By Mike Lera
Quite often, a horror film’s preview winds up better than the horror film itself, and because of this, fright fans have had to train themselves to go into the “newest summer blockbuster” with absolute zero expectations. However, when a movie like Weapons hits the screens and is preceded by both a spellbinding trailer and lots of hype, not to mention writer/director Zach Cregger’s previous success with Barbarian, it’s kiiind of hard not to anticipate something with caliber.
And does Weapons deliver the expected “goods”? Well, let’s just say it’s a wonderful thrill ride that leaves you dazed… and a little confused.
Weapons begins with the voice of an unseen child narrating a recent tragic event in the small town of Maybrook, Pennsylvania: Seventeen third grade classmates mysteriously disappeared at 2:17 a.m. one night, viewed on cameras casually walking off their house porches and into the darkness, never seen or heard from again. The entire community think the kids’ teacher, Justine Gandy (Julia Garner), either knows or has something to do with what happened, including Archer Graff (Josh Brolin), whose son is amongst those missing. Taking matters into her own hands, Julie investigates the children’s disappearance herself, and with the eventual help of Archer, the two undergo a series of bizarre and twisted discoveries – seen through multiple, overlapping points of view from other characters in the film.
There’s no denying Cregger’s skills in providing a well-paced, intriguing story filled with effective jump scares and disturbing “under your skin” scenes, his careful use of the “delayed scare technique” especially, viewers staring at someone or something long enough to think there’s nothing happening, and then… Aaagh! Having a background in comedy, Cregger also strikes that correct blend of screams and laughs (a la Jordan Peele) and stays clear from an uneven “horror-comedy” track. Fans of horror classics will also appreciate his sneaky homages to such films as The Shining and other Stephen King noire.
The plot and main point, however, gets muddled and over ambiguous toward the film’s payoff, largely due to Cregger’s use of the multiple point of view motif throughout the story, and though the POV sequences are nicely done and dress up the film quite well, the story’s momentum and tension becomes weakened and dulled from this and the audience is left wondering why these sequences are even employed. Garner’s and Brolin’s performances are excellent, yet we are constantly drawn away from them for the sake of other POV’s and characters who only end up becoming flat.
Overall, Weapons is a decent “spin” that will not disappoint fans of eerie “crawl-into-your-brain-and-stay-there” lore, yet also ends up more as simply a showcase for Cregger’s clever directorial and filmmaking techniques rather than clear, concise storytelling.
7 out of 10
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