As a diehard horror fan, I live for the rush of a perfectly-timed jumpscare and the giddy pleasure of a diabolical plot twist. But I’ll be the first to admit, the thrill of these edge-of-your-seat jolts are often fleeting, and their buzz fades away before I exit the theatre. 

A good horror movie knows exactly how to shock and torment its audience. But a great one instills a sense of unease that lingers long after the credits roll. Weapons, from writer-director Zach Cregger, feels engineered in a lab to crawl under your skin and gnaw at you for days. Consider yourself warned.

On one fateful night, tragedy strikes the quiet town of Maybrook. At 2:17am, seventeen children climbed out of bed, opened their front doors, and ran off into the darkness, vanishing without a trace. The only clue linking the disappearances is that the children were all classmates taught by Justine Gandy (Julia Garner). Adding to the mystery, Justine’s student Alex (Cary Christopher) shows up to school the next morning, untouched by whatever forces took his classmates. 

It’s not long before Maybrook’s parents turn their outrage towards Justine. Grieving dad Archer (Josh Brolin) takes it upon himself to dig into Justine’s past. He refuses to accept she’s not tied to the tragedy. But Justine is as shaken as anyone, and she makes it her mission to unravel the mystery by investigating the only lead: Alex.

We’re barely into August, but I’m confident calling it right now: Weapons will go down as one of 2025’s best horror films. And after the way I felt walking out of the theatre, it’s a contender for my yearly top ten.

Weapons checks all the boxes you could ask for from a horror film, and then some. It grabs you right away with a fantastic setup and then keeps you on edge for the next two hours, slowly revealing its secrets. So many horror thrillers start off with a bang and then limp towards the finish line. This film has no such problem. The story draws out its central mystery until the tension becomes suffocating and then detonates in an explosive (and satisfying) final act.

But what makes Weapons special is the way Cregger breaks up the menacing atmosphere with moments of levity. Horror and comedy live by the laws of tension and release. And the best horror filmmakers have a knack for subverting an inevitable scare with a laugh. But Cregger isn’t just dipping his toe into comedic waters. This film is consistently laugh-out-loud funny. I spent more time cracking up during Weapons than in most other comedies. 

The horror and violence are so absurd and ratcheted up to such a ridiculous level that it borders on cartoonish. And some of the film’s most intense moments have the chaotic zeal of an old-school Looney Tunes episode. The more Cregger cranks up the chaos, the film becomes so unhinged you can’t help but chuckle.

Weapons plays like a dark and twisted modern fairy tale which nods to the Brothers Grimm. You can appreciate it as a straight-up horror-thriller and walk away satisfied. But Cregger’s interests go beyond churning out a summer popcorn flick. Beneath the surface, this is the story of a nation in decline. Cregger uses genre as a lens to examine how communities process tragedy, and how quickly they turn to scapegoats in the face of their own misfortune.

People continue to cling to the notion of the American dream, even as the middle class goes the way of the dodo bird. Corporations and greedy politicians are feeding on the working class like succubi as the cost of living continues to skyrocket, wages plummet, and access to affordable housing becomes a pipe dream for most Americans. People are unhealthy, drowning in debt and losing hope that life can improve, while the fatcats running the country keep getting richer.

Weapons is an allegory for a nation in denial, a country that would rather tear itself apart than stake the economic vampires bleeding it dry. It’s a genre-fuelled reaction to the culture wars and misplaced outrage fuelling today’s toxic political discourse. And it doubles as a cathartic revenge fantasy alluding to the nation’s desire for a reckoning.

I’ve seen a lot of comparisons between Weapons and Hereditary and I get why. Both are disturbing horror films that revel in human depravity. However, there’s a glaring difference. Hereditary director Ari Aster makes horror films that come across like he’s intent on punishing the audience. He tells dark and twisted tales that force viewers to sit and stew in their discomfort. I find myself walking away from Aster’s movies feeling like I need to cleanse myself with a hot shower.

Cregger also has that special horror filmmaker gene that grants him the ability to tell deeply unsettling stories that shake you to your core. But as much as Cregger wants to freak you out, he’s an entertainer, first and foremost. Weapons may scare you senseless, but it does so while shooting you a knowing wink. 

Weapons is a cinematic dread factory. Its shadow-drenched cinematography, eerie score, and intense performances will haunt moviegoers nightmares. And without giving too much away, this film features a performance so offkilter it would give Longlegs the heebie-jeebies.

Weapons proves that Barbarian was no fluke. With back-to-back horror bangers under his belt, Cregger has established himself as one of the genre’s most exciting new voices. To watch Weapons is to surrender to a filmmaker hellbent on scaring you senseless — yet Cregger does it with style, vision, and a wicked sense of humour that sends you out of the theatre asking for more.

Weapons lands in theatres starting today, August 08.