A new Weapons trailer ups the scares for Barbarian director Zach Cregger’s next mysterious movie. Written and directed by Cregger, who made his buzzy debut with Barbarian in 2022, the upcoming horror film follows the small community of Maybrook after 17 kids from the same classroom, all but one, mysteriously vanish overnight at exactly the same time. Weapons‘ cast includes Josh Brolin, Julia Garner, Alden Ehrenreich, Austin Abrams, Benedict Wong, and many more.
Now, Warner Bros. has released the second official trailer for Weapons. After the children mysteriously disappear, their teacher, Justine Gandy (Julia Garner), holds a conference at school where Archer Graff (Josh Brolin), a father of one of the missing children, angrily questions her about what happened. As they are running away, one of the children says via ominous voiceover, “This is a true story that happened right here in my town. A lot of people die in a lot of really weird ways in this story, but you’re not gonna find it in the news.”
Archer and Justine begin investigating the incident, as the former reviews footage showing the children willingly walking out of their homes, not being pulled out or forced. As the trailer progresses, it shows a series of increasingly disturbing images. Watch the new Weapons trailer below:
What The Weapons Trailer Means For The Movie
It Ups The Scares, But The Plot Remains A Mystery
Compared to the first Weapons trailer, the second one certainly ups the scares with a series of increasingly disturbing and violent images. For instance, a man with a bloodied face runs through town, followed by another man repeatedly stabbing himself in the face. There are quick snippets of someone’s face being covered in a stream of blood and someone breaking down a door and sticking their head through the hole à la Jack Torrance in The Shining, all while a demonic voice repeatedly asks, “Are you watching?“
While the new trailer ups the scares, the movie’s plot mostly remains a mystery, as it should. It remains unclear why all but one child from the same classroom mysteriously vanish on the same night at exactly the same time. Instead, the trailer focuses on the community that is left questioning who or what is behind their disappearance. With its unsettling imagery and cryptic teases, the trailer suggests that Weapons will be less about providing clear answers and more about unraveling the terrifying mystery.
Our Take On The Weapons Trailer
It’s Both Unsettling & Narratively Ambitious
The new Weapons trailer is both visually stunning and deeply unsettling, with exceptional cinematography and composition. Beyond ramping up the horror, the new trailer hints at the film’s ambitious structure, unfolding through six different perspectives – a teacher, parent, cop, criminal, principal, and a student – forming a complex mosaic inspired by Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia. Cregger’s approach with Weapons feels daring, unnerving, and refreshingly genre-defying.
Weapons releases in theaters on August 8.
Source: Warner Bros.
