After the success of writer and director Zach Cregger’s hit film, Barbarian, audiences have been anxiously awaiting his next feature. Weapons is a frightening horror mystery to keep you up at night. After all but one student from a class of third graders vanishes at the same time, a small town community is left angry and confused. As a few individuals get closer to the truth, people begin to die in strange, gruesome ways.

Fans of Barbarian enjoyed Cregger’s ability to tell a unique story with a number of shocking twists. Luckily, he’s done it again with Weapons. The audience is thrown into the mystery shortly after the children disappeared. The police and FBI seem to be at a standstill with their investigation, the parents of the missing children are furious more isn’t being done, and many townsfolk are pointing the finger at the class’s teacher, Justine. It’s a distressing story because it involves such young children, and there doesn’t seem to be any clear answer as to what happened. The story makes it easy to understand the parents’ anger, while also feeling sorry for Justine and how the town is treating her.

This film has intrigue, excellent scares, and an ending that will have you both laughing and horrified all at once. Cregger formatted Weapons into sections, each one focusing on a different resident of the town. Often times the stories overlap, showing the same scenes from different perspectives. At times this repetition can feel a bit tedious, but Cregger manages to hold the audience’s attention by revealing something new each time an event is shown through someone else’s eyes. These new details and clues can lead to more questions, but by the end, all the pieces fall perfectly into place.

Every performance in Weapons, from the children to the adults, is phenomenal. Julia Garner (Ozark, The Fantastic Four: First Steps) stars as Justine. Justine is a complicated woman, clearly being a teacher devoted to her students, but also having a history of personal issues. Garner plays both sides of that character quite well as she uses alcohol to cope with the situation, while also going above and beyond to find the truth. Benedict Wong (Annihilation, Doctor Strange) plays the school principal, Andrew. While Wong is great as the stern yet kind principal, he really shines when his character takes an insane, violent turn, giving one hell of a physical performance. Another outstanding character portrayal comes from someone I shall not name in order to maintain the intrigue. What I will say is this is another person with an incredible physical performance that is unnaturally menacing.

Adding to the frights and laughs are the great visual elements of Weapons. At first the scares come from quick glimpses in dream sequences, creating a bit of confusion alongside the fear. Makeup plays an important role in the film as well. Sometimes it’s more subtle, revealing how exhausted those close to the mystery have become over time, or hinting someone isn’t quite right. Other times it’s more outlandish and comical, while still looking outright creepy. Yet the visual highlight is, by far, the practical effects. Many of the people who die in the film do so in grotesquely graphic ways, requiring lots of blood and prosthetics. It straddles that line between looking realistic and supernatural, leading to grisly moments that will be seared into every audience member’s retinas.

Weapons is an unexpected, ambitious horror mystery that will have people laughing through the graphic terror. Cregger has a knack for shocks and thrills, proving a slow burn can have an outrageously fun final act. Garner continues to show her range as an actor, alongside many unhinged performances audiences won’t soon forget. The plot and effects are so gruesome and unsettling it almost feels wrong when they lead to major laughs, but it’s part of why this film is such an achievement. Be sure to see Weapons on the biggest screen possible, coming exclusively to theaters August 8th.

OVERALL RATING: 9/10