Weapons

Zach Cregger's Airbnb horror film, "Barbarian" was a sleeper hit in a bare, post-covid marketplace in the dolldrums of early Fall, 2022. Making over $40M domestically off of a teeny $4.5M budget.

That film showed off Cregger as an original voice who seamlessly blends his improv comedy background with a truly disturbing and scary story that says a lot about the underbelly of modern America without really hitting the audience over the head. The secret to good horror is... timing? Well, that's part of it anyway and Cregger joins Jordan Peele as a prominent comedy-to-horror convert.

His follow-up, "Weapons" has a much broader scope and scale than the tightly confined "Barbarian." It's a true Horror Epic, as he's described it himself, taking us through a branching story from the viewpoint of many characters. His "dark realism" approach, with muted lighting and colors, paired with a foreboding soundscape, and intermittent ultraviolence sprinkled in, gives us a very intentional, persistent sense of dread to sit with as the film's mysteries unfold.

This is a truly original story, brought to life by Cregger's surprisingly polished direction and an excellent cast that features new stars like "Ozark's" excellent Julia Garner, the not-so-new, but reliable star, Josh Brolin, and Marvel breakout turned character actor, Benedict Wong, among other familiar faces.

In a year that has featured several solid horror films, including smash horror-action hit Sinners (which has gone on to be one of the top-grossing R-rated and original films domestically of all time), "Weapons" continues the steady stream of solid adult fare coming out of Hollywood. To me, while "Weapons" probably isn't as fun as "Sinners" it's more surprising, original, and has one of my favorite pay-offs in recent memory, making the creepy journey well worth it.

- 8.5/10