Latest news with #WEAPONS
Sydney Morning Herald
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
The script sparked a bidding war, but nothing will prepare you for this thriller
WEAPONS ★★★½ (MA15+) 128 minutes Horror movies never really go out of style but right now, they're having a moment. Filmmakers with a gift for the macabre are finding funding can be had for scripts that fiercely embrace extreme weirdness. Zach Cregger won his place in this select company three years ago with Barbarian, a contorted exercise in body horror with enough twists to make the head spin and the skin crawl. Its success helped to precipitate a bidding war for his screenplay for Weapons, a bigger and even more serpentine story that Cregger says was strongly influenced by his admiration for Stephen King. And it has already paid off spectacularly, earning him $US10 million ($15.3 million) for writing, directing and producing the film. It's a small-town tale that takes off when all but one of the children in Ms Gandy's class at Maybrook Elementary disappear from their homes overnight and fail to return. Security cameras at some of the houses show them running out of their front doors with arms outstretched at precisely 2.17am and melting into the darkness. Seven hours later, only Alex Lilly (Cary Christopher) turns up for class. Their parents are understandably grief-stricken, outraged and desperate for answers, and Justine Gandy (Julia Garner) is in their sights. Josh Brolin, cast as one of the fathers, Archer Graff, leads the attack before embarking on his own investigation. He wants to know why all the children came from her class and why she can't give them any clues as to where they've gone and why. Cregger has said he sat down to work on the film in a similarly clueless state, trusting his ability to write his way to a solution. I can believe it. Ingenuity is high on his list of talents. Nor am I surprised that he began his show business career as the founding member of a sketch comedy group.
The Age
a day ago
- Entertainment
- The Age
The script sparked a bidding war, but nothing will prepare you for this thriller
WEAPONS ★★★½ (MA15+) 128 minutes Horror movies never really go out of style but right now, they're having a moment. Filmmakers with a gift for the macabre are finding funding can be had for scripts that fiercely embrace extreme weirdness. Zach Cregger won his place in this select company three years ago with Barbarian, a contorted exercise in body horror with enough twists to make the head spin and the skin crawl. Its success helped to precipitate a bidding war for his screenplay for Weapons, a bigger and even more serpentine story that Cregger says was strongly influenced by his admiration for Stephen King. And it has already paid off spectacularly, earning him $US10 million ($15.3 million) for writing, directing and producing the film. It's a small-town tale that takes off when all but one of the children in Ms Gandy's class at Maybrook Elementary disappear from their homes overnight and fail to return. Security cameras at some of the houses show them running out of their front doors with arms outstretched at precisely 2.17am and melting into the darkness. Seven hours later, only Alex Lilly (Cary Christopher) turns up for class. Their parents are understandably grief-stricken, outraged and desperate for answers, and Justine Gandy (Julia Garner) is in their sights. Josh Brolin, cast as one of the fathers, Archer Graff, leads the attack before embarking on his own investigation. He wants to know why all the children came from her class and why she can't give them any clues as to where they've gone and why. Cregger has said he sat down to work on the film in a similarly clueless state, trusting his ability to write his way to a solution. I can believe it. Ingenuity is high on his list of talents. Nor am I surprised that he began his show business career as the founding member of a sketch comedy group.
New York Post
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- New York Post
‘Weapons' review: The best horror movie of the summer
movie review WEAPONS Running time: 128 minutes. Rated R (strong bloody violence and grisly images, language throughout, some sexual content and drug use). In theaters. During this lazy summer of comatose sequels, nothing has been scarier to Hollywood than an original idea. So how sweet it is that one of the freshest and best movies of sweaty season is a brand new, freakily creative story from the horror genre. No cardboard IP here. But plenty of RIP. The sharp and explosive 'Weapons,' from 'Barbarian' writer-director Zach Cregger, is powered by a quality the big screen has all but surrendered to more riveting TV dramas: Unpredictability. Right from the spooky intro, in which we learn that 17 fifth graders from the same suburban classroom all mysteriously ran away from their homes at 2:17 a.m. one night and went missing, the plot unfolds in ways startling and twisty, disturbing and deceptive. The experience is akin to being blindfolded and thrown into a trunk — except fun! The film's main question: Where did all the kids go? 3 Julia Garner and Josh Brolin star in 'Weapons. AP Could their disappearance be a coordinated kidnapping, an act of God or perhaps an alien abduction? That's an intense problem to solve. One lost child in a film means high stakes, a ticking clock and big adult feelings. Multiply that by 17. Something feels off about the community from the start. There are hints of the rapturey HBO drama 'The Leftovers,' as well as the recent warped 'Longlegs' with Nicolas Cage and the not-so-recent 'Blair Witch Project.' Cregger adds a bit of 'It' and 'Stranger Things,' too, in the way the movie probes the dark crevices of a seemingly nice, sleepy town as young people confront pure evil. But who's to blame for the crime? 3 Seventeen kids in a single classroom mysteriously go missing. AP The angry locals believe it's the teacher Justine (Julia Garner). They vandalize her car and stalk her. But the cops can't find any evidence to implicate the pithy, secretive woman. Just one little boy in the class didn't vanish — Alex (Cary Christopher, a 2025 Child of the Corn). He's gotta know something, right? Our final answer is peculiar and outlandish — frightening, oddly funny, eccentric, spine-tingling, grotesque and ultimately sad. To arrive there, Cregger has built a puzzle that's told in chapters, each devoted to a different character. One belongs to Josh Brolin as a dogged parent, and another goes to Austin Abrams' comedic Anthony, a burnout drug dealer who could be friends with someone named Silent Bob. Alden Ehrenreich, a great actor who hasn't been around much lately, plays a troubled cop. And Amy Madigan does a delicate dance as Aunt Gladys. 3 'Weapons' is told in chapters, each devoted to a different character. AP Garner, who exudes an energy that suggests she might pick a fight with somebody at the grocery store, fuels that sinister Main Street, USA, vibe with her enigmatic 'Ozark' persona. The vicious actress is herself a weapon. Most of the grown-ups here are deeply and engrossingly flawed: self-interested addicts, weirdos and brutes. In their own odd way, they each help the tale reach its satisfying conclusion, even if many of them don't make it to the credits. No real hero emerges until the last 10 minutes. This year, many movies have been boring, flabby, unnecessary, nostalgic, dumb, cheap or a burrito bowl of all of the above. But I was never less than superglued to 'Weapons.' Clever Cregger proves, as Ryan Coogler did with 'Sinners' back in the spring, that horror not only often has the most blood — it's got the most guts.
Metro
01-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Metro
'Creepiest horror trailer in years' leaves fans struggling to sleep
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video The trailer for Weapons, a new horror from Barbarian writer-director Zack Cregger, has been released – and fans have been left unable to sleep after watching the intense preview. Starring Julia Garner and Josh Brolin, the trailer for Weapons introduces the audience to a simple premise that focuses on a teacher, Miss Gandy (Garner), walking into her classroom one morning to find all 17 students have disappeared in the night. A child's creepy narration explains that the plot thickens as the teacher quickly becomes a person of interest in her class's disappearance, and CCTV shows that all of the children ran from their homes at 2.17am. The intense trailer then shows graphic, increasingly horrifying imagery, including a creepy child sitting up from a desk in a darkened classroom, a view of a man being smacked into by a car, hands covering a man's face furiously holding him down, and black oil being poured onto someone's face. The movie then ends with the door of a house opening by itself as a child says quietly: 'This is where the story really starts.' Fans were left shell-shocked after the creepy nature of the film, with many taking to social media to say they were left unable to sleep. 'I don't like scary movies and I watched that WEAPONS trailer late last night and I swear to god it was so scary I couldn't even sleep,' said tiatamiaa on X. 'WEAPONS might be the scariest film of the year. What the f**k is that trailer??? lol,' said JakeRileyHunte. 'Man Weapons just *looks* crazy f****n' good,' said eventualforever. 'I watched the trailer for Weapons last night and thought it was so so scary,' said violetfaced. 'These kids are not alright. #Weapons looks messed up [positive].' added Lulamaybelle. 'I had full body chills the last 30 seconds of that trailer, incredible stuff,' said sillierdeadite. The film has had some fantastically frightening marketing attached, with Warner Bros releasing a two-hour-long video that showed children running with their arms out into the woods. The video appeared to be taken from CCTV footage and was left untitled and unexplained on the YouTube channel of the entertainment company. The creepy footage actually sparked some concern from viewers who stumbled across the video, unaware of what they were seeing, and baffled about what the footage was showing. Fans have also spotted some hidden Easter eggs in the footage, highlighting that an image of a baseball team can be seen around a minute and a half into the video – but only for a split second – which may be a key clue about the events in the film, or could be a red herring. Zach Cregger was the mind behind Barbarian, a horror which was met with huge critical acclaim, which he also wrote and directed. More Trending He was also a producer on the recent popular horror film Companion starring Jack Quaid and Sophie Thatcher, which was also met with huge accolades. Given his strong track record, fans are dead-set that Weapons is set to be another blinding success, which will traumatise viewers for years to come – but in a good way, of course. Weapons is set to be released in cinemas on August 8. Got a story? If you've got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@ calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we'd love to hear from you. MORE: Freaky Friday sequel star had 'concerns' over Asian stereotypes in 2003 original MORE: Amazon Prime Video's 'twisted' thriller sequel lands surprising Rotten Tomatoes score MORE: Gerard Butler's 'trashiest' action thrillers somehow smash into Amazon Prime charts
Newsweek
29-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Newsweek
'Weapons' Trailer Reveals Terrifying First Look at Horror Epic
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Entertainment gossip and news from Newsweek's network of contributors The first full trailer for "Weapons" may just be one of the more perfect trailers put together in recent memory. The preview gives you the chilling premise of 27 children disappearing in the middle of the night, all from the same class, and a town in panic because of it. The trailer doesn't come close to hinting at why the children do what they do or what it has to do with all the other horrors that unfold. It gives you just enough information to make you want more. You can see the trailer for yourself below. The first trailer for Zach Cregger's 'WEAPONS' has been released. The film follows a classroom of children who get out of their beds and disappear one night without a trace. In theaters on August 8. — DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) April 29, 2025 Read More: Dwayne Johnson Transforms Into UFC Legend in 'Smashing Machine' Trailer "Weapons" is written and directed by Zach Cregger of "Barbarian" fame, and the filmmaker recently told Entertainment Weekly that "Weapons" is "an incredibly personal story." Julia Garner in "Weapons". Julia Garner in "Weapons". Warner Bros. "I had a tragedy in my life that was really, really tough," Cregger said. "Someone very, very, very close to me died suddenly and, honestly, I was so grief-stricken that I just started writing 'Weapons', not out of any ambition, but just as a way to reckon with my own emotions." It seems likely the tragedy Cregger is referring to is the 2021 death of Trevor Moore, Cregger's friend and co-founder of their sketch comedy group The Whitest Kids U' Know. Of the personal nature of 'Weapons', Cregger said, "There's certain chapters of this that are legitimately autobiographical that I feel like I lived." When it comes to inspiration, Cregger credits Paul Thomas Anderson's "Magnolia". "I love that movie," Cregger said. "I love that kind of bold scale. It gave me permission when I was writing this to shoot for the stars and make it an epic. I wanted a horror epic, and so I tried to do that." Asked to compare "Weapons" to "Barbarian", Cregger said, "It is more ambitious in almost every way. I don't just mean in terms of the budget, but I just mean creatively. The story is weirder and it's twistier and it's bigger. I have way more actors to fit into this thing. The set pieces are definitely bigger. It's just a bigger, weirder movie than 'Barbarian' is." "Weapons" is written and directed by Zach Cregger. The film is scheduled to be released August 8, 2025. It stars Julia Garner, Josh Brolin, Alden Ehrenreich, Benedict Wong, Austin Abrams, Cary Christopher, and Amy Madigan. More Movies: Jenna Ortega Is Directing Her Own Film Will Forte Pledges to Climb Mount Everest Over 'Coyote vs. Acme' Rescue
