Weapons

2025 was a really good year for horror, particularly when it came to original films. While some based on pre-existing properties ranged from passable to downright bad, the fresh takes were memorably effective and resulted in films that not only impressed critics and audiences but offered brand new takes on familiar scary ideas and proved the creative spark hadn’t gone out on this very old genre. Bring Her Back was fantastically disturbing and retained the distinctly modern identity of its directors, Drop was an enjoyably over-the-top mystery thriller, Companion offered a lot of great commentary and a fun sadistic sense of humor, and Sinners was so popular that it’s viewed as one of the most successful original horror films of the past decade. With the latter performing the best from a critical and commercial standpoint, the other film that could actually keep pace, Weapons, has also been labelled as one of the best horror films of 2025 and deservedly so.

On a regular Wednesday evening at the exact time of 2: 17 in a typical suburban community in Maybrook, Pennsylvania, seventeen children exited their homes, ran out into the surrounding woods, and never returned, causing a widespread police search that fails to track any of them down or explain why any of this occurred. With the parents of the missing kids blaming their third-grade teacher, Justine Gandy (played by Julia Garner) for why they went missing, she becomes the town’s resident ‘witch’ and falls to alcoholism after being told to distance herself from the school and the only remaining child from her class, Alex (played by Cary Christopher). However, strange dreams seem to be pointing her to the location of the missing kids, which are also shared by Archer (played by Josh Brolin), a father who lost his son on that fateful night, pulling the two together and putting them on a path to discover what actually happened to all these kids.

Weapons is an extremely well-constructed horror film that taps on all the strongest, most appealing aspects of the genre to create a gripping, visually clean, genuinely unsettling mystery that isn’t clear on its direction, yet has its audience by the throat the whole journey. While not a movie that’s strong on character and contains an unexpected silly side that might not vibe with people hoping for a more grounded delivery, the expertly crafted script, colorful direction and engrossing ambience more than makes it worthy of its pedigree.

Weapons was already off to a great start with an ingenious marketing campaign that simply yet cleverly only presented the scene of the kids running out of their homes and into the surrounding darkness through security camera footage, which did a great job hooking people with its eerie set up and blatant presentation, prepping it for extreme success. After a bidding war that ended with Warner Brothers and New Line Cinema securing the rights, Weapons had to deal with a lengthy production period due to being made during the 2023 Hollywood Labor disputes, but it was all worth it as the film was met with critical acclaim upon release and earned $269 million on a budget of $38 million. With trailers that gave enough hints to peak curiosity, but never being too clear on its overall direction, the story was in a strong position, as despite basing itself on a very tragic but repeatedly used formula of disappearing children, the closed-off characters, bubbly tone, and elaborate manner of storytelling made it hard to determine where it was heading, keeping audiences gripped for its entire two hour running time.

This movie’s success owes a lot to Zach Cregger (who directed, wrote, produced and helped compose the film), as even after the strong success of his 2022 horror thriller, Barbarian, he manages to top expectations with this new movie whilst still holding onto what made people love his manner of horror in the first place. This is hands down one of the best constructed and well-oiled horror films in a good long while, with every facet being perfectly paced, directed, written and performed in a sense that builds upon its atmosphere, provides a ton of personality that can be comical without losing its legitimately intense creepy factor, and maps out an interconnect story that jumps between multiple different perspectives in a sense that never feels confusing or merely a gimmick to feel important. There is a valid point to be raised that the movie sacrifices a legitimately dramatic presentation about grieving adults trying to cope with missing children in exchange for something more theatrical and crowd-pleasing, but its mix of an elevated presentation with more mainstream-appropriate tension building and tropes allows for a surprisingly nice blend that works for all kinds of horror fans. The directing is full of life and energy, the script drip feeds information at a steady and consistent pace, the performances are just the right amount of determined and over-the-top, the visuals are crisp and intricate, and even if it doesn’t provide the most original or surprising twist, the delivery is so strong that it’s no surprise it was so well received.

The casting actually went through a bit of a cycle, as people that were originally picked for the film like Tom Burke, Renate Reinsve, Brian Tyree Henry and Pedro Pascal all had to be recast after the production delays result in scheduling conflicts and prevented them from starring, being replaced by Alden Ehrenreich, Julia Garner, Benedict Wong and Josh Brolin. While the new cast still makes for a fun ensemble that isn’t too high profile to be distracting yet not so fresh that it feels like being alone at a party, an issue this film is faced with means that it almost didn’t matter who was cast for the final product. Nobody is giving a bad performance, and most of the actors do a good job jumping between being serious and dramatic to slightly hoaky to keep in time with the constantly flipping tone, but because the film is so dedicated to its narrative and tone, it doesn’t offer a lot of time for these characters to feel like anything more than chess pieces for the plot.

This isn’t to say the characters aren’t investable as some manage to pull it off, particularly Cary Christopher as Alex who remains silent for most of the film yet takes on a big portion of the final act and does a very nice job making you feel really bad for this kid. Some of the supporting cast manage to be memorable, like Austin Abrams as a homeless drug addict mistakenly roped into this mystery, and people like Alden Ehrenreich and Benedict Wong are good in specific doses, but the best actor in the film is Amy Madigan as the character of Gladys. While not appearing until the halfway point of the movie, her screentime makes for some of the most entertaining and terrifying portions, and while everyone else is doing their duty but not truly leaving their mark, this is a performance that’s going to last in the eyes of horror fans for how overly pleasant yet subtly sinister it is at the same time, it’s a fantastic job. Julia Garner and Josh Brolin have given strong performances in the past and are positioned in a way that’d easily make them sympathetic, but because the film constantly jumps to other perspectives, the audience doesn’t have a lot of time to get to know them outside of their involvement with this mystery, which leaves them as good, but not great leads.

The believability of this environment comes through the personal narrative and detailed direction, but also through the visuals, which are very polished and manage to be seamlessly cinematic despite only featured a typical suburban area. The intimate camera work by Larkin Seiple is very good at keeping the audience in a suspenseful moment, and because the environment is realistically lit and feels genuinely exposing and silent, it makes the creepier moments feel all the more authentic and the unnatural moments all the more off-putting (the running could be funny from a certain light, but is unsettling when done in the pitch black of night). The movie is strangely much funnier than many would’ve anticipated, which isn’t going to work for everybody (especially those who wanted it to be a straightforward serious flick), but the blending is surprisingly strong. Not every scene hits a bullseye and it’s not like it’s throwing out one-liners and zingers every second, but every creepy moment has a twinge of ironic dark comedy to it that doesn’t ruin any tension previously built up but offers a different payoff that arguably makes the moments even more memorable, and it’s helped by being genuinely scary.

The movie doesn’t rely on cheap jump scares or booming music to force a reaction out of people, instead allowing the ambience and the scenario to produce a scare that doesn’t scream in your face, but will chill your bones, which is made easier by the subtle musical score by Cregger, Ryan Holladay and Hays Holladay, which skitters and scurries into a flurry when danger approaches, and while never in focus enough to be a memorable piece, is used effectively during its moments to say that it performed its duty well.

Weapons can be nicely paired alongside Sinners as one of the most impressive horror films of 2025 and considering both are being called some of the most successful original horror films in the past few decades, that’s a title both greatly deserved to earn. In comparing the two, Sinners is a party that provided rich atmosphere, stylish imagery and chaotically gripping performances, whereas Weapons is more subdued and doesn’t offer the greatest characters, but is extremely well directed and written, and will provide a wonderful experience that is in some parts thrilling and other parts entertaining. The visuals are polished, the acting can be really enjoyable (especially from Amy Madigan), the atmosphere is legitimately tense when it isn’t resulting in a laugh, and while not hard to figure out once the ball gets rolling, the lead up is really well done. Another excellent option that helped Zach Cregger become a horror director worth keeping an eye on, Weapons was clearly in the right hands.