Weapons

I reviewed Brightburn earlier this month. I liked it, but didn't really care for the ending. I think I understand why. Horror movies, more than most genres, have down endings. There's nothing wrong with that, but when you watch 31 horror movies in a row, it gets draining watching people get so close to winning, only to have the rug pulled out from under them at the last second. And the ending to Brightburn is all kinds of bleak. I think that's why I've stopped objecting to Dear wanting to decorate for Christmas right after Halloween. I love horror movies, and I love Halloween, but with a career working in news, I definitely need a palate cleanser once October ends. So yeah... let's talk about...

Weapons (2025)

If you've read my reviews this year, you may have noticed that I liked the vast majority of the movies, with many getting pretty high ratings. However, one thing that's been missing this year has been a movie that did more than unnerve me. I've been waiting for something to scare me, but unfortunately, I've been left wanting... until now.

Weapons is not on the level of movies like Terrified, The Dark and the Wicked or Host, but it's pretty damn scary. The movie begins with a child narrating that a bunch of kids in one single class all went missing at 2:17 AM. They weren't kidnapped; they all just got out of bed, walked out the door, and Naruto ran down the street. Now, I know the way they run is based on the iconic Vietnam picture "The Terror of War." Still, I can't think of it as anything but Naruto running thanks to the Storm Area 51 craze from a few years ago. Plus, that's a lot more light-hearted than seeing a child on fire.

The movie is interesting because it's told nonlinearly. The movie jumps to the points of view of several characters. It covers the same periods of time, but it usually starts slightly before the last story and advances a bit after the last chapter ended. Each change gives you a little more information, and switches to a different character right when things start to pick up. It feels like you're reading a book where each chapter ends on a cliffhanger to make it impossible to put the book down. I didn't mind it so much in this case, but truth be told, I'm not a big fan of that type of storytelling. Stephen King does that a lot. He'll set something up and then end a chapter right before the climax. Then he jumps to a different character in each of the next three chapters before FINALLY getting back to the POV you're interested in. While this movie did have several starts and stops, it wasn't as jarring because every POV had something interesting going on. But still, I'm not the biggest fan.

I really liked the baddie in this. Amy Madigan plays Gladys, and she's so good. While reading more about the cast, I was shocked to learn that she played Annie from Field of Dreams! To give you an idea of how great she is in this, Madigan says this is her favorite role, and I can see why. She's awesome in this. When we first meet her, she's frail and has to practically be carried into a house. We don't know much about her except that she's the aunt of one of the children, and later, we find out she's quite proficient in blood magic. She quickly takes over the parents, turning them into husks and basically her slaves. She threatens the boy, Alex, that she will kill his parents if he says anything. To demonstrate that she's not bluffing, with little more than a look, the parents repeatedly stab themselves in the face with the forks at the table. There's nothing human in their movements either; they're like robots, completely without freewill, rhythmically puncturing their faces while Alex looks on in horror.

The movie follows multiple characters, but the big three you need to worry about are Alex, Alex's teacher, Justine (Julia Garner) and Archer (Josh Brolin), the father of one of the missing children. Justine is a teacher, and every child in her class, except for Alex, disappeared, and there's Archer, who blames both Justine and Alex for the disappearances. While he doesn't necessarily think they harmed the kids or took part in it, he absolutely believes they know more than what they're saying.

The movie plays out as an intriguing mystery with occasional scary stuff happening. It's not until Gladys shows up that things start going off the rails. I don't want to give a beat-by-beat or each story and how they converge because, because, off the top of my head, there's like six different POV's. While they take detours from what you'd like to see, they're all interesting and provide needed information and revelations to the mystery.

Garner and Brolin own this movie, though. Garner is great as the drunk teacher who is dealing with suddenly becoming a pariah and someone who is continually overstepping to figure out what happened to her students. Brolin is great as the obsessed dad looking for his son. The disappearance absolutely broke him. He sleeps in his son's bed, ignoring his wife, and shirking his responsibilities at his job. Not only that, but he's so convinced that Justine knows something that he painted the word "Witch" on her car, and in his grief and rage, he starts stalking her.

What I liked about him is that as soon as he gets some different information than what he expects, he doesn't stubbornly dig in. There's a scene at a gas station where Justine is getting attacked, and Archer immediately steps in to protect her, despite having just a moment before trying to intimidate a confession out of her. If you're going to have someone on your side, Archer is a good one to have your back.

Before we get to the third act, there's general spookiness and some scary nightmares, but the scariest moment before we get to the end is when we get the junkie's story. There's a pretty fantastic scene when he breaks into Alex's house and finds himself in the basement. It reminded me of a certain scene from The Empty Man, and it got me good.

You stepped over the salt!

Now, let me talk a bit about the finale. It is SO good. Gladys decides it's time to move on and cryptically warns Alex not to cross the salt lines on the ground. Because his parents are on the other side of the salt line, he crosses, and the response is so sudden and so scary that it's just awesome. Justine and Archer also cross the line, and they're also violently attacked. I love it when the husks are enraged because they are incredibly vicious and don't feel pain. Like Archer whoops the shit out of one of them, and no matter what he does, the guy keeps getting up. There's a stretch where he just launches the baddie off a wall multiple times as it charges him. It's cool, but then gets funny the more times it happens. Still, this scene further illustrates why Josh Brolin keeps getting roles like this. He can play a tough guy so well. Not only is he physically intimidating, but his voice is just as scary when he's pissed. He doesn't get the praise he deserves.

Then we get to the ending... It. Is. Awesome! My favorite "Oh shit, what have I done?" moment I've seen in a movie is from Freddy vs. Jason when Freddy realizes he's trapped inside a burning cabin with a very angry J-Bird. In this one, Gladys thinks she's won, when all of a sudden, things change in an instant. The look of horror on her face and the realization that she done goofed is so good. We don't immediately understand why she reacted that way, but that changes in one awesome moment. I am not going to give any details because you HAVE to see it. It's brilliant. Not only that, but the movie lets the moment breathe. There's a chase that goes on for a bit, and it gets more awesome the longer it goes. I couldn't help but laugh because I was enjoying seeing this play out so much, because it's absolutely incredible. I can't say enough how much I loved everything that was happening.

This movie is scary, well-acted, has a very engaging story and off the top of my head, I can't think of a more satisfying "baddie gets their comeuppance" scene in any movie. If you like horror movies, you should check this movie out!

9.5 Dr. Chainsaws!

Where is that extra half, Dr. Chainsaw, Mr. Pat?