Weapons — Zach Cregger’s Psychological Thriller Review
Weapons, a new psychological mystery thriller directed by Zach Cregger, was easily one of my most anticipated films of the year. I watched it with my sister on Friday night, and while it definitely kept me entertained, I unfortunately was not the biggest fan of this film — my Letterboxd rating being a sad 2.5 stars. :(
The initial plot of Weapons had me hyped from the start: 17 children all from Mrs. Gandy’s class vanish in the middle of the night — all at exactly 2:17 AM — however, one child from that classroom doesn’t go missing. That’s a good hook, right? The film’s eerie atmosphere is prominent from the beginning, with a quiet, suburban town that suddenly feels sinister.
The trailer for Weapons was beautifully cut — and as someone who works in marketing, I’m always excited to give credit where it’s due — but it may have overhyped the movie a bit too much for me. The cinematography is stunning, which is something I always look forward to while watching a horror movie. The ending ties things up in the most satisfying way, you’ll just have to see it for yourself (iykyk). But still ,the overall story didn’t feel particularly original.
The film opens with the voice of a sad little girl narrating (unknown who the narrator is) stating, “This is a true story that happened right here in my town two years ago." The 2-hour, 8-minute runtime never dragged, thanks in part to the “chapter” format and the shifting POVs from different characters — my personal favorite being James, who brought a few laughs to the audience. The clever humor sprinkled throughout the film made it even more enjoyable to watch in a packed theater, and while there are a few jump scares, it’s more unsettling than outright scary.
I feel I was not as impressed with Weapons as I thought I would be due to feelings of déjà vu. Last summer’s Longlegs was one of my favorite horror films (falling just behind Zoë Kravitz’s Blink Twice), and Weaponsshares a lot of its DNA: the witchcraft plot twist, a creepy villain responsible for multiple disappearances in the same town, and even some eerily similar physical traits to Nicolas Cage’s character in Longlegs. There were also elements that reminded me of It Follows (the erratic, infected-like behavior of certain characters) and, of course, the missing-children-from-the-same-town mystery at the heart of It by Stephen King.
Calling Weapons not worth watching would be a bit of a stretch. If you’re curious, I’d still recommend catching it in theaters — I just wish I had gone into this film with little to no knowledge about it. Fellow fans of horror might not be as “gagged” as the trailers suggest, especially if you were a fan of last year’s Longlegs. Overhyped marketing can be a double-edged sword, and in this case, the creative marketing overshadowed the actual narrative of the film. After gathering my thoughts about the movie, I felt there were many plot holes that didn’t get answered. The haunting voice of the child narrator from the beginning of the film, concluded the film by saying, "Some of the children remained silent for a long time, after, with it taking time for them to find their voices again.” Although leaving the end of a film up to the audience’s interpretation can be exciting — and I’m someone who usually goes down a rabbit hole of theories — I sadly still feel the plot fell short.
The core concept — 17 classmates running from their homes in sync during the dead of night — draws me in. I just wish the execution of this concept had matched the premise’s originality. Would I watch it again? Probably not. Should you go find out for yourself? Probably. I’m just happy Weapons is part of a small wave of horror movies interesting enough to actually get me back into the theater!