Weapons - What really scares you

Weapons

English - Horror/Thriller

128 mins

For Rent(Amazon or Apple)

It is 2:17 AM. In the film’s stunning opening sequence, the silence of the night is crushed with this startling image of children running. Arms splayed, rushing out of their homes and they disappear into the darkness. By sunrise, it is  revealed they all belonged to the same class — eighteen children. All gone. Except one boy.

Two months later, the small town is unspooling. Parents are frantic, teachers are helpless, the police are out of leads. Everyone is angry and their frustrations are directed at Justine Gandy (Julia Garner),  the class teacher who has a history.

Josh Brolin is Archer Graff, the parent of one of the missing kids — grief-stricken and desperate for answers.

Alden Ehrenreich plays Paul Morgan, a policeman who has a tangled history with Justine.

Benedict Wong is Principal Marcus, the authority figure trying to keep the school — and the town — from imploding under guilt and fear.

Austin Abrams appears as James, a drug-addicted petty thief whose marginal existence becomes surprisingly central to the mystery.

And the lone child left behind is Alex Lilly, portrayed by Cary Christopher, whose quiet presence anchors the film's unease. In a year of defined by outstanding acts by young actors, this is yet another stunning performance.

The story unfolds through these six perspectives, each a lens angled on the same horrifying event.

For most of its runtime, Zach Cregger keeps the tension razor-sharp. The dread is slow, deliberate, and almost unbearable. You know something sinister is at play, but cannot quite name it. When the truth finally unravels, it is quite satisfying.

The film’s last stretch dips into something a bit too theatrical, almost campy. Maybe that was the director's way  of letting us exhale before we passed out from the tension.

You truly understand the title halfway through, when one of the perspectives strips the story down to its brutal metaphor . Much like he did with Barbarian (2022), Zach Cregger builds a simple premise — this time, a classroom instead of an Airbnb — into a tightly-coiled nightmare that eventually loosens into madness.

There are a couple of jump scares (nothing Conjuring-level, thankfully), but the film thrives in its quiet. The silence is unnerving and omnipresent.The score is sparse, used just enough to keep you on edge without smothering the atmosphere.

Finally, after watching this, there will be some who will question the “hype” — it has been one of the best-reviewed horror films of the year in Hollywood. But maybe that’s the point: Weapons, much like most Cinema is a matter of perspective — of what really scares you. This is not my favorite genre, I am always cautious my picks. And in that sense, I was not too disappointed with my choice.