There are no major spoilers for Weapons here
I saw Weapons this week as I love a good horror movie. It struck me during the last half that we so rarely get unique horror movies like this, with Sinners also being an exception. This was no Sinners, one of my favorite films of the last decade, but it was solid, there are some very inventive parts, and I would recommend it. You do not need to see it in a theater, though. I’m surprised this is getting such good buzz because it starts off too slow and should be cut by at least a half an hour. That said, it’s cool as hell once it gets going and there are scenes I clapped at.

Julia Garner is a standout as a flawed character you don’t root for at all. She plays the teacher in an elementary school classroom where all but one of the students disappears overnight. (All of this is in the trailer.) She’s a main suspect after the children go missing, and Josh Brolin plays an aggrieved father. Alden Ehrenreich and Benedict Wong are excellent in supporting roles.

In a press conference reported by Refinery, Garner revealed that she read the script in one sitting. She said:

“I read it in one sitting, and that doesn’t happen often. It was like a real page turner. I was shooting another movie, and I was like, ‘we have to make sure that I have time to do this movie.’ I really felt it in my every fiber. I just loved the script and Zach’s work.”

It’s easy to see why, it gets you hooked and you want to know what happened to those kids. The payoff arguably isn’t worth it, but I wasn’t mad at it. This isn’t a one note horror film, it’s genuinely weird and funny in parts and reminds me of some of Bong Joon Ho’s best work. Like Joon Ho, we may see Zach Cregger pick up an Academy Award. He’ll surely get nominated for this film, as will one of the actors who plays a character I’m not going to talk about, lest I spoil it. The Hollywood Reporter claims that “multiple sources” tell them Cregger is working on a prequel to this, focused on the origin story of that particular character. It will be a while before that comes out though. Cregger’s next project is a Resident Evil reboot which has a release date of next September, 2026. My ass will be in the theater!

Please don’t post spoilers in the comments.

Photos credit: Mediapunch/Backgrid, Julie Edwards/Avalon, Olivier Huitel/Avalon, PCNY/Backgrid, Roger Wong/INSTARimages