After teasing audiences with a cryptic and chilling teaser, the full Weapons trailer has landed, and it’s everything genre fans didn’t know they needed. Directed by Zach Cregger—who shocked the horror world with 2022’s Barbarian—this new feature elevates his signature blend of atmosphere, psychological tension, and narrative ambition to an entirely new level. With a powerhouse cast led by Julia Garner and Josh Brolin, Weapons isn’t just a horror movie. It’s a cinematic puzzle wrapped in nightmares, poised to break through the genre ceiling this August 8.
The eerie disappearance of a classroom sparks a community’s unraveling
The trailer opens with the unnerving calm of a child’s voice, delivering the kind of opening line that sticks in your brain: “This is a true story that happened in my town.” What follows is a haunting recount of how, at precisely 2:17 a.m., every student in one elementary school classroom mysteriously got out of bed, left their homes, and vanished without a trace. The location—Maybrook. The trigger—unknown. The victims—everyone but one child in Mrs. Justine Gandy’s (Julia Garner) class.
What sounds like the premise of a supernatural thriller quickly morphs into something far more complex and unsettling. As parents descend into panic and blame, led by a furious Josh Brolin whose son is among the missing, the town of Maybrook spirals into chaos. But the children aren’t entirely gone. And that’s when the horror truly begins.
Weapons employs six perspectives to craft a horror story like a nonlinear comic event
One of the most fascinating elements revealed in the Weapons trailer—and what sets it apart from typical horror fare—is its storytelling structure. Cregger doesn’t just ask “what happened to the kids?” He deconstructs the entire event through six distinct points of view: the teacher, the grieving father, a cop, a criminal, the school principal, and one of the students. This mosaic narrative approach, likened to Magnolia in its ambition, promises a layered exploration of trauma, blame, and perception.
Each character’s chapter seems to peel back a different layer of the mystery, while also revealing their own personal demons. Garner’s Justine is especially central, and the trailer gives us a potent look at her descent—into grief, suspicion, and perhaps something more supernatural. When she’s confronted at a school meeting with the gut-punch line, “Why just her classroom? Why only hers?” the cracks in her composure become the audience’s entry point into the film’s psychological core.
The trailer teases sinister symbolism, blood-soaked imagery, and genre-bending twists
Though the disappearance is the catalyst, Cregger makes it clear in interviews that it’s not the entire story. “The movie will fork and change and reinvent and go in new places,” he told Entertainment Weekly. And the trailer gives us a taste of those wild turns. Between the eerie shots of the kids silently gathered in a darkened classroom, and flashes of clown-faced children, we get a sense that Weapons is tapping into a subconscious fear of innocence turned sinister.
There’s a moment that feels almost subliminal—a pale child breaking through a window, a woman stabbing herself in the face with a fork, someone vomiting a black, tar-like substance. These aren’t just jump scares; they’re visual metaphors for a story that’s breaking free from reality and diving into the allegorical. Horror fans will be especially alert to the brief glimpse of a female clown, echoing the CinemaCon reports, though its meaning remains tantalizingly ambiguous.
Julia Garner’s traumatized teacher role offers a powerful emotional anchor
After a string of high-profile roles across genres, Garner’s Justine Gandy may be her most emotionally raw and complex yet. Weapons gives her a platform to channel terror, guilt, isolation, and determination. Whether she’s walking into an empty classroom, crying in her car, or waking from nightmares, Garner conveys a character who is not only haunted by what happened, but possibly being blamed for it. It’s a brilliant setup for a performance that could redefine her place in genre cinema, much like what happened with Elisabeth Moss in The Invisible Man.
Zach Cregger’s personal touch and creative team make Weapons a next-gen horror must-see
Cregger has called Weapons “an incredibly personal story,” hinting that some chapters are even autobiographical. Whether or not there’s a connection to Barbarian—and he won’t confirm or deny—what’s clear is that he’s no longer content to just create scary movies. He’s building emotional, psychological, and narrative experiences that stick with you long after the credits roll.
Behind the camera, Cregger’s team reads like a genre dream squad: Larkin Seiple’s cinematography (known from Blade Runner 2049 and Lightyear), Trish Sommerville’s costume design, and the Holladay brothers’ atmospheric score. With a $20 million budget and Warner Bros. backing, this isn’t just a creative passion project—it’s a full-scale genre assault designed to cement Cregger’s status as a top-tier horror auteur.
Weapons isn’t just about missing kids—it’s about the darkness lurking beneath small-town surfaces
More than a supernatural thriller, more than a mystery, Weapons is about perception, scapegoating, and the unseen horrors that dwell beneath everyday life. The time 2:17 a.m. will no doubt become an iconic timestamp in horror lore, but it’s the emotional resonance and bold storytelling that will make Weapons a genre landmark. With an ensemble cast that includes Brian Tyree Henry, Benedict Wong, Alden Ehrenreich, and June Diane Raphael, this film doesn’t just have star power—it has story power.
August 8 can’t come soon enough. And whatever you do, keep an eye on the clocks.