Weapons (2025) review – A Superior Sophomore Effort

Welcome to Knockout Horror. It’s day 2 of our 2026 31 Days of Halloween horror movie review a day feature. Today we are taking a look at Zach Cregger’s 2025 follow up to Barbarian – Weapons (2025). If you missed this movie from last year’s packed release slate, you should correct that immediately. Let’s take a look.

The Kid’s Aren’t Alright

The enormous success of Barbarian made a directorial follow up almost a guarantee for Zach Cregger. It’s rare that success stories like that are a fluke and that’s proved to be exactly the case with both of Cregger’s follow up efforts, Resident Evil, and the movie we are looking at today – Weapons.

Speaking of which, if you want to get up to date, you can check out our review of Zach Cregger’s debut Barbarian right here, our review of the Barbarian Limited 4K Steelbook here, and Cregger’s most recent film Resident Evil here.

Weapons follows the story of a community attempting to come to terms with the mysterious disappearance of a group of children.

One night, every child from a single class, with the exception of one, ran from their homes and never came back. Could the incident be linked to their teacher Justine (Julia Garner) or is it something even more sinister?

An interesting narrative approach

Despite how it may seem in the early parts of the movie, Weapons does not follow a typically linear narrative structure. We aren’t going to be focusing on just one character here and the timeline is somewhat sporadic.

“This format may seem familiar to anyone who has watched movies like Pulp Fiction or Magnolia.”

We kick things off with teacher Justine. Naturally, the children who have disappeared are all from her class so suspicion immediately falls on her. Justine is, clearly, already in a pretty bad place in life and things are only going to get worse for her.

Naturally, she wants to prove her supposed innocence so begins her own investigation. Along the way, she meets a few characters who, at least initially, seem rather unimportant to the story but that will change later on.

Just when you think you are starting to get to grips with the flow, the narrative switches up entirely with a title card to denote the pivot. We are now following Archer (Josh Brolin), the father of one of the children who went missing.

We have seen him briefly during Justine’s section but it is quite clear that we are actually meeting Archer somewhere earlier in that timeline. His story takes place at a different point relative to the disappearance but will eventually intersect with Justine’s.

This narrative ping-pong will carry on as we meet a number of other important characters, each of which has a big part to play in the overriding narrative.

It’s a familiar format

This format may seem familiar to anyone who has watched movies like Pulp Fiction or Magnolia. There’s a hint of Rashomon and The Grudge in there, as well.

“Cregger seems to have an absolutely fascinating, somewhat kinetic approach to storytelling.”

There are six POV characters in Weapons and you are basically seeing the same events through each of their unique perspectives, with each adding a new chunk of exposition to the story.

Eventually, their stories intersect and complete the main narrative. Some are more important to said narrative than others, but all fit cohesively together as one piece.

It’s a very interesting approach for horror.

There’s an overriding sense that Cregger is playing with the audience just a little. Every time you think you have a grasp on the plot, he steals it away from you while shouting “Ha! You thought you understood but this is what you missed“.

It’s at least somewhat reminiscent of what he did with Barbarian. Just when you think a big reveal is coming, he snatches it away from you and leaves you hanging on a line waiting to be reeled in.

The really impressive thing

It’s a fascinating approach that keeps you entirely engaged while dragging out the reveal as long as possible. Perhaps the most impressive thing about this approach is how each character’s segment features a unique style and vibe.

Justine’s is drama heavy yet quite comical. Archer’s is very serious. Alex’s (Cary Christopher) leans into full-blown horror. James’ (Austin Abrams) section is heavy on laughs.

There’s almost an anthology feel to it, though the visual and aesthetic stuff stays mostly consistent throughout.

Cregger seems to have an absolutely fascinating, somewhat kinetic approach to storytelling.

He’s never bound by the initial shape of the worlds he creates. He allows them to expand and develop based on whatever the next exciting idea that pops into his head is, and that keeps the viewer consistently guessing. Weapons is the perfect example of that.

You might have an idea of where the story is going but you are going to have to jump in and cling on the entire way to find out how it gets there. There will definitely be a few unexpected side streets and sharp u-turns along the way.

So is it scary?

Naturally, this narrative approach does leave the movie in something of a weird place as an outright horror.

“There are a couple of scenes that will make even the toughest of body-horror fans wince”

In fact, most of the segments don’t really feel like horror at all. The scares are fairly minimal and nobody ever really feels like they are in that much danger until much later on. That doesn’t mean there isn’t enough to satisfy horror fans, though.

The sheer troubling nature of the subject matter here is enough to keep you engaged. There’s that distinctly unsettling vibe that stories of missing children always seem to create that will have you feeling uneasy throughout.

There are a couple of scenes that will make even the toughest of body-horror fans wince a little, as well. One involving ordinary dinner forks will leave you wincing for days.

It does get pretty intense later on, as well, and the ending is one of my favourites in recent horror. It’s utter chaos in the best way possible.

Worth mentioning

Acting is absolutely stellar throughout. I have never really gotten the Julia Garner hype but she is fantastic here. She completely gets the memo about how this movie is supposed to feel and perfectly balances the drama and comedy. Her screams are absolutely hilarious, too.

Josh Brolin is excellent, as always. Austin Abrams will have you questioning why he isn’t in far more movies, and Amy Madigan hams it up in the absolute best way possible. It’s just a fantastic cast that doesn’t put a foot wrong.

Visually, this is an enormous step up from Barbarian. Cregger and cinematographer Larkin Seiple are in their bag, here. There are far too many incredible shots to talk about without extending this review to 2,000 words but, suffice to say, certain scenes are stunningly inventive.

Even simple walks around gas stations are incredibly inventive without ever feeling separated from the flow and vibe of the film. The camera work is as kinetic as the storytelling.

Some of the later scenes place the viewer running behind certain characters and they are so technically impressive that they are possible to forget. Genuinely some of the most iconic and creative camerawork in recent horror. This is a gloriously brilliant looking picture.

On the downside

On the downside, well, the biggest problem here is that the chapter based narrative structure can, at times, feel like Cregger is burying the lede a bit and stalling the big reveal.

I can imagine some people thinking that the overall story is fairly obvious and the way it is presented is purely done to drag out a horror short into a full movie. With that being said, the big reveal itself can feel somewhat underwhelming.

It’s one of those situations where your mind probably builds it up into something it really isn’t which can leave a sour taste in your mouth. Those cliffhanger moments when you are engaged in a certain person’s segment can feel a bit frustrating, too.

Pacing is a bit of an issue, to be honest. The first half is a bit padded and there’s a lot of redundancy when it comes to Justine’s part, in particular. There’s a few narrative threads that seem interesting but go nowhere, as well.

I couldn’t shake the sense, here, that Cregger wanted this movie to have a certain degree of social message and symbolism, but wasn’t completely married to that idea and didn’t know how to incorporate it smoothly.

There’s one scene that feels particularly awkward and the overriding message never comes together. The ending may leave people feeling like the mystery leading up to it was more interesting than the actual reveal, too.

With all of that having been said, they are just tiny flaws. Weapons is an utter triumph and one of my favourite horror movies in year. Cregger just keeps getting better and I hope he carries on making horror movies forever, quite honestly.

Our Scoring Philosophy: A Fair Fight

Horror is a genre that thrives thanks to indie film makers and low budget creators. At Knockout Horror, we firmly believe that every movie that we review deserves a fair fight. That's why we grade on a curve. Our star ratings are all about context, judging a film on what it achieves with the resources it has.

A 4-star rating for a scrappy indie horror made for $10,000 is a testament to its ingenuity and raw power. A 4-star rating for a $100 million blockbuster means it delivered on its epic promises. We don't compare them side-by-side; we celebrate success in every weight class, from the back-alley brawler to the heavyweight champion. Please keep this in mind when considering star ratings.