With the release of the Weapons trailer, Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema have given genre fans their next must-watch theatrical experience this summer. From the mind of Barbarian director Zach Cregger, this isn't just another horror-thriller—it's a full-scale, emotionally charged, twist-heavy epic that dares to soar beyond the confines of its genre. Featuring a star-studded cast including Julia Garner, Josh Brolin, and Alden Ehrenreich, Weapons is poised to become the most talked-about original thriller of 2025.
The eerie disappearance of 17 children sparks a deeper, darker investigation
The trailer drops us into the quiet town of Maybrook, Pennsylvania, where time seems to freeze on a chillingly surreal event. At exactly 2:17 a.m. one Wednesday morning, 17 children from the same elementary school class wake up, leave their homes voluntarily, and disappear without a trace. What begins as a baffling mystery soon spirals into something far more complex and unsettling. As one child’s voice ominously narrates, “Every other class had all their kids, but Mrs. Gandy’s room was totally empty.”
Julia Garner’s Justine Gandy, a teacher grappling with the loss of her students, becomes the emotional core of the film. Opposite her is Josh Brolin’s Archer Graff, a father desperate for answers and unnerved by the strange pattern of the disappearances. Alden Ehrenreich rounds out the trio as a local cop with a complicated history with Justine—his mustache, a deliberate nod to Magnolia, adds an oddball flair to an otherwise grim investigation.
Director Zach Cregger lets the story evolve — and it evolves wildly
What separates Weapons from the pack is Cregger’s signature storytelling style—one that he describes as “letting the movie show itself to me.” Just like Barbarian, Cregger wrote without a strict outline, allowing the plot to organically twist and turn. And twist it does. “The mystery is going to propel you through at least half of the movie,” Cregger says, “but that is not the movie... By the midpoint, we’ve moved on to way crazier s--- than that.”
This isn’t simply a film about missing kids. It’s a multi-layered, genre-bending journey that “forks and changes and reinvents” itself in real time. Imagine starting with a grounded crime thriller and slowly morphing into something metaphysical, emotional, and downright explosive. That's Weapons in a nutshell.
A hidden connection to Barbarian? The marketing teases a larger universe
In a brilliant bit of viral tie-in marketing, Warner Bros. launched MaybrookMissing.com, a faux news site that deepens the film’s mythology. Alongside articles about the missing children, the site references a hidden underground prison discovered in a rental home—eerily similar to the one in Barbarian. And with Georgina Campbell reprising her role as Tess Marshall in Weapons, fans can’t help but wonder: Is this a shared universe in the making, or just a clever Easter egg?
Cregger remains coy on the connection, refusing to confirm or deny any ties. But the tease is enough to spark theories across the horror community. It’s the kind of smart, subtle world-building that Marvel and DC fans are used to hunting for, and it fits perfectly with Cregger’s desire to “watch the audience engage with the work on their own.”
Inspired by Magnolia, fueled by personal grief, and aimed squarely at genre fans
What truly elevates Weapons is Cregger’s ambition. He openly cites Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia as a creative inspiration—not just in tone, but in scope. The ensemble cast, the intertwining storylines, the blend of melancholy and color—these are hallmarks of Weapons’s style. And like Magnolia, Cregger isn’t afraid to go big.
Behind the director’s swagger is a deeply personal story. Cregger revealed that he began writing Weapons while grappling with sudden, profound grief. He calls the film an “incredibly personal story” with certain chapters that are “legitimately autobiographical.” It’s a testament to how genre filmmaking can serve as both catharsis and creation—a space where personal pain is transformed into cinematic power.
More ambitious, more creative, and more daring than Barbarian
After a high-stakes bidding war and the pressure to follow up on Barbarian’s success, Cregger delivers not just a sequel to his own reputation, but a leap forward. “It’s more ambitious in almost every way,” he says. “The story is weirder and it’s twistier and it’s bigger... It’s just a bigger, weirder movie than Barbarian is.”
And he means that in the best way possible. Weapons isn’t just a film with bigger set pieces and more stars—it’s a film that dares to dream within the framework of horror. It’s a genre epic in the truest sense, one that shoots for the stars while keeping its feet firmly planted in human emotion.
Whether you’re a fan of Barbarian, a lover of genre-bending storytelling, or just someone who wants to see what fresh blood looks like in Hollywood, Weapons is your August must-see. And if the trailer is any indication, Cregger hasn’t just made another horror film—he’s crafted a modern masterpiece with twists sharp enough to cut through steel.
Weapons hits theaters August 8.