WEAPONS
(director/writer: Zach Creggar; cinematographer: Larkin Seiple; editor: Joe Murphy; music: Hayes & Ryan Holladay, Zach Creggar; cast: Josh Brolin (Archer), Julia Garner (Justine Gandy), Alden Ehrenreich (Paul Morgan), Benedict Wong (Marcus), Amy Madigan (Gladys, Alex’s aunt), Austin Abrams (James), Cary Christopher (Alex), Toby Huss (Captain Ed), Clayton Farris (voice), Luke Speakman (Matt, son of Archer’s), Whitmer Thomas (Alex’s Dad), Scarlett Sher (local girl Narrator); Runtime: 128; MPAA Rating: R; producers: Roy Lee, Zach Creggar, J.D. Lifshitz, Raphael Margules, Miri Yoon; Warner Bros.; 2025)
“Well-crafted dark comical mystery horror film.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
Zach Creggar (“Barbarian”) directs this well-crafted dark comical mystery horror film. It seemingly offers a nasty take on recent school mass shootings and the hypocrisy of the community in their reactions. The ambitious, slow-burn, and emotionally sound supernatural film is tuned to modern times but also mindful of the genre classics.
The premise has seventeen children in the same elementary school class in the small typical suburban town of Maybrook, Pennsylvania, all mysteriously disappearing on the same night after waking up in their homes at 2:17 a.m. and gathering together outside to act as if hypnotized by stretching out their arms to pretend they’re airplane wings. This was seen on security cameras at their homes. The next morning their caring teacher Justine Gandy (Julia Garner) finds the only student present is the quiet Alex (Cary Christopher). The town, at a city hall meeting, without evidence, acts as an angry mob as some instigators unjustly call the teacher a witch and blame her for the disappearances by brainwashing them.
The story covers in depth the main characters involved by presenting a chapter on each of them. It starts with the teacher and continues with the anxious bullying parent of a missing child, Archer Graff (Josh Brolin), followed by the conflicted emotionally volatile married cop, Paul Morgan (Alden Ehrenreich), dealing with an alcohol problem and his affair with the alcoholic Justine. There’s also chapters on the cautious principal Marcus (Benedict Wong), the homeless druggie (Austin Abrams) and someone else connected to the outcome (it’s better to find out when watching the film).
It’s narrated by a little girl (Scarlett Sher) who attends the school and knows the missing students.
Surprisingly, the film is very funny in a campy way when it follows Amy Madigan’s character of Aunt Gladys, Alex’s aunt, playing a clown who in a goofy way reveals the town’s secrets and a path for the investigators to find the truth.
But its dark climax is unsettling and will not please all, as it provides no answers to the problems raised just pointing out several things that are wrong in the country. Though its probably best to take it as just an opinionated dark comedy/horror film providing shocks and laughs over the country’s inadequate educational system and not as a social conscience themed film.
REVIEWED ON 8/18/2025 GRADE: B+
dennisschwartzreviews.com