Weapons

“After a point, though, it all starts feeling empty: monsters without motives are no longer interesting, and the big reveal takes away the much-needed suspense. Where initially you couldn't move from the edge of your seat, the bloody fallout leaves you underwhelmed.”

“A hugely accomplished horror achievement, and a significant step up from Barbarian: tense, sad, hilarious, unsettling, ridiculously entertaining, and ultimately oddly uplifting.”

“Weapons is a righteous, fully actualized genre-bender in which writer-director Zach Cregger hones Barbarian’s blend of unbearable tension and dark humor to a new level of razor-sharpness.”

“It's not every day that a film reminds you of Paul Thomas Anderson's "Magnolia" and George A. Romero's "The Crazies" but Zach Cregger doesn't make everyday movies.”

“It all makes for a winning watch, with more layers than your average scare fest and a twinkle in its evil eye.”

“"Weapons" is his sophomore effort and it's more ambitious than his first, "Barbarian." But it often lags and slackens on its way to a gruesome end, with a reliance on sorcery that seems like a cop-out. If "Barbarian" came out of left field three years ago and heralded an exciting new voice in filmmaking, "Weapons" doesn't disappoint but it doesn't have the advantage of surprise.”

“Like Barbarian, Weapons' visuals are as arresting as its story is disturbing. But the new film works much harder to show you the meaning behind its stomach-turning scares. Though the movie is peppered with more than a few solid jump scares, its most potent horror tricks are actually cinematographer Larkin Seiple's unnerving shots of the missing children prancing down the street with their arms outstretched like they mean to take flight.”

“'Weapons' asks scary questions about surveillance, autonomy, and the corrupting influence of technology, but the film's answers are disappointingly muddled and unconvincing, undermining what could have been a thought-provoking thriller.”