Zach Cregger’s sophomore film, Weapons, is a wickedly unsettling mystery thriller that drips with intrigue from its creepy start to bloody finish. With this film, Cregger has cemented himself as a true horror master manipulator here. For starters, the film is impeccably crafted. Structured in chapters, each doubling as mini character studies, the story slowly peels back its layers to reveal the real nightmare at play. By the time the finale unites its threads, the film explodes into cinematic bedlam—glorious and utterly unhinged. My lone gripe? One chapter (and character) too many. To avoid spoilers, I won’t say who’d I’d cut, but trimming the fat could have made this wild ride a bit tauter. Speaking of spoilers, it’s best to go into this film knowing as little as possible. The initial premise—an entire class of elementary school children vanish into the night, save for one—barely scratches the surface of the big-eyed reveals and unexpected terrors that follow. Trust me, the less you know, the harder it’ll hit. As for the cast, they deliver in spades. Julia Garner turns in yet another magnetic performance, Josh Brolin brings his dependable gravitas, and Amy Madigan… well, brace yourself. Her bat-shit-crazy, balls-to-the-wall turn might be the film’s most shocking weapon of all. As with his last film, Barbarian, Cregger also laces the tension here with bursts of genuine (and twisted) humor - without ever dulling the film’s brutal, gory edge. So, if you’re after nerve-jangling frights, an engrossing mystery, and moments so wild you’ll be talking about them for days, Weapons hits the target—and then blows it to pieces.