This post contains spoilers for “Weapons.”
Zach Cregger has, in a relatively brief period of time, asserted himself as one of the horror genre’s most promising voices. After his 2022 feature debut “Barbarian” became an unexpected hit, Hollywood at large became very interested in whatever he was going to do next. Cregger used his cache to make “Weapons,” which wound up at New Line Cinema following a bidding war. The resulting movie has been met with widespread acclaim and looks to be another winner.
The film takes place in the aftermath of a strange incident in which all but one child from the same class mysteriously vanishes at the same time on the same night. The surrounding community is left questioning who – or what – is behind the mass disappearance. It’s a scary movie, which shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone who saw the trailers. What’s surprising though is how damn funny it is, too.
There wasn’t an ounce of intentional humor in the marketing campaign. It was mysterious, filled with haunting images of children running through the streets in the middle of the night, people seemingly possessed by some sort of killer instinct, and a creeping sense of dread. That’s all present, make no mistake, but Cregger also found some time to inject a downright shocking amount of laugh-out-loud, genuinely funny moments amongst the horror.
Weapons is a funny horror movie (but not quite a horror/comedy)
This perhaps shouldn’t come as a huge shock to those who have seen “Barbarian,” which has a whole bunch of pitch-perfect comedy among some of the most impeccably crafted scares in recent memory. Once again, Cregger strikes a similar balance, albeit in a radically different way within the confines of a radically different movie, asserting himself as a master of walking in both worlds.
At the same time, one couldn’t reasonably accuse “Weapons” (or “Barbarian” for that matter) of being a horror/comedy. It’s not “Shaun of the Dead.” It’s not “The Cabin in the Woods.” It’s a serious, wildly effective horror movie about an evil witch sucking the life from children in an unsuspecting town. Shots of that makeup-clad old woman will haunt nightmares. Images of zombified parents exiting a house hiding a darkness inside will send chills up one’s spine. It’s a horror movie first and foremost. Be that as it may, it’s undeniably funny as hell.
I can’t speak to what it’s like to watch this movie in isolation, but seeing it in a packed house, even intentional comedies like the recently released “Naked Gun” reboot would have a tough time extracting the laughs that the climax of “Weapons” generates. When those possessed kids start chasing after the evil witch Aunt Gladys through the neighborhood until they eventually tear her to shreds? It’s humor stemming from the absurd of the highest order. That’s why /Film’s Chris Evangelista said the film had him “cackling with glee” in his review.
When Josh Brolin’s Archer wakes up from his Gladys-fueled nightmare and simply yells “f**k!”, that’s about as funny as it gets. All the same, Cregger somehow keeps “Weapons” more of a horror movie with a sense of humor, rather than being an outright horror/comedy in equal parts. It’s not set up, punchline. It’s a twisted light amidst the darkness. It’s part of what makes Cregger’s work feel so unique.
Weapons director Zach Cregger makes use of his comedy background
What viewers may not realize is that Cregger was actually a member of the comedy series “The Whitest Kids U’ Know,” which aired from 2007 to 2011, so he has a background in comedy. Yet, he parlayed that into a promising career as a horror director, not unlike Jordan Peele making modern horror classics like “Us” and “Get Out” after spending years making “Key & Peele” for Comedy Central. There’s something to be said about that correlation.
/Film’s Chris Evangelista spoke to Cregger in honor of the release of “Weapons” and asked him about his approach to injecting comedy into his movies. Maybe more surprising than the amount of humor in the movie itself is the fact that the director, by his own admission, doesn’t have a well thought out approach to these outstanding bits of humor:
“It’s hard. I don’t have an approach. I don’t really have a process for how to get comedy into horror. As it comes to me when I’m writing, I just kind of let it in when it feels appropriate. The only thing I know is that when I try and write something funny into a horror movie, it’s usually bad and it ends up on the cutting room floor. So whenever I think I’m being clever, I’m probably making a mistake. And whenever I just let the characters behave authentically to the situation that they’re in, then that tends to work. So that’s a lesson I learned on ‘Weapons,’ is don’t try and be funny, just let it be.”
Perhaps you didn’t go into this movie expecting to laugh but, based on the reception thus far, it certainly doesn’t appear to be an unwelcome surprise.
“Weapons” is in theaters now. You can read our review here.