Slick flick Weapons lets us reflect on a new iconic horror image

Seventeen primary school children vanish into the night in the horror movie Weapons.

- By Noelle Adams

It's really difficult to discuss this horror mystery, because I don't want to ruin a single one of Weapons' surprises. Especially since the film's marketing has actually managed to stay hush-hush about what is really going on.

It's safe to say, though, that writer-director Zach Cregger has returned to the same techniques and tricks that he used to make Airbnb cautionary tale Barbarian, and put them to more polished use in Weapons.

Shifting between multiple characters' perspectives, and unfurling in a nonlinear manner, Weapons opens with a child's narration that sets the film up as true crime meets dark, modern fairy tale.

One night in a typical Midwestern town, at exactly 2.17am, all the children (barring one) from the same elementary school class leave their homes and vanish.

That's the setup.

Weapons primarily takes place one month after the tragedy, with the children's teacher Justine Gandy (Julia Garner) turned into a pariah by the community, and Josh Brolin's inconsolable father Archer Graff obsessed with the case. Both want answers, and their private investigations point to something deeply disturbing. Unbelievable even.