“Anything can be a weapon if you use it right.” This phrase was repeated to me endlessly as a child… by my mother. Sometimes, it came off as a cautionary slogan to keep me from running down the stairs, scissors in hand. But more often, it was said with an air of intrigue, like she’d just watched Jason Vorhees ice someone with a corkscrew. Zach Cregger, writer-director of the summer’s most anticipated horror movie, Weapons, understands the impact of a harmless household object wielded with malice. It’s not only an issue of disturbing proximity. (How many things could kill you in your living room? Your garage? The john?) It’s also a matter of association: Much like Joe Dante weaponized the microwave in Gremlins, Cregger has a great deal of fun pointing out the violent potential of a fork or an abnormally sharp vegetable peeler.
“What do you have against homes? Houses?” an AMC host asked Cregger during a recent interview surrounding Weapons. He was referring to the macabre domestic setting of Cregger’s new film, but also his 2022 debut feature, Barbarian, a runaway indie horror success that offered a twisted take on creepy basements and maternal instincts. Because Cregger’s films are more enjoyable if you know nothing about them, it’s best not to map out each twist and turn. Here’s what we all know from the trailer: One night, in the fictional town of Maybrook, 17 children woke up, got up out of bed, walked downstairs, and into the dark. And they never came back. The missing kids aren’t a random selection of Maybrook students, but the entirety of Justine Gandy’s (Julia Garner) homeroom class. Only one of Justine’s students remains, a meek boy named Alex Lilly (Cary Christopher), who is hounded by the press and law enforcement, but ultimately cleared of any suspicion.
Justine, on the other hand, is not so lucky. She is the scapegoat for the entire town, and fields threats and accusations daily. “Why just her classroom? Why only hers?” furious parent Archer Graff (Josh Brolin) shouts at a PTA meeting. It’s a high-tension affair with the ambiance of a Salem witch trial. Justine navigates her life with a reasonable amount of paranoia, as she suffers through threatening phone calls and late-night ding dong ditch stunts. Her picturesque neighborhood, with its strolling residents and parked cars, has become a minefield of potential danger. She self-medicates with Big Gulp–sized tumblers of vodka on ice, and confides in her boss, Principal Marcus (Benedict Wong), and her ex-situationship, Officer Paul Morgan (Alden Ehrenreich). Naturally, these connections are fraught and complicated, and only enhance Justine’s deep isolation.
