'Weapons' Review: Gut-wrenching and Side-Splitting in Equal Glorious Measure
- Seb Jenkins
- Aug 7
- 3 min read
By Seb Jenkins - August 7, 2025
Zach Cregger crafts a worthy follow-up to Barbarian (2022) as Weapons explores what happens to a small town when 17 children mysteriously vanish.
Zach Cregger is fast becoming one of the most exciting horror writer-directors in Hollywood, as Weapons feasts on the credibility earned from Barbarian and rolls it in layers of mystery, witchcraft, and downright comedy. A star-studded cast of Julia Garner, Josh Brolin, Benedict Wong, and Alden Ehrenreich proves that horror is well and truly back, and combined with an electric Cregger script, Weapons is set to fast become a genre classic – with a twist.
What is 'Weapons' about?
When Justine Gandy (Garner) arrives to teach her first class of the morning, she is perplexed to find just one of the usual 18 seats filled. Alex Lilly (Cary Christopher) insists he has no idea what happened to his classmates, and a stalled police investigation can only uncover the what, rather than the why. At 2:17 that morning, 17 children from the same class simultaneously woke up, left their homes, and ran off into the dark. Where they went, no one knows. Not the police. Not the parents. Not the accused ‘witch’ Mrs Gandy. One minute they were there, the next they were swallowed by the night.
Weapons follows the mysterious story through the eyes of six different characters, each afforded their own segment of the 128-minute film. Justine Gandy frantically searches for answers, both to find the missing children and to clear her own name. Archer Graff (Brolin) is desperate to find his missing son, and Gandy seems the most likely suspect. Paul Morgan (Ehrenreich) is forced to juggle his police duties and a complicated entanglement with his ex-girlfriend. Andrew Marcus (Wong) feels the increasing pressure of a school principal with a classroom of missing kids. Local drug addict Anthony (Austin Abrams) stumbles across something he was not meant to see. Alex Lilly wrestles with the idea of being the only remaining child at the heart of a gut-wrenching anomaly. Not only does Weapons possess a salivating script, but also a structure to die for.
Comedic relief has long since been used as a tool in some of the biggest horror hits. The concept of feeding a viewer the high of laughter just to bring them crashing back down to Earth with something shocking is a finger-licking amuse bouche of the genre. However, what Weapons does that few have executed with any great success is combine genuine skin-crawling horror with genuine side-splitting humour. One minute, you’re clenching your jaw and closing your throat; the next minute your mouth is wide open, and your belly is aching.
Comedy is no mere tool for Cregger and Weapons – this is simply a case of a world-class writer/director expertly finding the horror in humour and the humour in horror. Combine the thriller mystery of Prisoners, the darkness of The Witch, and the comedy of Shaun of the Dead, and you’ll fall somewhere close to this instant classic.
Weapons is masterful at building suspense, on par with some of the best thrillers out there, even if it refuses to confine itself to one single genre. It is unapologetic in its complex world-building that allows horror and comedy to gurgle together on the surface like oil and water. It neither leans too heavily on gore or jump scares or laughs or twists, but blends all four expertly into a well-paced, blood-red smoothie that leaves you thirsty for more. Lovers of Barbarian, book your tickets now. Fans of horror, rejoice. And keep your eyes peeled for Zach Cregger’s next writer-director horror project – the 2026 untitled Resident Evil reboot.
'Weapons' is out now in cinemas
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