A Spoiler-Free Look at the Anticipated new Horror Movie That Stars Josh Brolin and Julia Garner
DIRECTED BY ZACH CREGGER/2025
One of my most anticipated films of the year, Weapons doesn’t shy away from the strange and it absolutely delivers on the scares.
I’ve been dialed into this movie ever since it was first announced. After Barbarian (2022), I knew Zach Cregger was someone to keep an eye on. While I didn’t love Barbarian quite as much as the internet at large did, I appreciated its boldness and the way it juggled tone shifts. The second half could have easily derailed the film, but Cregger pulled it off with a strange blend of horror and offbeat humor. Admittedly, parts of it leaned a little too goofy for my taste, and based on the confused laughter of the audience I saw it with, I wasn’t alone – but it stuck with me. Most importantly, it proved Cregger wasn’t afraid to go there. That alone made me want to see what he’d do next.
With Weapons, I expected:
- A WTF explanation
- A careful balance of horror and dark comedy
- An ending that would hit hard
And I got all three.
I made a point to go in blind. I only watched the first trailer and stayed away from clips, teasers, and marketing that might give too much away. That decision paid off in a big way. There’s something uniquely thrilling about not knowing what direction a film is headed in and Weapons kept me guessing right until the very end.
The premise is deceptively simple:
“When all but one child from the same class mysteriously vanish on the same night at exactly the same time, a community is left questioning who or what is behind their disappearance.”
It sounds straightforward, but don’t let that fool you. The fun of this movie lies in its unpredictability. If you’re like me and enjoy treating horror films like puzzles, Weapons is a blast. I spent the runtime scanning for clues, tracking themes, and forming theories – and I was dead wrong every time. That’s a good thing.
Cregger has a talent for constructing stories that feel like riddles. I imagine him mapping out his films on a giant corkboard: one side labeled “Problem,” the other “Solution,” with strings connecting wild ideas in between. He starts with a messed-up scenario (in this case: a class of children vanishing) and then builds the most twisted, unexpected road to a reveal that no one sees coming – yet still makes sense once it lands. That’s the magic.
What I also love about Cregger’s approach is that he’s not aiming for highbrow “A24-core” horror. He’s not trying to be overly cerebral. Instead, he’s asking you to go with him – to buy into the reality he’s created and trust that he’s going to make it worth your while. In that sense, he reminds me of Jordan Peele: someone who pitches an absurd concept (what if there were tethered people living underground who look exactly like us who are planning to kill us all then take our places?) and dares you to believe in it. Not every director can pull that off.
That said, I do think there’s more going on beneath the surface. After chatting with a few friends, we all seemed to pick up on underlying themes like school shootings, community loss or loss of community, and domestic unrest that could be interpreted as the emotional backbone of the film.
Throughout Weapons, I found myself thinking about other horror films that toe that line between mythic and modern, bleak and bizarre – movies like Antlers (2021), Cobweb (2023), and even a hint of Pyewacket (2017). Each of those shares a certain tone with Weapons, that eerie dread anchored by emotion and just enough realism to make the weird stuff hit harder.
Final thoughts:
Weapons is a 4.5/5 for me – a full star higher than I gave Barbarian. Cregger is on a creative hot streak, and I think he’s carving out his own weird, ambitious lane in the horror genre. If you love films that are unpredictable, unsettling, and a little off-the-wall, without being completely nonsensical, Weapons is absolutely worth your time.
Just do yourself a favor: skip the extra trailers, avoid spoilers, and go in as blind as possible.