Director Zach Cregger premiered his latest elevated horror masterwork, “Weapons”, on Aug. 8. Since its release, the film has achieved immense success, topping U.S. box office charts and surpassing the $200 million mark at the global box office. 

There is hardly anything worse than when teasers give away the entire plotline of a film, and that is exactly why Cregger was so successful with “Weapons.” The simple, yet genius early marketing strategy mystified the story, rather than the opposite. 

Cregger managed to create an entire website without spoiling any of the horrifying fun. Visually, the online page MaybrookMissing.com eerily looks like a blog website common in the early days of the internet. On its homepage, there are four genuinely unnerving clips, the grainy camera quality of which looks like old VHS camcorders. 

With this media campaign, Cregger set himself up for virality before the movie even premiered. Only a few times since “The Blair Witch Project” in 1999 has a horror film successfully preserved the mystique, from trailer release to opening night. “Weapons” does it so well that when viewers finally sit down in their seats to watch, they are still clueless about what exactly they are in for. 

Once the film starts, the allure only intensifies. From the very first second of the movie, spectators are immersed in the puzzling reality of the fictional midwestern town of Maybrook. The story opens with a narration by a little girl describing the sinister unsolved mystery gripping her town: At 2:17 a.m. on a random Wednesday, 17 elementary school students all vanished, running from their houses into the dark with their arms outstretched. 

Alex, a shy kid bullied by his classmates, was the only kid in main character Justine Gandy’s third-grade class who stayed tucked in bed at home that night and the only one who came to school that Wednesday morning. 

Usually, these sorts of uber-specific facts about a movie would be considered spoilers. In Cregger’s universe, however, they serve as the foundation for the film. Instead of a “what happened?” approach, the mystery is driven by questions like why the 17 children ran away and how they managed to disappear without leaving a single trace. So, as much as the mystery perplexes the characters in the film, “Weapons” attendees are equally as in the dark. 

From start to finish, “Weapons” makes filmgoers cover their eyes and shield their ears due to its sheer, all-consuming creepiness. Yet, the film also successfully incorporates comedic bits at all the right times, allowing viewers to peek out of hiding — even if just for a few seconds before the next adrenaline-filled scare. 

It is a fine art to time a bit of humorous relief in a horror film. Sometimes it can feel untimely; at worst, entirely unfunny. In “Weapons,” Cregger showcases his mastery of this skill, managing to make the horror and comedy elements occur simultaneously in the most foundational element of his story: the running. While it is completely creepy, uncanny and inhuman-looking, it also just looks silly. 

It takes great acting to execute the creative vision for a horror film such as Cregger’s, and the star-studded ensemble did a fantastic job. Julia Garner plays Gandy, the emotionally unstable, over-involved teacher with alcoholic tendencies, exceptionally. Josh Brolin portrays a grieving parent so convincingly that audiences may even overlook the aggressive nature of his character, Archer Graff, out of sheer empathy. Cary Christoper brings a more melancholic angle to the story that might bring about a tear or two from viewers, as his character Alex’s life is turned upside down as the only one remaining in his third-grade class. 

The real scene-stealer of the cast is Austin Abrams, who portrays a homeless junkie who somehow stumbles into unsafe situations time and time again, always hilariously oblivious to how terrifying these moments truly are. 

One of the most compelling parts of “Weapons” is the emotional depth of its characters, especially Gandy. Unlike many horror films where female leads are trapped in simple archetypes like the “final girl” or “damsel in distress,” Justine is portrayed with raw, imperfect humanity. The audience witnesses her genuine struggles as she navigates the town’s relentless witch hunt on her, being unfairly blamed for the disappearance of the children she cared so deeply for. 

Considering this is only Cregger’s second feature film since his 2022 debut as a solo director with “Barbarian,” he is on his way to elevated horror stardom. “Weapons” is definitely worth a trip to the theatre, offering the whole horror package: an enigmatic mystery, a perfect balance of horror and comedy and emotionally compelling performances from a talent-packed cast.