Horror fans, brace yourselves: the second official trailer for Weapons has arrived, and it’s every bit as disturbing, cryptic, and visually intoxicating as you’d expect from the mind behind Barbarian.
Written and directed by Zach Cregger, Weapons plunges us into the small town of Maybrook, where an unthinkable mystery grips the community—17 children from the same classroom vanish at the exact same time. Only one returns. What unfolds from this premise isn’t a straight shot toward answers, but a spiraling descent into dread, trauma, and truth.
The Next Evolution Of Horror Storytelling
If Barbarian proved that Cregger could flip genre conventions on their head, Weapons makes it clear he’s here to shatter them completely. The new trailer trades exposition for escalation, teasing an audacious structure that weaves six unique perspectives—teacher, parent, student, principal, cop, and criminal—into a tangled tapestry of terror.
Each thread adds to the growing unease. We see Julia Garner as Justine Gandy, a schoolteacher grappling with guilt and suspicion, and Josh Brolin’s Archer Graff, a grieving father teetering on the edge of obsession. Their emotional arcs unfold against increasingly surreal backdrops: townspeople self-harming in public, blood cascading across faces, cryptic VHS footage, and a demonically whispered refrain: “Are you watching?”
Less Explanation, More Dread
What makes Weapons stand apart isn’t just the cast—though it boasts a heavy-hitting ensemble including Alden Ehrenreich, Benedict Wong, and Austin Abrams—it’s the film’s refusal to spoon-feed the audience. Like an arthouse puzzlebox soaked in dread, the trailer offers zero easy answers about what happened to the children, why only one returned, or what darkness is creeping through Maybrook.
Instead, it dares us to sit in the unease.
That, paired with breathtaking cinematography, meticulous sound design, and a structure inspired by Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia, signals Cregger’s evolution into a horror auteur unafraid to challenge both his audience and his genre.
A24 Edge Meets Studio Scale
With Warner Bros. backing the project, Weapons might be one of the rare studio horror films that feels as bold and experimental as an indie. It walks a thrilling line between prestige and pulp, arthouse and grindhouse. If the trailer is any indication, Cregger isn’t trying to outdo Barbarian—he’s trying to outgrow it. And based on what we’ve seen so far? He just might succeed.