Weapons: Watch a featurette on the stunning new Horror film
Weapons is out now at VUE cinemas nationwide. Take a behind-the-scenes look at the movie with this official featurette from Warner Bros.
From New Line Cinema comes Weapons, the latest mind-bending vision from Zach Cregger, the filmmaker who shocked audiences with the genre-defying Barbarian. This time, Cregger trades claustrophobic urban terror for an expansive, small-town mystery—one that’s every bit as disturbing, unpredictable, and unshakable.
The story begins in the quiet community of Maybrook, where seventeen children from the same third-grade class inexplicably vanish in the middle of the night—at exactly 2:17 a.m. The only one who remains is Alex Lilly, a shy, soft-spoken child whose survival raises more questions than answers. Whispers of suspicion quickly circle their teacher, Justine Gandy, as fear fractures the once-close town. But the truth that unfolds is far stranger, and far darker, than anyone could imagine.
Told across six interwoven chapters, the narrative shifts between multiple perspectives: a desperate parent (Josh Brolin) clinging to hope, a conflicted police officer (Alden Ehrenreich) torn between duty and conscience, a grieving classmate (Cary Christopher) piecing together fragments of memory, and others whose lives are bound together by the events of that night. Layer by layer, the story peels back to reveal a supernatural force—an ancient presence tied to Alex’s great-aunt Gladys—that has been manipulating the children for reasons both horrifying and deeply personal.
The cast is stacked with talent, including Julia Garner as the embattled teacher at the center of suspicion, Austin Abrams as a withdrawn teenager hiding crucial information, Benedict Wong as a folklorist chasing the truth, and Amy Madigan as the community’s quietly influential matriarch.
Behind the camera, Cregger serves not only as writer and director but also as a producer and co-composer of the film’s haunting score. His creative team includes director of photography Larkin Seiple, whose camera work balances intimate character moments with sweeping dread; production designer Tom Hammock, who builds a world both warmly familiar and subtly unsettling; editor Joe Murphy, who weaves the multi-perspective structure into a taut, escalating rhythm; and costume designer Trish Sommerville, whose wardrobe choices deepen the film’s sense of place and personality. The score—crafted by Ryan Holladay, Hays Holladay, and Cregger—moves between ethereal unease and jarring dissonance, matching the story’s unpredictable shifts.
While Weapons is undeniably a horror film, it also operates as a satire of fear itself—examining how communities turn on each other under pressure, how stories are twisted in the absence of facts, and how the real monsters sometimes live next door. By the time the film reaches its brutal and visually stunning climax, the line between justice and vengeance has blurred beyond recognition.
With its unconventional storytelling, complex characters, and deeply unsettling imagery, Weapons isn’t just a follow-up to Barbarian—it’s a statement that Zach Cregger is one of horror’s boldest modern voices, unafraid to take big swings and leave audiences reeling long after the credits roll.
Weapons movie: Watch a behind the scenes featurette
Watch Weapons now at VUE cinemas nationwide.
Words: Simon Baines