🎬 #184 Feeling Directed.
It’s been a while since I’ve really enjoyed the feeling of being led through a story by an assured hand as much as I have, until I saw this week’s film.
Happy viewing,
Bry
FILM: WEAPONS
2025 Dir Zach Cregger
2 hrs 08 mins
![Weapons [Film Review] - Wall Of Sound](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!NLSS!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0d827a4d-747d-4643-a835-3b0fa3e52dca_2048x858.webp "Weapons [Film Review] - Wall Of Sound")
There is a specificity to Weapons that is a pleasure to behold. Of course all films are specific because they consist of teams of people making creative decisions about what happens in the frame. But in this film you can really feel it, the story-telling technique is tangible and purposeful and it feels good. Like you’re in a pair of hands that really knows what story they’re telling. There’s no loose-ness about it, no bagginess.
The mysterious disappearance of a classroom full of kids at exactly the same time one night is dissected through various character’s point of views - like an interlinking Roshamon style narrative. The camera is fluid, always moving - reminding me at points of the energy of the camera work of Magnolia - flowing, following, pushing in and pulling us along through the story. This purposeful approach to the storytelling makes all the more sense when you see the film for yourself, and the events begin to unravel. Please seek it out for a studied approach to horror that isn’t sensationalist or gratuitous.
*Available in cinemas in the US and UK
Fact: David Fincher is thanked in the credits due to him providing a lot of advice to Cregger especially in the post-production phase of the film.