Zach Cregger Proves He’s Got Plenty of Weapons (2025) At His Disposal

Title: Weapons

First Non-Festival Release: August 6, 2025 (Theatrical Release)

Director: Zach Cregger

Writer: Zach Cregger

Runtime: 128 Minutes

Starring: Julia Garner, Josh Brolin, Benedict Wong

Where to Watch: Check out where to find it here

One month ago, every student in Ms. Gandy’s (Julia Garner) third-grade class ran off into the night at 2:17am, except for Alex (Cary Christopher). Despite police questioning ruling her out as a conspirator, the town unites in their grief against Ms. Gandy, none more than furious father Archer (Josh Brolin) who leads the charge against her. Frustrated with being pushed to the sidelines, Ms. Gandy starts snooping around in hopes of discovering any leads to where these kids might be. As she creeps around the town, the mystery unfurls in a horrifying and unexpected way.

A tonally provocative and unpredictable big-budget horror, Weapons delights with its impeccable sense of timing and character.

Operating as a series of interconnected segments that focus on one character’s relationship to the terror in Maybrook, Weapons plays its cards close to its chest as it expands and peels away at the mystery in each act. After describing the horror of the townspeople realizing these kids vanished into the night, Weapons follows six people over the course of a few days when all the answers are brought out in the open. It can be irritating at times, but the tactic allows Weapons to dive deeper into its major player’s motivations and build on the escalating stakes. While its serialized format does an excellent job of hiding the mystery it also gets messy rather quickly once held under scrutiny.

Fully fleshed out characters and ever-evolving relationships add to the unpredictability of Weapons. Deeply flawed and clearly unprepared for the horrors that await them, the characters of Weapons are so interesting because they are layered. Ms Gandy is clearly passionate about teaching and deeply cares about her students while also having an issue with boundaries and an untreated substance use disorder that does harm others too. Archer is a brash, domineering man steeped in machismo but also deeply loves his son and is willing to do whatever he needs to do to find him. It’s these complexities that make them feel real and allow the story to go to the strange places it goes.

Despite all this, it is difficult to ignore the more problematic elements of Weapons. Littered with dead ends and inconsistencies with how the story plays out, it comes together in the end only with a major suspension of disbelief in the mechanics of its horror. While little realities can be ignored when thinking of the bigger picture of a film, Weapons gets too convoluted for its own good by the time it reaches its conclusion.

There is an undercurrent beneath Weapons where Zach Creggers doesn’t exactly know what he wants to say but interesting things come out of the work regardless. Threats of looming assault rifles hovering over houses and children in ambiguous peril make it seem that Weapons will touch on the harsh realities of children and teachers in schools plagued by shootings, bomb threats, and bullying. Then it veers elsewhere. Shifting gears, Weapons becomes more conspiratorial, leaning into elements reminiscent of a Moms for Liberty type group. There’s some gay bashing, a detour into a cop - criminal chase, and then ties it all together with its chaotic climax. Weapons leaves it all at the table. In the end, authority figures fail the children, the parents are largely absent from the picture except to complain, and queerness is punished severely.

Maybe Weapons is the violent, cathartic battle cry bellowed against the suffocating, paranoia-inducing control of the classic suburb amidst the death rattle of the American dream. It can also be just a bunch of fucked up shit strung together via vignettes that provoke all the same. Who knows? Zach Creggers doesn’t. His charm, however, still manages to seep through to make Weapons a bombastic horror all the same.

Dynamic camerawork and memorable visuals capture the craziness unleashed within the quiet suburb. The action of Weapons comes in waves, crashing over the viewer in a horrifying assault of upsetting and strange imagery. As the film nears its conclusion, the strangeness wears off but the intensity never wanes. Capturing the frantic energy of the newly incensed sleepy suburb, Weapons brings something fresh to the Hollywood chase sequence. There’s just this dynamism pulsing through the film that makes every moment feel dangerous and important, making Weapons particularly riveting.

It’s always heartening to see original horror movies dominate with the box office and critic reception alike, which makes the success of Weapons even sweeter. Bathed in violence, comedy, and misdirection, Weapons works because of its wonderfully weird storytelling techniques. Interesting characters, strong imagery, and even more bizarre scenarios make Zach Cregger’s sophomore feature a true funhouse ride for the willing. It doesn’t quite mold together in the end but the serialized approach to the story allows the mystery take shape in a much more interesting and exciting way. An unambiguous hit, Weapons helps define 2025 as the wonderfully weird year for horror that it has come to be.

Overall Score? 8/10