THE ENEMY WITHIN (WEAPONS)

WEAPONS

What would it be like if Paul Thomas Anderson made a horror movie?

It's an intriguing notion that sits in the back of your head while watching Zach Cregger's supernatural mystery horror 'Weapons'.

Cregger's film may not be an Anderson movie but it's got a multi layered narrative that tells its horror story from several perspectives.

The central premise is what happens to a community when all but one child in a third grade class disappear overnight?

The class in question is taught by Julia Garner's Justine Gandy in the Pennsylvanian town of Maybrook.

With no obvious explanation for the children's disappearance, wild conspiracy theories abound.

Josh Brolin's angry parent Archer Graff leads unproven accusations that Justine must have had a central role.

As the town starts to look at Justine for some kind of explanation, uncomfortable truths start to surface about her past and her messy personal life.

This impacts Alden Ehrenreich's married cop Paul Morgan and gives the school principal, Benedict Wong's Marcus Miller cause for concern.

Justine is puzzled as to why just one pupil, Cary Christopher's Alex Lilly didn't disappear and is keen to understand it.

Marcus is also slightly unsettled by having to increasingly deal with Amy Madigan's Gladys, an eccentric older woman who says she is Alex's older relative.

What writer director Cregger concocts is a genuinely unsettling supernatural horror tale that could easily have been penned by Stephen King.

'Weapons' is much more than that, though.

It's a multi-layered character study a la Anderson or Robert Altman, with intersecting events in much the same manner as Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's 'Amores Perros'.

Certain scenes are seen from different characters' perspectives.

And if it hadn't been for Ryan Coogler's multi-Oscar nominated, musical horror thrill ride 'Sinners,' there might have been a lot more noise about 'Weapons' this awards season and its fresh take on the supernatural mystery.

The film would certainly have deserved that kind of attention as it is thrillingly directed by Cregger who, along with his cinematographer Larkin Swipe, has a good eye for striking imagery.

It is intelligently stitched together top by film editor Joe Murphy.

Garner, Brolin, Ehrenreich, Wong, Christopher, Toby Huss as the mystified police chief and Austin Abrams as James, a homeless heroin addict who crosses paths with Paul, turn in very strong performances.

And the ever so slight Best Supporting Actress Oscar favourite Amy Madigan relishes the chance to eye roll im the movie's showiest role.

It's a huge compliment to say 'Weapons' feels like it could have been created by Stephen King.

Bit now Cregger has one hell of a task ahead of him - trying to better a smart movie that is fantastically entertaining.

('Weapons' was released in UK and Irish cinemas on August 8, 2025)

Comments

HOUSE OF FUN (LOL: LAST ONE LAUGHING IRELAND)

© Amazon Prime Ever wondered what the 'Big Brother' house would have been like if it was populated just by comedians? No? Neither had I. But Amazon Prime has tried to answer that question anyway with a new comedy show 'LOL: Last One Laughing Ireland'. © Amazon Prime Originally conceived by the Japanese comic Hitoshi Matsumoyo in 2016, the show throws 10 stand-ups together in a 'Big Brother' style living room for six hours with the strict instruction that they are not allowed to laugh, crack a smile or smirk at each other's jokes or anything else. If they do, the first time they falter they get a yellow card warning. The second time, they receive a red card and are out of the game. The comedian who outlasts the others wins. © Amazon Prime Versions have been produced in Mexico, Italy, Iran, Australia, Canada, Germany, India, Russia, Nigeria, Colombia and France. And with a UK version reportedly in the works, Amazon has decided to test the waters with an Irish...

LAST ONE STANDING (TRUELOVE)

© Channel 4 & Clerkenwell Films Channel 4 drama at its very best is edgy. Its finest miniseries are not afraid to tackle big issues or whip up controversy. Think Alan Bleasdale's ' GBH ,' Simon Moore's ' Traffik ,' Alan Plater and Chris Mullin's ' A Very British Coup ,' Jack Thorne's ' National Treasure ,' Dominic Savage's ' I Am ..' dramas, Shane Meadows' ' The Virtues ' or Russell T Davies' ' It's A Sin .' These have tackled everything from the international drug trade to homophobia and AIDS, from sexual abuse to manipulation of the left wing. © Channel 4 & Clerkenwell Films 2024 has begun with another Channel 4, drama taking on a huge issue - assisted dying and the treatment of senior citizens. 'Truelove' is the creation of 'End of the F**king World' writer Charlie Lovell and Iain Wetherby and it raises uncomfortable questions. The six part miniseries begins with five fri...

TWO TRIBES (KINAHAN: THE TRUE STORY OF IRELAND'S MAFIA & GERRY HUTCH: AKA THE MONK)

From ' Public Enemy ' to ' The Irishman ,' ' The Sopranos ' to ' This City Is Ours ,' it seems we can't get enough of tales about gangsters on the big and small screen. Ireland has also had quite a few TV shows and movies about crime gangs in its time from ' The General ' to ' Calm With Horses ,' ' Love/Hate ' to ' KIN '. Sometimes, though, the grim storles of what real life crime gangs get up to is just as fascinating. That is especially true of two recent docuseries about rival sides in a feud that spectacularly erupted on the streets of Dublin - RTE1's 'Gerry Hutch: AKA The Monk' and BBC1's 'Kinahan: The True Story of Ireland's Mafia'. The feud between the Kinahan and Hutch gangs is probably best known for the shocking gun attack on a boxing weigh-in in Dublin's Regency Hotel in February 2016 . However the fallout claimed the lives of 18 people. There were lots of other casualties ...

Pomona for Facebook

Search This Blog