In what starts as a typical day, teacher Justine Gandy (Julia Garner) arrives at her elementary school classroom to find empty desks. That’s because at 2:17 a.m. that night, 17 children inexplicably ran out of their houses into the night, never to be seen again. Only one student remains, shy and quiet Alex Lilly (Cary Christopher). 

We see makeshift memorials and grieving families, the kind of imagery that has become all too familiar in the U.S. when tragedy strikes a classroom. Naturally, the town and the parents demand answers. Why those children? Why only Ms. Gandy’s classroom? Why 2:17 in the morning? What is going on in this town?

At a town hall meeting, principal Andrew Marcus (Benedict Wong) tries to calm the increasingly hostile crowd and assure them that Ms. Gandy is just as worried about their kids as they are, but vocal parent Archer Graff (Josh Brolin) is having none of it and starts to incite a mob. 

As Ms. Gandy’s life starts to spiral, we learn bits and pieces of what’s really going on through expertly crafted chapters told from various character perspectives. We get to see the events from the core characters as well as police officer Paul (Alden Ehrenreich) and drug addict Anthony (Austin Abrams), each POV like a Russian nesting doll of information taking us closer to the answer.

The performances in Weapons enhance the realism of the dialogue, with each character feeling fleshed out and three-dimensional in their individual chapters. Brolin and Garner are the headliners, but I was equally impressed with Christopher, who delivers a stellar performance and brings great emotional weight to Alex’s chapter.

Much like his solo directorial debut, Barbarian, writer-director Zach Cregger masters the art of using enough breadcrumbs to entice us along the path to unraveling the mystery before hitting a climactic point and then switching up the story at the height of our “holy shit!” moment. It’s not a J. J. Abrams mystery box, it’s not an M. Night Shyamalan twist, it’s a brilliant structural tactic that keeps you glued to the screen and heavily invested in the events. 

Also like Barbarian, we get a great blend of horror and comedic moments—Cregger is, after all, one of the founding members of The Whitest Kids U’ Know. He captures a natural flow to the dialogue, and he’s so skilled with balancing tones, giving us something disturbing and horrific and then letting us relieve some tension with a laugh. 

Without spoiling anything, Cregger accomplishes that brilliantly in Weapons, particularly in the third act, giving us themes and imagery that are so fucked up and upsetting, but then letting us have the catharsis of comedy, which allows us to leave the theater feeling like we had fun instead of feeling depressingly creeped out like many “elevated” horror movies.

Much like Jordan Peele, to whom he is frequently compared as a comedian-turned-horror-auteur, Cregger brings a unique voice to the horror space. Weapons confirms that Cregger is a must-watch filmmaker and one I’ll be cheering on throughout his career.