"WEAPONS"
Written and Directed by Zach Cregger
***1/2 (three and half stars)
RATED R
Running Time: 2 hrs 8 min
Just in time for Halloween indeed...
Over the course of Savage Cinema, I have long expressed that my attraction to the horror genre as a whole is faint at best. Of course, there are many films that I have seen over my lifetime that I will easily agree are classics or ones that I deeply enjoy and even revere, my lack of desire to place myself into a cinematic situation where my sense of fear is to be ignited remains as strong as ever. That being said, every now and again, there are films the pique my curiosity enough where I am willing to take a chance.
For instance, and just last year Writer/Director Coraline Fargeat's body horror phantasmagoria "The Substance" (2024) was one where I not only took myself to the movie theater to experience, it is one that I genuinely loved and have seen three times to date. This year, I was intrigued again after seeing trailers for Writer/Director Zach Cregger's "Weapons," and for whatever reasons, I opted to not go to the movie theater--possibly due to not wanting to willingly deliver myself into a film fear factor. Yet, just this weekend, the film has arrived upon streaming and cable television services and after having seen it, not only do I feel that I could have made it through just fine if I had seen it in the theater, I thoroughly enjoyed the film.
While not quite in the same high wire league of either "The Substance" or Writer/Director Ryan Coogler's masterpiece "Sinners," Zach Cregger's "Weapons" delivers in high storytelling gifts, style and a palpable mounting tension that boils over into its cathartic climax. Most crucially, it is yet another powerful quenching of the intense hunger and thirst in the 21st century movie-going audience possesses for experiencing original material in lieu of the latest sequel, prequel, remake, reimagining and the like.
Set in the small town of Mayfield, Pennsylvania, Zach Cregger's "Weapons" opens with an inexplicable and undeniably traumatic event for at 2:17 a.m., seventeen children from one third grade classroom awaken and leave their homes, running with arms outstretched deep into the night, never to be seen again. Only one classmate from the same classroom, named Alex Lilly (Cary Christopher) remains at home and therefore, arrives at school the next day.
From here, Cregger unfolds his tale in a non-linear format where we are introduced to several key characters including...
Justine Gandy (Julia Garner), the teacher from whose classroom her students have disappeared, and has now become the town pariah triggering her sense of paranoia and rising alcoholism.
Archer (Josh Brolin), a construction worker and Father to one of the disappeared children.
Paul (Alden Ehrenreich), a police officer and ex-boyfriend of Justine's.
James (Austin Abrams), a local drug addict and burglar.
Marcus (Benedict Wong), Justine's school principal.
And finally...Alex Lilly's eccentric, elderly Aunt Gladys (Amy Madigan).
To reveal anything further would end up producing spoilers but I am happy to report that Zach Cregger's "Weapons" is first rate, character driven horror executed by fine performances from the entire cast and supported richly through Cinematographer Larkin Seiple's ghostly visuals lending just the right amount of Gothic otherworldliness overlaid upon a non-descript sleepy small town.
For as rightfully creepy as the film is, there is also a sheer amount of genuine fun to be had as "Weapons" essentially functions as a modern day version of a Grimm's Fairy Tale, and I mean the original tales that we do not read to children anymore due to the severe darkness of their nightmare fueled tenor combined with the explicit macabre violence contained within. It struck me for as dark as "Weapons" is, Cregger often utilizes a slyly playful side to the proceedings that simultaneously raises and releases the tension as the various parts of the narrative begin to click together.
I deeply appreciated Cregger's commitment to not unveiling a horror film that is nothing more than jump scares every few moments, relentless torture porn, gratuitous gore and not even one character to give a damn about. He clearly has a story to tell and I deeply admired how his "Rashomon" tactic allowed us to weave ourselves into this town and its inhabitants where we become fully invested in their lives, giving us actual people to care about when all is unleashed and the inevitable carnage begins.
Returning to the Grimm's Fairly Tale concept for a moment, I also appreciated how "Weapons," could even be viewed as a cautionary tale for our current social/political moment in 21st century America as the film depicts how characters indeed weaponize themselves at the expense of others for either their own sense of self-preservation, desperation, or an individualized sense of judgement regardless if the means are valid. Further, we are given a story where we can witness how communities weaponize themselves against its own citizens to combat a threat that is too outsized to even comprehend with any sense of rationality. Therefore, this is the darkness that threatens to consume us all and by our own hands...even before those aforementioned outsized threats arrive.
Now, dear readers, I know my reviews tend to stretch out a bit but really, Zach Cregger's "Weapons" is best experienced as cold as possible and so, there is not much more that I feel at liberty to express. .So, trust me, after the Trick Or Treaters come and go, dim your house lights, settle in and be spun a well crafted, entertaining, involving and richly dark yarn that is perfect for any Halloween night.
