Weapons

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Movie Poster for 2025's Weapons

Zach Cregger is a wunderkind — actor, comedian, writer, director, composer. He is the creator of 2022's breakout hit Barbarian, starring Georgina Campbell, Bill Skarsgård and Justin Long, which was made for a measly four million, and grossed over forty million.

Critics and fans alike wondered if he could recreate that success when given a thirty-eight million dollar budget for his next film, Weapons. Released in August 2025 by Warner Bros., Weapons is not only a fan favorite but also a moneymaker, grossing over 300 million worldwide.

Cregger is the writer, director, producer, and a composer on the mystery horror film starring an ensemble cast including Josh Brolin, Julia Garner, Alden Ehrenreich, Austin Abrams, Cary Christopher, Toby Huss, Benedict Wong, and Amy Madigan.

The movie begins with third-grade teacher Justine Gandy (Garner) entering her classroom and finding it empty except for one child, Alex. Seventeen of her students awoke the night before at exactly 2:17am, and ran from their homes, arms thrown back, silent, disappearing into the darkness.

It is from this haunting beginning that Cregger slowly peels back the sordid chaos, hidden secrets and cruelty that can embody small towns. He's slow to uncover the mystery, but not to make us scream. The plot is strong, the writing superb, and the plot, while dipping into the unbelievable, rushes you forward to the edge of the cliff, and then watches as you fall through the sky to the deadly conclusion.

I really enjoyed Weapons, and will watch Barbarian soon. Four out of five stars. I think you'll like this movie.

Cast

Josh Brolin (Archer Graff)

Julia Garner (Justine Gandy)

Alden Ehrenreigh (Paul Morgan)

Austin Abrams (James)

Cary Christopher (Alex Lilly)

Toby Huss (Ed Locke)

Benedict Wong (Marcus Miller)

Amy Madigan (Gladys)

Sara Paxton (Erica)

Justin Long (Gary)

June Diane Raphael (Donna Morgan)

Whitmer Thomas (Alex's Father)

Production

Director: Zach Cregger

Writer: Zach Cregger

Producers: Zach Cregger

Roy Lee

Miri Yoon

JD Lifshitz

Raphael Margules

Cinematography:

Larkin Seiple

Music: Ryan Holladay

Hays Holladay

Zach Cregger

Synopsis (Spoilers)

Seventeen children wake at 2:17am and run from their homes into the dark. All the children are from the same third-grade class taught by Justine Gandy. Gandy found Alex sitting alone at his desk the next morning; he was the only student who had not run away.

After the police questioned Justine and Alex, they warned Justine to avoid Alex, and then Justine followed Alex home from school. Even though newspapers plastered his home's windows, Justine peeked through a back window to see two silhouettes (Alex's parents)( sitting motionless on a couch.

Justine falls asleep in her car watching Alex's house. Alex's mother exits the house, lumbers to the car, opens the passenger door and sits in the passenger seat while Justine continues to sleep. We see a lock of Justine's hair being cut with a pair of scissors.

Frustrated with the lack of progress in the police investigation, one child's father, Archer, investigates on his own and views the ring camera recordings of the children all leaving their own homes at the same time in the morning, and in the same manner: arms straight by their sides and running into the night. Archer triangulates the children's paths and finds that Alex's house is the center.

After an encounter with a police officer (who is having an affair with Justine) James, a homeless and drug-addicted teen, breaks into Alex's home and finds Alex's parents and the missing children in the basement. He gets the idea of collecting the $50,000 reward by informing the police of the children's location when he's seen again by the police officer and chased back to his tent in the woods. It's there that we first see a woman in a bright red wig.

In a flashback, the woman in the red wig (Gladys) arrives at Alex's home. She is Alex's aunt, is dying from an unknown sickness and is staying with Alex's family while she convalesces. One day, Alex returns home from school to find his parents catatonic. Glady's shows her powers of witchcraft by forcing his parents to stab their own faces repeatedly with the forks set for them at the dining table. She warns Alex that she will do even worse if he tells anyone about her, and asks Alex to bring her back a single item belonging to each child in his class.

As the investigation closes in on Alex's house, Gladys tells Alex to prepare to leave. Archer and Justine entered Alex's house, and the police officer and James attacked them. James and the police officer had entered the house searching for the lost children.

Justine gets the officer's gun and kills both him and James. Gladys attacks Archer as he searches in the basement for his son. Gladys compels Archer to attack Justine while Alex's parents attack him.

Alex can duplicate Gladys' spell by using hair from her red wig, awakening the children from their catatonic state and directing them to attack Gladys, who dies in the movie's violent and bloody ending.

A voiceover explains that the death of Gladys has freed those under her spell, most regaining their ability to speak, except for Alex's parents, who remain catatonic. Alex moves into another aunt's home.