WEAPONS

****

Directed by Zach Cregger.

Starring Julia Garner, Josh Brolin, Alden Ehrenreich, Cary Christopher.

Horror, US, 128 Minutes, Certificate 18.

Released in cinemas in the UK on August 8th by Warner Bros

Three years after BARBARIAN came out of nowhere and cemented writer and director Zach Cregger as a name to be reckoned with in the horror genre, audiences finally get to see what he has planned for a follow-up. With a script that reportedly sparked a bidding war between studios, and a delay in filming caused by the writers strikes, the hype and anticipation for WEAPONS has only built and built since audiences first became familiar with Cregger’s knack for storytelling that constantly reinvents itself with a deft balance of horror and comedy. 

With its intriguing premise of a group of children all leaving their homes at 2:17 am and going missing after running off into the night, Cregger certainly has a way of grabbing an already eager audience's attention. He pays off this plot set up by looking not only at the mystery of what happened to the children but also at  the fall out of such an event through the eyes of those directly affected by such an unprecedented event. We begin to piece together characters and events through the children’s teacher Justine, played by Julia Garner,, who struggles not only with the shock of losing her entire class bar one pupil, but the suspicions of the entire town who are certain she has something to do with the mass disappearance. From here the plot bounces back and forth between several characters' viewpoints including Josh Brolin’s grieving angry parent and Alden Ehrenreich’s confused cop.

To say anymore would risk blundering into spoiler territory and revealing the tricks Cregger employs in unfurling his mysteries. There is a confidence here that is inventive, entertaining and fresh that goes well with the also inventive ways that he keeps the audience on their toes. There are jump scares involved but they are unveiled in a way that does not fall back on the over used quiet-quiet-BANG shock techniques that too many horror films rely on. Cregger does far more with something as simple and innocuous as a front door opening quietly in the distance leading onto a scene filled with more dread and tension than anything else seen in any Hollywood offering for some time. At the same time his previous background as a comedian is also on display leading to a climax that deftly balances unnerving imagery with a gleefully frenetic sequence mixing laughs and gore to immensely satisfying effect.

Cregger has compared his story to P.T. Anderson’s MAGNOLIA and the comparisons between the two films are entirely apt; the Californian small town setting, bar-hopping characters, troubled kids and surreal touches reinforce the similarities but like that ambitious film we see a writer and director flexing his storytelling muscles with the bigger canvas that he can now afford to indulge in. Despite the urgent situation that the characters find themselves in, the early stages of the film unfold in an unhurried and relaxed manner. Fans of BARBARIAN will enjoy the lengthy scenes of characters revealing themselves, especially with this excellent cast that includes one familiar and welcome face from his previous work, before the shit hits the fan in spectacular fashion.

There is another recent film that comparisons could be made to, but again that would risk giving the game away here. While there is a pleasure in connecting the dots between characters and an examination of all too real anxieties and fears that are so expertly examined in the film's early stages (parenting, alcoholism, unwanted relationships and workplace pressures), there is a slight air of deflation once the film's true threat is revealed. However there is still an unnerving air permeating through the entertaining way that Cregger presents all of these seemingly disparate elements. At the same time it feels ungenerous to criticise an American horror film for swinging at the fences in such an ambitious, original and entertaining fashion.

As entertaining as it is clever, WEAPONS sees Cregger join the premier ranks of such genre filmmakers as Jordan Peele, who supposedly fired a large number of his own staff after his own production company lost out in the bidding war for this script, by tackling the more uneasy aspects of American everyday society through a genre lens and presenting something massively entertaining in its own freaky way. It will be interesting to see where Cregger goes from here; if he will return to the same narrative trickery that has served him so well thus far or if he has it in him to go somewhere even stranger. No doubt it will be a long wait where we won’t find out anything until opening day but for now this highly entertaining one-off will more than suffice.

Iain MacLeod