Weapons

It will be interesting to see if American audiences will be patient enough for the slow burn of writer/director Zach Cregger's Weapons which takes place one month after all but one student from an elementary classroom each leave their homes at exactly 2:17am one morning and disappear into the night. Presented in a series of vignettes highlighting different characters, some of which overlap more than others, the film digs into the trauma and fear the kids' disappearance has caused before the movie, eventually, reveals the truth behind events. And, if you are patient enough to wait for it, Weapons delivers one of the most memorable climactic sequences in recent memory.

Julia Garner stars as the teacher of the classroom whose students disappear and whom many parents suspect must know more than she's saying. We also get Josh Brolin as the most highlighted of the grieving parents, Cary Christopher as the single student who didn't disappear, Benedict Wong as the school principal, Alden Ehrenreich as a local beat cop, Austin Abrams as a homeless drug addict, and Amy Madigan in a role that has to be seen to be believed.

The script requires the performances to be strong enough to carry the dramatic weight of the script early on, and these actors do not disappoint. I particularly enjoyed Wong who so naturally slides into the role of the concerned, but still practical, high school administrator. Everything about these characters and their world, other than the bizarre event, feels real and lived in which makes the horror elements hit that much harder when they are highlighted.

The film is slow to give up its secrets, preferring to marinate in the aftermath of a bizarre event that no one has any answers to. In searching for answers more than one character will push themselves to the edge while teasing us with horror staples such as a creepy house whose doors, once opened to the audience, allow the thriller to enter full horror territory. At its best, Weapons may not rival the highs of Sinners, but it's still one hell of a summer horror experience.

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• Title: Weapons
• IMDb: link