger embedding his personal experiences with addiction in Weapons, the underlying message of the film is buried underneath its clunky attempt to stay relevant with ‘meme-able’ moments. Its treatment of the sensitive topic of school shootings is completely lost on the viewer, except for the one tacky dream sequence depicting a graphic of a rifle. Weapons wants to say so much, but doesn’t know how to.

Overall, while Cregger’s new film is undeniably an entertaining watch, it’s most certainly not the horror film of the year that many expected it to be. But that’s okay. It’s a fun watch and a good scare, just not a masterpiece.