Disappearing act: A review of 'Weapons'

By PHILIP CU UNJIENG

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When Zack Cregger released his debut film Barbarian in 2022, his writing and directing were hailed as masterful, mixing suspense with horror in a manner that felt natural and organic.

It was Airbnb from Hell, with a monster lurking underneath the floorboards. The premise of the overbooked Airbnb kicked off with the tension of 'Is the guy who he says he is?', then we had the rug pulled out from under us, as there was infinitely more to the story, and it was the secrets harbored by the house itself.

So expectations ran high when Cregger announced his next project, Weapons. With a bigger budget, a bunch of stars in the cast, and more time to mold the screenplay, we were all hoping that Barbarian would not turn out to be a fluke or a case of first-time luck. In Weapons, we're dealing with a classroom of children, and how 17 of them mysteriously disappear one night. This leaves the suburban community of Maybrook shocked and perplexed as to how and why.