Minor spoilers ahead. If, like me, you like your summer horror flicks to be suspenseful with a touch of silliness, Weapons, in theaters today (Friday, August 8) delivers just that. Written and directed by Zach Cregger, the two-hour film focuses on the disappearance of nearly an entire classroom except for one boy, Alex (Cary Christopher). When parents review the security footage in their homes, they realize that all of the missing kids woke up and ran out the door into the darkness at 2:17am on the same night. With a community searching for answers, fingers point to their teacher Justine (Julia Garner) as the culprit responsible for a mystery local police can’t even begin to solve. And as you watch, you’ll be searching for answers, too.
During the film’s junket, Garner, who’s been on double duty as she’s also been promoting The Fantastic Four: First Steps, said that she’d never read a story like Weapons before.
“I read it in one sitting, and that doesn’t happen often. It was like a real page turner,” she explained. “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.”
But unlike in Fantastic Four as Silver Surfer, Garner’s Weapons character can’t herald a damn thing. As the teacher of the missing kids, Justine is the default scapegoat. She cares deeply for her students, sometimes breaking the school board’s rules by dropping off a kid at home who may need a ride. And her love of alcohol and sex doesn’t help her case (because God forbid an underpaid girlie take the edge off).
I read it in one sitting, and that doesn’t happen often. It was like a real page turner… I really felt it in my every fiber. I just loved the script.
julia garner on ‘weapons’
The local police aren’t — and seem incapable of — solving the mystery. So to find her students and get her life back, Justine takes on the case herself. This brings her directly to Alex’s house. But something strange is happening there that she just can’t put her finger on. But after joining forces with a previous foe (Archer), Justine has a feeling that whatever is going on in Alex’s house is connected to the missing kids. Her hunch makes her a target for something otherworldly that she won’t be able to defeat on own.
Weapons also stars Josh Brolin, Alden Ehrenreich, Austin Abrams and Benedict Wong. The story is told in vignettes, showing us the perspectives of a teacher, a parent, a police officer, a school superintendent, a drug addict and the one student who didn’t run away.
“It’s almost like a horror film version of Magnolia, but has comedic elements,” Garner explained. “There’s multiple stories happening at once. And, you know, everybody gets affected. Different people get affected by the same thing.”
As a follow up to Cregger’s critically acclaimed — and disturbingly twisted — directorial debut Barbarian, Weapons doesn’t disappoint. Cregger takes a page out of Barbarian’s book, building up suspense and disorienting the audience as he lingers on exposition. However, the film fills whatever space you have for your attention to wane with jump scares, comedic relief and enough pivots to try out for the New York Liberty. But the build-up to the disturbingly absurd twist — which is becoming a Cregger signature — is so worth it.
The film scored a 96 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and is expected to bring at least a good number of folks out to see it. It may be hard to cut through a crowded box office space that includes The Fantastic Four: First Steps, Freakier Friday and fellow horror contender Together, but Weapons deserves a spot on this weekend’s watch list.
If you’re thinking about going to see Weapons, expect a lot of blood. Expect some ridiculousness. And expect to throw all of what you thought this movie was going to be about out of the window. And if you’re like me, expect to sit in the theater and say, “What the hell is wrong with Zach Cregger?”
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