Weapons (2025)

REVIEW:

This movie is quite difficult to review without entering spoiler territory, so this is your warning. I’ll tread carefully, because Weapons (2025) written and directed by Zach Cregger is one of the rare horror films that really knocked me off balance. But before diving into the film itself, I’d be doing a disservice if I did not mention the incredible marketing for this movie: Warner Bros released creepy door cam and street cam footage online of children running across streets in the early hours of the morning, and the trailers didn’t reveal much about what the movie was actually about. I went in not knowing what to expect, which is always exciting and frankly, it set the hairs up on the back of my neck before the opening scene even began. Cregger’s previous movie was Barbarian, which was one of the most talked about horror films of 2022, so expectations for Weapons were already high.

Walking out of the cinema, I realised I cannot remember the last time a horror movie affected me so deeply. I walked out with chills, the jump scares were genuinely effective, and the sense of mystery and the unknown had my nerves dialled up to 11. The gore, well, let’s just say it had me wincing in my seat. Do I think I’ll have the same reaction on a second viewing? I’m not sure. I have this love hate relationship with horror: the second time rarely hits like the first. Yet, having seen it only once, Weapons is unquestionably both terrific and terrifying a potent cocktail of dread and adrenaline.

The cast is uniformly excellent, Josh Brolin, Alden Ehrenreich, Cary Christopher, and Benedict Wong all bring real weight to their parts, but it’s Julia Garner who emerges as the clear standout. She plays Justine, the teacher of a class of children who all mysteriously get out of bed at exactly 2:17 a.m., leave their homes, and vanish into the night. As the parents begin to point fingers at Justine, she becomes a troubled investigator in her own right, trying to piece together what happened. Garner’s performance is taut, vulnerable, and unsettling; she anchors the film amidst chaos, confusion, and growing terror.

One of the aspects I loved most about Weapons is its structure. It doesn’t unfold in a linear fashion, instead it takes on a chapter like format, hopping between characters and perspectives within that same eerie time frame, and cleverly tying them all together by the end. That narrative construction felt fresh, smart, and suspenseful, balancing scattered voices and tension before converging into a chilling whole.

The film absolutely earns its 18 rating. There are some genuinely horrific moments throughout, so visceral and unsettling I won’t name them here, because I want everyone to go experience the film themselves, unspoiled. Trust me: this is the kind of horror where seeing it for the first time, with no idea what’s around the corner, is worth preserving.

Yet despite the terror, the movie occasionally surprised me with humour. The audience in my screening burst out laughing a few times, one moment in particular, when Josh Brolin’s character jolts awake from a dream, was so perfectly timed and performed that it shattered tension in the best possible way. While IMDb categorises Weapons as a “dark comedy,” it’s unmistakably first and foremost a horror, but that sly, twisted humour gave it extra life and dimension.

On a scale of 1 to 5, I’ve rated it a 4, and here’s why I didn’t go higher: I left the cinema still a bit confused about the antagonist’s purpose. I had to dig around once I got home, yes, I understand now that it was witchcraft, and that the witch was harvesting the children’s life force to prolong her own existence. But the movie never explicitly shows the witch trying to drain that life force on screen, which left me casting about for clues that didn’t quite land. It felt obvious to me, yet I haven’t seen other reviews expressing that interpretation. Maybe I missed something, or maybe I was having an off day. Did anyone else feel similarly thrown off?

All that said, I thoroughly enjoyed Weapons. You owe it to yourself to watch it in a cinema, where the darkness, the sound design, the sudden shocks, and that oppressive atmosphere hit hardest. If you wait for the digital or physical release, make it a ritual: switch off every light, close the curtains, and brace yourself for something truly messed up. Bravo, Mr Cregger, for crafting a horror that’s as unnerving as it is unforgettable.