Zach Cregger’s ‘Weapons’ Hits Big but Misses Some Marks in Horror Follow-Up
So, let’s talk about Zach Cregger’s new movie, Weapons . If you remember his last hit, Barbarian , you probably know he’s a director who loves to mess with your head — throwing curveballs, unexpected twists, and dark humor all mixed into horror. Well, Weapons is his latest effort, and it’s definitely ambitious, maybe even too ambitious.
The film opens with a chilling story: a whole third-grade class disappeared from a small town, all except one kid. At first, it feels like a mystery, but the movie actually spends a lot of time explaining what really happened, which kind of takes away the eerie unknown that hooked you at the start. It’s like Cregger wanted to build a massive puzzle, but by showing you all the pieces, some of the mystery gets lost.
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Weapons tries to be this sprawling, epic horror tale with multiple characters, each getting their own segment of the story. The main focus is on Justine, a teacher played by Julia Garner, who’s blamed by everyone in town for what happened to the kids. She faces threats and even has her car vandalized with the word “Witch” — which is a powerful way to show how people can be quick to judge and scapegoat someone when they don’t understand what’s going on. Justine’s story feels the most grounded and emotional in the film, and Garner’s performance brings a lot of depth to her character.
Then, the movie jumps around to other characters, like Archer, a contractor and father grieving his own past, and Paul, a cop who’s kind of drifting through the story. The problem is, this shifting perspective sometimes feels scattered, like the movie is trying to do too much at once. It’s like Cregger’s got all these ideas and wants to show them all, but the result spreads his talents thin.
One thing that’s clear is Cregger’s love for mixing horror and comedy. In Barbarian , that worked well — the scary moments and the laughs balanced each other out perfectly. Here, it’s hit or miss. Some scenes cleverly fuse humor with shock, but others don’t land quite as well, leaving the film feeling uneven.
Also worth noting is the movie’s darker undercurrent. Weapons deals with big themes like childhood trauma, evil lurking in ordinary places, and community mistrust. But sometimes, it feels like it leans into some uncomfortable, even reactionary ideas rather than fully exploring them. The antagonist, an old figure controlling everything, almost feels like a stand-in for the director himself, pulling strings behind the scenes. And some characters, especially those on the fringes, get treated pretty harshly — not always in a way that feels thoughtful or justified.
Visually and technically, Weapons is slick. The violence is stylized, the atmosphere is creepy, and there’s this unforgettable image of a giant AR-15 looming over the town like a dark storm cloud — a powerful, if unexplained, symbol that sticks with you after the credits roll.
In the end, Weapons is watchable and has moments that really work, but it’s also a reminder that sometimes trying to do everything leads to doing less well. Cregger clearly has skill and vision, but this film might leave you scratching your head and whispering, “What the heck just happened?” That lingering question, weirdly enough, might be exactly what he intended all along.
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