Eerie, fragmented and deliberately unresolved, Weapons is a bona fide original horror film.
In the wake of his breakout success with Barbarian, writer-director Zach Cregger returns to the horror genre with Weapons, a chilling genre-bending descent into fear, grief, and the inexplicable darkness that lurks within communities. The result is a film that’s as unnerving as it is audacious, weaving terror with a surprisingly bleak sense of humor.
The film opens with a premise as unsettling as it is mysterious. At 2:17 am, 17 children simultaneously vanish from their small town without explanation. Left behind are a single surviving child, Alex (Cary Christopher), and schoolteacher Justine Gandy (Julia Garner).
From this moment, Cregger fractures the narrative into six distinct character chapters, all from the character’s point-of-view or as they witnessed it—from a grief-stricken father (Josh Brolin) to a compromised police officer (Alden Ehrenreich), and a weary school principal (Benedict Wong). Each perspective deepens the mystery, expanding the story like a sinister puzzle that never quite resolves into a comforting picture.
Horror, with a smile
What sets Weapons apart from its contemporaries is its tone. Much like Barbarian, the film veers between abject dread and moments of pitch-black comedy. Aided by Cregger’s own eerie score, the atmosphere relies on silence, mood, and the grotesque absurdity of human behavior, with jump scares sparingly used. It has the Kubrick-esque ambiguity of the 1980 horror film The Shining, and Quentin Tarantino’s playful structure, straddling genres while remaining wholly its own.
Performances that cut deep
The ensemble cast delivers uniformly strong performances, grounding the film’s surreal turns in emotional truth. Julia Garner lends quiet resilience to the embattled and demonized schoolteacher Justine, while Josh Brolin’s portrayal of a grieving father is raw and heartbreaking in his vulnerability. Benedict Wong provides weary compassion as the town’s voice of reason, while Cary Christopher’s Alex is a devastating portrayal of a helpless but precocious little boy hardened by sheer wit to save his parents and himself.
But the film’s breakout star is Amy Madigan as Aunt Gladys—a performance both terrifying and darkly funny, already drawing serious awards buzz. Mostly remembered in recent years as Meredith Grey’s therapist Dr. Katherine Wyatt, in television’s longest-running medical drama Grey’s Anatomy, the 74-year old actress’ screen presence is electric. Behind the wacky, Temu version of American Vogue’s Grace Coddington aesthetic lies a quiet and potent malevolence, it gets under your skin.
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Thematic depth and interpretation
Cregger resists easy explanations. Is Weapons about parental grief, the dangers of scapegoating, or the corrosive power of denial? Gladys could be seen as an addiction, trauma, or simply evil incarnate. The film is deliberately open-ended, daring audiences to wrestle with the messages long after the credits roll. Some critics have even read the disappearances as a commentary on societal failure – the way communities turn on themselves rather than confront systemic threats to their children.
The ending that won’t let go (spoilers ahead)
If the film’s fragmented structure occasionally frustrates, its final act is unforgettable. The climax, in which Alex turns Gladys’ own dark forces against her, erupts into a bloody, grisly crescendo that has already become one of 2025’s most talked-about horror sequences. In a CinemaBlend interview, Cregger himself has admitted the shoot gave him nightmares for weeks—a fitting testament to its raw power.
The film feels unfinished, unresolved, and abrupt at the end. However, I have reason to suspect this could be deliberate for the purpose of turning the movie into a possible franchise.
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Critical and audience reception
Early response has been strong. Empire hailed the film as “a seemingly impossible idea that works brilliantly” with a 5-star review. IGN awarded it 9/10, praising its genre-blending boldness, while RogerEbert.com gave it 3.5/4 stars, commending its refusal to spoon-feed audiences. Weapons opened to a staggering $43.5 million box office weekend, and has made over $100 million worldwide as of this writing.
Deadline has confirmed that New Line is in the early talks for a prequel.
Final verdict
What makes Weapons effective is its unsettling storytelling. Eerie, fragmented, and deliberately unresolved. It’s a bona fide original horror film. Zach Cregger has crafted a film that not only scares but lingers, hammering on your mind’s door in the middle of the night, prodding you to come up with resolutions.
RATING: 4.5/5.
