{"id":22100,"date":"2025-10-05T11:27:47","date_gmt":"2025-10-05T15:27:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/?p=22100"},"modified":"2026-03-16T11:26:42","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T15:26:42","slug":"weapons-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/?p=22100","title":{"rendered":"Weapons-2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

Weapons-2025<\/strong><\/p>\n

Director Zach Cregger<\/strong><\/p>\n

Starring Julia Garner, Josh Brolin, Amy Madigan<\/strong><\/p>\n

Scott’s Review #1,495<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Reviewed October 5, 2025<\/p>\n

Grade: A<\/strong><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

One of his characters, the wicked Aunt Gladys (Amy Madigan), is already becoming a household name and a potential Halloween costume idea.<\/p>\n

The fabulous combination of tone, mystery, and genuinely frightening moments makes Weapons an edge-of-your-seat experience.<\/p>\n

And who doesn’t find the disappearance of children a perfect horror premise?<\/p>\n

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 recognize them.<\/p>\n

Weapons is one of the best horror films I’ve seen in recent years.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

All but one child from the same class is included.<\/p>\n

Alex (Cary Christopher), who has a strange connection to Aunt Gladys, is mercifully spared.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

But is Justine as innocent as she appears?<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

As Alex’s elderly aunt (or is she only posing?), she quickly becomes the film’s main antagonist. Recently arrived in town, she is clad in a short, curly, ginger wig, heavy red lipstick, blue eyeshadow, fake eyelashes, and fake eyebrows, all behind thick-framed, tinted sunglasses.<\/p>\n

On the surface, she appears to be an odd, old eccentric woman, but jovial and good-natured.<\/p>\n

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?<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Why, we wonder?<\/p>\n

Many scenes are shot from a long-view angle without dialogue, which adds to the tension.<\/p>\n

The finale combines a chase scene to end all chase scenes, blending horror and comedy in a way that, oddly, works as The Substance did in 2024. This might be the new trend in modern horror films.<\/p>\n

Solidly infusing classic horror elements with mystery and intrigue, Cregger provides an unsettling experience that feels fresh and original.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Weapons (2025) has deservedly received critical acclaim and enjoyed box-office success, solidifying Cregger’s name on the cinematic map.<\/p>\n

Oscar Nominations: 1 win-<\/strong>Best Supporting Actress-Amy Madigan (won)<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 … Continue reading Weapons-2025<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6506,6255,7488,8259,8261,8260,13,2491,5670,8268,2771,8266,8258],"tags":[6507,6256,7493,8263,8265,8264,248,2497,5673,8269,2774,8267,8262],"class_list":["post-22100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2025-films","category-alden-ehrenreich","category-amy-madigan","category-austin-abrams","category-benedict-wong","category-cary-christopher","category-horror-films","category-josh-brolin","category-julia-garner","category-june-diane-raphael","category-justin-long","category-toby-huss","category-zach-cregger","tag-2025-films","tag-alden-ehrenreich","tag-amy-madigan","tag-austin-abrams","tag-benedict-wong","tag-cary-christopher","tag-horror-films","tag-josh-brolin","tag-julia-garner","tag-june-diane-raphael","tag-justin-long","tag-toby-huss","tag-zach-cregger"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22100"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22100\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22733,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22100\/revisions\/22733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}