The second I saw a brief teaser trailer for the Zach Cregger (Barbarian) written and directed horror film Weapons, I knew I had to see it, it just looked so intriguing. Then I saw that my favourite zombie author David Moody (the Autumn series) had written a post recommending it. Even that didn't seal the deal, finally, it was my best friend saying that I needed to make more of an effort to see more popular horror films, that had me suggesting we go to the cinema. This is one of those films were I will have to dance around the general plot a bit, as the mystery was what so drew me to this in the first place.
Early one morning in a quiet American town, seventeen children inexplicably all suddenly leave their homes and run off into the night at the exact same time; 02:17. Despite a desperate search by the authorities in the coming days and weeks, no trace of these children are found, they appear to have vanished into thin air. It turns out the children were all from the exact same school class and that the only student who didn't vanish was quiet Alex (Cary Christopher). Despite being interviewed extensively, Alex is unable to give an explanation why the rest of his class all ran away from their homes. This has also caused a problem for their teacher, Justine (Julia Garner - Ozark TV show), with the parents angry and wanting answers, they have taken to blaming the teacher, convinced that she must have had something to do with what happened. Archer (Josh Brolin - Avengers: Endgame, Deadpool 2) is one such parent, more driven than most to find out what happened. After some strange events, Archer teams up with Justine, both determined to try and solve this baffling mystery.
I had heard that this played out a little differently to a single straight plot line, and in my head I figured this might even turn out to be a mockumentary in the vein of something like Lake Mungo. That didn't turn out to be the case but it still did something that I love in shows and films. The same stretch of a couple of days is shown from the perspective of several different characters. These characters each have a title card for their part of the film, and their storylines overlap with other key characters in neat ways. I guess technically you could argue Justine or Archer are the protagonists, but over the two hour film I would estimate they get around a third of the overall runtime. Other key characters include cop Paul (Alden Ehrenreich - Oppenheimer, Solo: A Star Wars Story), junkie James (Austin Abrams - Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, The Walking Dead TV show), school headmaster, Marcus (Benedict Wong - Annihilation, Doctor Strange) and of course the young Alex. I really enjoyed this way of showing the film, with each of the anthology type segments ending on a cliff-hanger that makes you desperate to return to the individual stories.
Being rated eighteen, I expected there might be some moments of strong horror. There is a smallish body count, but each of the deaths are really quite violent and gnarly. From a car accident that has crushed the victim's head into paste, to people being torn limb from limb, there are some gross scenes that were a delight to see. Special effects throughout were good, adding to the bizarre film. Starting with a prologue (narrated by a character who doesn't even appear to be in the film outside of her opening and closing narration), the weird way the children all ran away with their arms out at their sides like aeroplanes was so interesting to see. The mystery is explained as best as it can be, and this turned into a different type of horror film to what I had figured it might be. While not scary, this has some freaky moments, typically involving a grotesque ginger haired woman appearing in the most unlikely of places.
Creggar has stated this was a kind of analogy for children with alcoholic parents, writing from personal experience of how scary and alien it can be to return to a home were the caregivers cannot be trusted. It leads to some very unsettling sequences involving screaming manic figures. Rather than getting more scary, the finale actually became quite cathartic, with me and plenty of other cinema goers laughing at the mayhem that unfolds in a satisfying fashion.
I enjoyed Weapons. I liked the parallel overlapping stories going on, and the make-up effects were impressive. I also liked how a story was made out of such a bizarre start, even if it never quite lived up to the lofty expectations I had built up in my head. Sometimes a little slow, Weapons nonetheless felt wholly original, and something that I think will remain quite memorable.
SCORE:
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