REVIEW: ‘Weapons’ Has Bold And Risky Storytelling, But Ultimately Falls Flat

Horror is a saturated market, and it’s understandable why it is; it’s one of the most profitable. A small amount of money for a huge cash out – who wouldn’t want to make a horror? This year has not only been a big year for horror but especially for Warner Bros., who released Sinners and Final Destination: Bloodlines earlier in the year. Zach Cregger released his first film back in 2022 with Barbarian, a film that was loved by many. He now arrives with his second feature, Weapons and Cregger is able to showcase his understanding of the genre, bringing a movie that’s fresh and unique in its own right. It’s unfortunate to say that, like Barbarian, Weapons suffers from similar issues that didn’t work for me or leave me with a satisfying feeling once the credits began to roll.

Weapons tells the story of all the children but one from Justine Gandy’s (Julia Garner) class going missing after they leave their house at 2:17 AM and walk out into the unknown. Everyone wants answers to who or what was behind the mysterious disappearance, but only Justine takes things into her own hands after all the blame is thrown to her.

While Weapons is a horror movie, it’s a mystery movie before anything else. Modern horror movies suffer from cheap jump scares, but Zach Cregger spends the first 20 minutes of this movie telling a story first while building up the anticipation for that first scare, keeping the audience aware at all times. When Cregger does decide to finally scare the audience, he does it in a way that will keep you second-guessing yourself.

Weapons doesn’t pride itself on just scaring the audience for the sake of it being a horror. They’re well timed, sparingly put throughout the movie and for the most part, they serve a purpose. Justine only has the best intentions for her kids in mind, even if she sometimes crosses a line that borders between the teacher/parent boundaries. There’s trauma being dealt with from the disappearance of the kids to the pressure of having the town bla

ming her for the unnatural occurrence.

© Warner Bros.

Weapons's storytelling structure allows for a lot of interesting ideas and a unique way to showcase how these central characters and a community deal with the grief of the kids disappearing, but these ideas and structuring crumble towards its final moments. Zach Cregger sets up the mystery of the story through the use of chapters, with each one following a character and switching as it reaches its peak. The camerawork in Weapons is one of its crowning achievements, as each chapter adapts to the style and characteristics of the character they're following.

There's such great buildup that it's disappointing once it reaches the final chapter, which ties everything together in a slow, dragged-out act that's void of any style. The final chapter isn't necessarily bad, but it lacks nuance and purpose. It's a final act that takes the film into a completely different direction as expected, and while it still provides good scares and is overall still thoroughly entertaining, it takes a drastic change with its tone and no longer feels like the movie it was at the beginning.

Weapons is a film with so much promise, and while it may lead people to believe it could be an allegory on school shootings, trauma or even the social troubles that children go through, Zach Cregger denies all of these, making you wonder what else this movie was building up to be. The beauty of Weapons is that through grief, it shows how the actions we may take to make ourselves feel better ultimately don't change the tragedy that took place. The final chapter makes us sit down with a conclusion that doesn't really leave us with a satisfying feeling and forces the audience to come to terms with the fact that nothing will change whether we like it or not. That's Zach Cregger's biggest strength with his writing for Weapons, but also at the same time his greatest weakness.

Weapons is the type of horror film you get once a decade; it's a bold, risky movie, and for that Zach Cregger deserves a round of applause as he continues to break the boundaries of what the horror genre is capable of. It had the ingredients to become one of the best horror films of 2025, and it may well possibly be if I choose to rewatch it a year later, but for now it's a serviceable, thrilling horror film that will have everyone in discussions for years. Weapons is a movie that's meant to be watched more than once and is for sure one that will leave you coming out with a different viewpoint on the story that Zach Creggers is trying to tell with Weapons.

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Weapons. © Warner Bros.

About Weapons

Premiere Date: August 8th, 2025

Executive Producer/Showrunner: Zach Cregger, Roy Lee, Miri Yoon, J. D. Lifshitz, Raphael Margules

Writer: Zach Cregger

Director: Zach Cregger

Production: New Line Cinema, Subconscious, Vertigo Entertainment, BoulderLight Pictures

Distribution: Warner Bros. Pictures

Cast: Josh Brolin, Julia Garner, Alden Ehrenreich, Austin Abrams, Cary Christopher, Benedict Wong, Amy Madigan

Synopsis: 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.