Weapons (2025) - This Year Horror Gem Despite Some Stumbles - REVIEW
Weapons (2025) recently came out on digital and I finally got to watch it after hearing about for quite some time since the start of 2025, this is one of those movies that makes you feel uncomfortable from the very first scene and never really lets up, which is exactly what it's supposed to do but damn it's a tough watch the manipulation and amount of fear that can be induce on a kid. The whole thing develops at this small town where 17 kids all wake up at 2:17 AM and run out of their houses with their arms spread wide, disappearing into the darkness and never coming back except for one kid named Alex and his teacher Justine, the thing is that Alex never disappear so what got into this other 17 kids? for all them willingly run away under exact the same circumstances, does sound dumb the police couldnt see the patterns, yes thats the weak part of this movie so honestly is not a movie that you have to think too much so just leave your brain at the door. Zack Cregger put in some work for this movie and you can tell just by watching it that he went all in creatively, the guy is absolutely committed to making you twist in your seat. The movie is suppose to be this horror masterpiece although I would consider it a very good horror movie but not something that will blow your mind, it fumble a few times but its the suspense and the why that kills you for the most part until the cat is out of the bag, the horror aspect is not one that will scare you to death, after watching Weapons (2025) I think its a movie where a Prequel fits perfectly to provide more context about Gladys and her craft.
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Justine is the center who works as a teacher and spends every moment trying to figure out what happened to her missing students although same as the rest of the town including the police there is not much logic or method behind ther effort just the typical questioning, she's got this unhealthy obsession with finding answers that slowly consumes her throughout the movie, her character is interesting and hilarious is that she is always on the edge of losing it completely, you never know if she is gonna stay strong or if she is gonna lose her mind and do something desperate, for a teacher who work with very young kids she is a very chaotic person. There is this scene where she follows Alex home and it starts out kinda normal but then turns into one of the most creepy uncomfortable things I've ever watched, the poor woman looks like she wants answers but you can't blame her because strange things just keep happening around this kid. Justine has serious trust issues and control problems, plus she is drinking herself into oblivion which obviously isn't helping her mental state at all. She's trying to take care of these missing kids parents who are demanding answers and you find out that her own past trauma is driving everything she does, but the movie doesn't use that as an excuse for her behavior it just shows you how grief can really mess someone up.
The whole thing about the missing children becomes the driving force behind everything that happens next and the movie builds this incredible tension around what really caused them to disappear in the first place. When Justine finally starts investigating deeper into Alex's home life things get really weird and uncomfortable to what at first look like his parents were Zombies after Justine watch through a window inside their house, until this point it was still a big WTF to everything going on but at least it was a start and confirmation that things at home for Alex were not normal. The movie does a good job of showing how isolation and obsession can turn someone into a ticking time bomb because thats exactly what happens with Justine when she starts to break boundaries without any remorse using the excuse that she wants to find the 17 missing kids, I can understand thats the center of the movie but at times felt very repetitive that some of the characters became a bit predictable. There's this scene where different parents are making accusations and the tension is brutal and you can see how much it hurts everyone involved but also how they are completely lost about what to do next, almost felt like that Simpsons meme with all the people with torches and pitch forks waiting. The movie does try to bring some context to everything that has been happening recently to each of the main characters before putting everything together, its a classic way of building up tension, character and world development, you see why they do what they do but you also see how wrong some of their choices become.
The biggest problem I have with Weapons is that it doesn't know when to stop piling on the mystery, some of the context they give out felt too much at times and even makes you feel like "this is fine...whats next?", there are multiple points where you think the story is about to wrap up but then it just keeps going and adding more terrible things to people's lives. It gets exhausting after a while because you are just watching these characters suffer for two hours straight and while I understand that is probably the point it still makes for a pretty draining viewing experience. The movie keeps building toward what you think is gonna be some kind of violent ending, especially when things get really dark and people start making desperate choices but then it pulls back making the violent ending a bit out of place because I would have love more of that gore by all this "Weapons" but in fact we only got two. There is also this whole subplot that feels kinda unnecessary and doesn't really add much to the story except to show that everyone in this town is hiding something from each other, like they wanted to get into peoples demons like cheating, alcoholism, drugs abuse and others but I feel like this were things that had nothing to do with Gladys and her methods to abduct or weaponiz people, after all the concern and main target were all this 17 kids. I know it might feel that Im ranting a bit here but also Im not dropping spoilers every other sentece and its because I think the movie is a very good one although two hours might be too much considering all the scenes that dont add too much too it, they could have probably add more to Alex family backstory and their relationship and ways of Gladys, the Witch.
Weapons is definitely worth watching if you can handle how dark it turns at terrorizing a kid and don't mind feeling uncomfortable for two hours, but it's not gonna be for everyone and I totally understand why some people might find it confusing or disappointed thinking that this would be more about jump scares and even potentially possessions, that in fact there were possessions but not necessarily from demons, it was more like hypnotism and some witch craft. The movie's strongest area is the psychology of obsession and how the pursuit of answers can destroy someone, its the case of Justine and Archer, both Julia Garner and Josh Brolin nail this movie with some other secondary characters that did great like Austin Abrams, Alden Ehrenreich Benedict Wong. The movie mostly stumbles when it tries to be too clever with its revelations or when it piles on trauma just for shock value, like when the start to go through every character directly involve on the last act, generating of the context that lead them to that moment, just piles of tension for a single shot. After watching Weapons (2025) I can say it feels like I have watched something important and well made, but also like I never want to see it again because it's just so relentlessly depressing and confusing, how could you enjoy something and then not wanting to watch again? its like after you give it a though understand how dumb and confusing parts of it are. If you're into character development about broken people or you are curious about what all the buzz was about regarding it been the best horror movie of the year then definitely check it out, just be prepared for a pretty heavy experience but for sure has some great twists here and there, the movie is really good and I can give it an 8/10 with confidence but I cant go through it over explaining how everyone got to the point they were at the end.
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totally with you on the pre;quel idea for Gladys, the hypnotism angle begs for more lore and would make the whole disappearance thread feel tighter. the way Justine spirals while trying to keep parents calm was the hook for me, even when the plot keeps stretching. by the time it swerved away from the big bloody payoff, my brain was like Alex at 2:17 trying to sneak out the back door, but I still landed at taht solid eight.