Much like Cregger’s previous film, Barbarian, it’s best to go into this film for the first time with no real knowledge beyond what is provided by the poster… one night, almost all the kids from a single classroom disappeared. What happened?

That’s the initial launching point for a story that shifts narratives and fractures fairy tale elements with a modern setting. It’s smart, scary, and incredibly well put together.

Without spoiling the plot, we delve into the stories of the class’ teacher, Justine (Julie Garner), Archer (Josh Brolin) one of the parents of the missing children, a cop, Paul (Alden Ehrenreich), James (Austin Abrams) an addict, the school’s principal, Marcus (Benedict Wong), and Alex (Cary Christopher) the one boy from the class who didn’t disappear.

The storylines interweave, giving us insight into characters and how things interconnect. There are also some supernatural elements at work and Amy Madigan turns in a terrifying performance as Aunt Gladys.

Featuring fantastic camera work and emotional performances, I found myself completely wrapped up in this film in much the way I was swept up in Barbarian. Cregger has a great storytelling style, knows how to work a jump scare, and deliver those WTF moments.

Cregger cites influences of Villeneuve for the look of the film, it has the same washed out look as Prisoners. It’s gorgeously shot, has some truly upsetting moments, and once things start racing along, it’s a white-knuckle ride to the credits.

I liked all the performances in the film, and honestly want to see Ehrenreich in more films. He’s likable and has an easy charm to him. Garner turns in a layered performance. She loves teaching, loves the kids, but all struggles with alcoholism, a recurring theme for Paul as well.

Brolin plays the haunted and driven father incredibly well, and Wong is funny, which makes things that happen later truly horrifying.

Cregger has won me over as one of the new names in horror, and I can’t wait to see what he does next. Both Barbarian and Weapons are new favorites of mine, and I recommend them all the time, while trying not to reveal any of the plot.

Cregger is working on rebooting the Resident Evil film franchise, but there is also official word that there is another Weapons film in the work, a prequel focusing on Aunt Gladys.

Weapons is a crowd-pleaser, it’s smart, beautifully shot, creepy and has some truly unnerving moments as you get pulled deeper and deeper into the story, the characters, and the world they inhabit.

Highly recommended!