Weapons-2025
Director Zach Cregger
Starring Julia Garner, Josh Brolin, Amy Madigan
Scott’s Review #1,495
Reviewed October 5, 2025
Grade: A
Zach Cregger, who made his directorial debut with Barbarian in 2022, may have made his way to the big leagues with Weapons (2025), a highly original film rumored to have a follow-up prequel in the works.
One of his characters, the wicked Aunt Gladys (Amy Madiagan), is already becoming a household name and a potential Halloween costume idea.
The fabulous combination of tone, mystery, and genuinely frightening moments makes Weapons an edge-of-your-seat experience.
And who doesn’t find the disappearance of children a perfect horror premise?
Furthermore, the inclusion of chapters dedicated to each central character does wonders to retain the intrigue. Each character has a connection to others, making each subsequent chapter enthralling as viewers realize the connections.
Weapons is one of the best horror films I’ve seen in recent years.
Cregger masterfully gets the film off to a suspenseful and foreboding start with a quiet narration by a child. The youngster explains how one night at exactly 2:17 am, seventeen children left the safety of their suburban Pennsylvania homes and fled into the night, missing without a trace.
All but one child from the same class is included.
Alex (Cary Christopher), who has a strange connection to Aunt Gladys, is mercifully spared.
The rest of the town is left wondering what is behind their disappearance as fingers start to point towards suspects, most notably Justine (Julia Garner), the classroom teacher with a troubled past.
The ensuing witch hunt involving Justine is terrific. We tag along with the haggard teacher to the liquor store as she buys vodka in preparation for a boozy night alone in her small house, hoping to escape her troubles.
Alone, in the dark, and in a small town is frightening enough, but when a mysterious person knocks on her door and vandalizes her car, we feel vulnerable along with the character.
But is Justine as innocent as she appears?
When her chapter ends, and other characters like cop Paul (Alden Ehrenreich), James (Austin Abrams), a homeless drug addict and burglar, and Archer (Josh Brolin), a construction contractor and the father of Matthew, one of the missing children, get their backstories, the dots start to connect.
Aunt Gladys doesn’t appear for quite a while except in sudden, eerie background shots, but when she does, she immediately takes over the film.
As Alex’s elderly aunt (or is she only posing?), she quickly becomes the main antagonist of the film. Recently arrived in town, she is clad in a short, curly, ginger wig, large amounts of red lipstick, blue eyeshadow, fake eyelashes, and fake eyebrows, all behind thick-framed, tinted sunglasses.
On the surface, she appears to be an odd, old eccentric woman, but jovial and good-natured.
I wonder if Cregger patterned her after Minnie, played by Ruth Gordon, the eccentric woman revealed to be a witch in the 1968 masterpiece Rosemary’s Baby?
In one terrific scene, we almost see a sympathetic side to Aunt Gladys. She explains to Alex that neither a hospital nor water will help her recover from her terminal illness. There is a glimpse of kindness and humanity in her eyes before we recall her intentions.
There are also periodic jumps that come out of nowhere. When kindly principal Marcus (Benedict Wong) suddenly behaves out of character, we are startled. An odd woman brandishing a knife stumbles out of a doorway and lumbers to a car, cutting the hair of Justine.
Why, we wonder?
Many scenes are shot from a long-view angle without dialogue, which adds to the tension.
The finale combines a chase scene to end all chase scenes, blending horror and comedy in a way that oddly works similarly to what The Substance did in 2024. This might be the new trend in modern horror films.
Solidly infusing classic horror elements with mystery and intrigue, Cregger provides an unsettling experience that feels fresh and original.
He served as director, producer, writer, and co-musical scorer, proving that having only one chef in the kitchen often works wonders for creativity and structure.
Weapons (2025) has deservedly received critical acclaim while enjoying box office success, solidifying Cregger’s name on the cinematic map.
