Weapons (2025)
Subverting suburban horror.
Presentation:
Likely the most talked about movie in 2025, if you like thriller horrors like Barbarian, the same director gives us Weapons. This is a modern film directed toward young audiences evidenced by the casual narration and dialogue. The film is told from 6 different points of view, slowly filling in the pieces. This makes the film have a suspenseful slow reveal similar to Strange Darling or the director’s past work on Barbarian. The film looks modern with some interesting framing and dim soft panel LED lighting. Overall the presentation doesn’t call for much complaint, it’s the acting and plot that has the biggest holes. Julia Garner fails her nervous stutters and Josh Brolin devalues himself to such a popcorn flick. The only arc I really liked was James (Austin Abrams), whom really anchors the comedy aspect of the film as a convincing drug addict. In my opinion this is a suspense mystery with a dash of dark comedy and horror.
Analysis:
Unlike other A24 horrors where you could have a 30 minute film essay on just the backstory (take Paemon in Hereditary), this film is much simpler. The film lays a few red herrings suggesting an inside job, mainly a nervous gaffe from Justine to Paul that it’s “you” rather than “me”. Our expectations lead to a political metaphor about weaponizing children, until it pans out the film’s evil is simply witchcraft. The aunt’s motivation is irrelevant, or left open for a prequel. Witches typically kidnap children, no motive needed, though it’s suggested she is dying so she can harvest souls to maintain her health, beauty or power. Once the adults don’t work, she resorts to children. It’s all very ridiculous especially given the modern setting how the police failed to see through this blatantly obvious suspect.
So the film is explicitly about emotional trauma as referenced by their catatonic state. However, the breadcrumbs clearly imply political discourse. Cregger doesn’t seem to be overtly political and plays both sides. Children are being weaponized and the discourse is how? We are presented with bullying as a potential motivator to the disappearances, suggesting a potential mental health crisis. Then we see a rifle with 2:17 in a dream sequence strongly suggesting the disappearance of the class is analogous to work of a disturbed school shooter. On the other hand we can see a supernatural witch in heavy makeup, which could also have political leanings. You could say the film's stance is either that gun violence is destroying our youth, or political indoctrination is. I really think Cregger is playing both aisles of the political spectrum and you can make valid cases against both for the weaponization of children in the classroom. This is further evidenced by the Cordyceps and parasites referenced in the classroom and on TV, which are a fungus that can mind controls insects for their own benefit. The main message is no matter the political affiliations, we shouldn’t use children in the quest for political power as they suffer the greatest trauma.
Conclusion:
As a horror film, I have to give this a 2. As a mystery suspense I’d give it a 3. As a dark comedy, a 4. If you go into this film expecting a compelling high quality A24 horror film, you may be disappointed. The value in this film is the dark comedy and social commentary. But then again, Zach Cregger’s past films are known for their plot twists. The twist here is quite slow and underwhelming, but still a reveal I wasn’t expecting. It’s not a typical horror and deserves credit for being refreshingly original. Cregger plays well with audience expectations and does have the film IQ to know when we are expecting a left so he swerves right. I felt the same way about how he maneuvered Barbarian, or any Hitchcock film - rollercoaster thrills. This is a popcorn flick that is meant to be discussed. Aside from formulaic blockbusters, films in 2025 aren’t really designed to be good anymore. They are meant to generate buzz and shock value and as long as we keep discussing them, I don’t see the trend shifting much. Nevertheless, I had fun even if it was overhyped and lacking substance - very much like a roller coaster. Films like this won’t age well, but for now, enjoy the ride.
Recommendations
Subverting suburban horror.