2025 may have had a lot of box-office bombs, but horror was a genre that simply thrived in comparison. Finally, I’ve seen one that I could not stop hearing great things about, even if the details were intentionally left vague. Weapons was written and directed by Zach Cregger, who also wrote and directed Barbarian. Barbarian was a movie I liked a great deal, due in no small part to the fact that I didn’t know much about it before I started watching it. Since the marketing and reviews of Weapons were employing a similar strategy of keeping things vague, I figured I’d try the same strategy of going into the movie with as little knowledge about what to expect as possible.

Pros

Good acting from the cast, including the children
Solid direction and cinematography; the framing of the shots and camera movement keep things interesting
The brief moments of horror are shocking and look good
Method of telling the story through the perspectives of different characters keeps the mystery engaging
Some creepy moments

Cons

Not sure how certain rules about how things work
It feels like there could have been a little more resolution to the story
Over two hours when it didn’t need to be

Plot & Thoughts

One morning, in a rural American town, a classroom of young children didn’t show up to school. Door cameras caught some of them running out of their houses late at night with their arms at their sides, towards an unknown destination, and for unknown reasons. The teacher, Justine (Julie Garner), is suspect number 1 in the eyes of the parents; many of whom are either distraught or determined to find out what happened to their children. Having somewhat recently moved to the town, Justine is struggling to deal with the situation, and the only person who appears to be on her side is the principal (Benedict Wong), who is frustrated by the demands of the parents and Justine’s suspicians that the one child who did show up to school that day is involved with the mystery in some way. As different residents of the town deal with the situation in their own ways, more is revealed about what caused the incident and how these characters relate to one another.

Weapons, much like Barbarian, benefits from not knowing too much before seeing it, so I will try to keep my review relatively brief and vague as well. Had I known more than I did when I watched it, I still would have enjoyed it, but I don’t think the mystery would have captured my attention as much. One thing that I will mention that I don’t think will negatively impact anyone’s viewing experience by knowing ahead of time is how the story is told. The plot is not told chronologically, as the perspective jumps back and forth through time and the view of different characters. So, many chapters for these characters will end on something of a cliffhanger, making you anxious to find out what happened to cause the situation in the first place.

There are plenty of moments in which a long shot occurs to keep you focused on the action or build the tension of the scene. There are instances in which the tension slowly builds, but not every one ends with a jump scare, allowing the scene to remain somewhat mysterious and creepy. That doesn’t change the fact that Weapons still ends up being over two hours long. I think some of it could have been edited down, but the style manages to keep things interesting and engaging for the long runtime. When it all ended, I was satisfied to a certain extent, but it also felt rather abrupt. Maybe the filmmakers recognized how long the movie already was and decided to wrap everything up with a summary, but there were some story arcs and some “whys” that were left unresolved.

Nitpicks aside, Weapons is a pretty entertaining horror movie. It’s definitely more of a mystery, but it has its horrific moments and tense scenes. The acting from the cast is solid and keeps you invested in what is happening to everyone. We get to see things from several people in the town, all of whom are flawed individuals in terms of what actions they take. Justine’s story is very sympathetic, partially because it shows how she’s making poor decisions in her attempts to deal with the situation. She has to deal with the isolation she feels from the residents of the town, who think she has something to do with the missing children, making her desperate for a positive connection with other people, even if it means interacting with an old fling the wrong way. Likewise, Josh Brolin does a great job as Archer, who is a distraught parent whose son went missing. There are plenty of simple, quiet scenes that let you know what he’s thinking and how he feels with minimal dialogue. It’s a straightforward character for someone like Brolin to play, but he brings enough energy and subtlety to the performance that it pulls you into his story as you see him putting the pieces together, making him pretty likable by the end, even if he did some cruel things earlier in the movie.

The last thing I’ll mention is the gory moments. There aren’t many, and they’re mostly brief; however, they are very effective in the scenes in which they occur. It’s a less-is-more approach that I enjoyed because the movie was able to really highlight the impact of the scene and its intensity with brief sequences in which something horrific happened, adding to the unsettling tone of the film.

TL;DR

While I would be more likely to rewatch director Zach Cregger’s Barbarian over Weapons, it’s still an easy recommendation for any horror fan. There’s enough of a mystery here to keep you interested until the conclusion, with some interesting characters and solid performances by the cast. It’s not the scariest experience, but it’s got some creepy moments and fun surprises that should keep you engaged for the slightly long runtime.

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