What a year this is turning out to be for horror fans. I was just looking back at the list of films I’ve watched this year (yes, I’m that sad – follow me on LETTERBOXD for more of the same) and it’s great to see so many high quality, high profile horror releases. NOSFERATU, COMPANION, THE MONKEY, SINNERS, 28 YEARS LATER, BRING HER BACK, and now WEAPONS. Gone, for now at least, are the days where horror was the grubby little genre relegated to obscure showings on small screens. In 2025, the blood and gore is definitely front and centre. When I was a kid, we watched pirate videos on 15″ portable TVs in our bedrooms. This generation gets to experience it in IMAX. What a time to be alive!
I reckon horror’s current popularity is a double-edged sword, because once a type of movie starts making serious money, you can bet the studios will switch into overdrive and soon we’ll be drowning in shite again. But, for now, let’s make the most of a vintage few months.
I’d like to talk about WEAPONS, but I don’t know if I can. I watched it last night and loved every bizarre second of it, but it’s definitely another one of those films that you’ll enjoy more if you’ve managed not to hear any spoilers. Here’s a synopsis and trailer, followed by a few brief thoughts.
When all but one child from the same class mysteriously vanish on the same night at exactly the same time, a community is left questioning who or what is behind their disappearance.
These are the (non-spoiler) things I loved most about WEAPONS:
- It’s a completely original, self-contained story, that takes a number of bizarre premises and melds them into something unique
- The performances are across the board excellent (especially JULIA GARNER and JOSH BROLIN)
- It’s frequently hilarious, disturbing, and violent, and you have no idea which of those things it’ll be next
- It’s told in an episodic, time-jumping way that’s a) not at all confusing, and b) is a brilliant way of giving the audience everything they need to know without the use of clumsy exposition dumps.
If you’ve seen director ZACH CREGGER‘s previous movie BARBARIAN, you’ll know that he’s particularly good at misdirection – of convincing you you’re watching one type of film when, in fact, you’ve been watching something else entirely. When I saw down in last night’s packed screening, I thought I was about to watch some kind of TWILIGHT ZONEesque morality story, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. WEAPONS has far more in common with early SAM RAIMI than it does ROD SERLING.
I loved it. What did you think?
