‘Weapons’ Review: A Mystery Solved By Chance

Photo by Jack B on Unsplash

Following the widely celebrated success of Barbarian (Zach Cregger, 2022), Zach Cregger has dared to continue in the horror/mystery direction, this time directing Weapons; a film about the strange disappearance of seventeen school children who decided to leave their homes at 2:17 am to run into the void. The next day only two people return to class, Alex (Cary Christopher), and Justine Gandy (Julia Garner), the teacher, raising prominent questions about what has happened. The town places the blame on Justine, who was recently hired as a teacher in Maybrook, Pennsylvania. From the very start, the story unfolds across six different points of view, each revealing different aspects of the character’s psyche and investigations.

The film begins with a Maybrook student narrating the disappearance of these children. Cregger uses a child’s perspective to draw us in the vulnerability of the mass disappearance, while also infusing the scene with a sinister touch. This opening invites us to understand the parents’ grief while also preparing us for the film’s shifting perspectives. Officially, the film’s first point of view begins with Justine, where the audience follows her struggle against the hometown’s pressure and blame for the children’s disappearance. In a key scene, Justine’s apprehension is represented when she is returning home and thinks some parents may be trying to follow her into her house. When she feels safe, someone knocks on the door twice, until she opens it and sees her car has been painted on, revealing the word ‘witch’. This heightens her distressed and erratic nature, showing how her anxiety and impulsiveness affect her later actions. Next, we follow Archer Graff (Josh Brolin), who is grieving his son, Matthew (Luke Speakman). He has been investigating the incident for a month by rewatching footage from surveillance cameras, ultimately discovering the children’s location. Other connected storylines include Paul Morgan (Alden Ehrenreich) breaking police protocol, Marcus’s persistence in speaking with Alex’s parents, and James (Austin Abrams), a drug addict motivated by the reward money. Cregger skilfully uses his character’s flaws as narrative devices to move the story forward and uncover more clues about their disappearance.

Despite Cregger's use of conventional mystery tropes, the film absorbs even more into this story by including diverse horror motifs, which heighten the story’s uncertainty. The first one is the way these children dash out of their homes with their arms stretched back for no apparent reason. He also rejects the 3 am trope (devil hour) and instead uses 2:17 am as the exact moment where these children disappeared. Furthermore, he introduces Aunt Gladys (Amy Madigan), the antagonist of this film, whom we establish as a witch based on the rituals she carries out, despite not being directly specified in the film. She appears in Archer’s dream and near James in a clown-like appearance, which suggests that the person who might have these children is a killer clown. When she finally appears in Marcus’s office, her clown-like makeup and bright clothing juxtapose with the bald old woman who haunts the darkness of Alex’s home. Cregger reverts to a more familiar approach to horror in his use of gore spearheaded by Aunt Gladys. In this scene, Aunt Gladys makes her way into the principal’s home after lying her way in and asking for a bowl of water. With this bowl of water, she begins her first ritual. She pulls a stick from her bag, slicing her palm and cutting Terry’s hair. After breaking the stick in two, the ritual unfolds, ending with Marcus headbutting Terry to death. This scene becomes striking because it develops without the typical eerie musical cues that would propel each step, making the ritual feel disturbingly natural. When the violent episode begins, the full gruesome attack showcases the power Aunt Gladys has over her victims. 

Beyond its mysterious conventions, the film builds on this atmosphere with fantastical elements and hidden allegories. A key moment occurs in Archer’s dream sequence, where he sees and follows his son down the stairs. He then runs after him, leading to his own house across the street, where a literal weapon (an AR-15 assault rifle) appears at the top. Cregger combines a fantastical element with horror to show a visual metaphor that foreshadows the children’s united force, initiated by Alex, to ambush Aunt Gladys. The numbers 2:17 appear on the clock again, which could reference the seventeen missing children and the two who returned to class, Justine and Alex.

What surprised me the most about this film is the way it balances comedy while maintaining engagement. It reminded me of the similar dark humour used in Barbarian. In this case, the cast delivers funny dialogue that lightens the tension throughout the film, which I thought was wonderful for those spectators who tend to be tense throughout horror films. Still, these moments ensured that the audience was calmer. For instance, the outstanding performance of Austin Abrams as James makes you laugh with the way he embodies his character and the unacceptable choices he makes throughout the film to get drugs, which lead him to be the first person to spot these children in Alex’s house. Additionally, the final scene climaxes into pure horror, with these controlled children running throughout the neighbourhood, breaking windows as they run towards Aunt Gladys. 

Weapons presents unsettling imagery with flawed characters who unintentionally come across the film’s antagonist. It is definitely a must-see for horror fans who want to be engaged throughout the film, without having to see similar horror themes. While less intense than Barbarian, it continues Creggers’ horror legacy, leading to a perfect balance between terror and light entertainment. 

Weapons had its UK release on the 8th of August.

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Edited by Hannah Tang, Co-Editor of Film & TV