Weapons - 4K Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Weapons



Movie:
4K Video:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:


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Movie
After ironically re-reviewing It Follows a few days ago, I get Weapons in for review, and the first thoughts running through my mind after the viewing was “wow! This was the best horror film I’ve seen since It Follows”! And it’s not hard to see why. The film is written and directed by none other than Zach Cregger himself, who hasn’t made a feature film since the 2022 cult hit Barbarian (which has STILL not seen a physical media release, which chaps many of our butts). So even though the trailer looked a bit odd, I was excited to see this for the very first time, as I was completely blown away by Barbarian, and several friends who had gone to see it raved about the film. Well, none of them were wrong, as I absolutely LOVED the film, and find it to probably be the best horror film of 2025 so far.

In the fictional town of Maybrook, 17 students magically vanished overnight. All of them walked out of the house on their own volition at 2:17 A.M., and ALL of them came from Miss Justine Gandy’s (Julia Garner) class at the local school. Bewildered, the entire town ends up turning on Justine, blaming her for all of their children vanishing. Now the pariah of the town, Justine tries to figure out what went wrong, while drinking herself into a coma over the guilt and abuse that she has heaped on her head.

I’m going to stop my synopsis of the film here, as any more than that and it’s going to spoil the experience. Similar to Barbarian, Weapons tells the story from about 4 or 5 different points of view, starting with Justine for the first 30 minutes, segueing into local cop Paul (Alden Ehrenreich), then via one of the parents of the children (Josh Brolin), and finally from the point of view of Alex (Cary Christopher), the ONLY child in the entire class who didn’t get kidnapped.

Cregger does a masterful job building suspense and keeping things creepy for the first two-thirds of the film. Building up a story that maximizes creep, while actually showing very little. Each time we switch character points of view, the story expands a little bit more, showing bits of narrative that add to the mystery with each progressive change. By the time we get to the third act of the movie, we already know the villain, we know that the kids are out there still, and we know that it wasn’t Justine who did it… But the WHY happens with our final POV shift into the lone survivor of the night.

Simply put, Weapons is an awesome little tale of suspense that makes a wild tonal shift into part comedy, part over-the-top gore in the final act after spending an hour and a half setting things up. And it’s not done badly either. The introduction of Alex’s aunt Gladys (Amy Madigan) adds a weird twist to things and opens up more questions about her motivations, but at the end of the day, Cregger side steps a lot of pitfalls by allowing her to simply be “evil”. There’s no deep dive into what made her this way, nor who she is doing what she does. Rather, her powers and her motivations are simply seen as “evil”, allowing for the mystery of how things play out to come to fruition without another 45 minutes of backstory. And frankly, I’m all for it. One of Hollywood’s worst tropes is taking an evil character and fleshing them out to be semi-sympathetic, or simply dashing the mysterious part of them to bits by over-explaining WHY they do what they do. One of the biggest allures regarding evil characters is that they are simply bad. Shrouded in mystery, that evil seems all the more terrifying, and frankly, unnecessary most of the time.




Rating:

Rated R for strong bloody violence and grisly images, language throughout, some sexual content, and drug use.




4K Video: Video:

Taken from a 4K native master, Weapons looks phenomenal on 4K UHD, with very few flaws. Set mainly at night or in darkened inner rooms, Weapons really takes advantage of the HDR/Dolby Vision color grading, with the black levels really deepening and enriching the entire viewing experience. Fine details show through with fantastic clarity, whether Justine is out and about at the gas station with Josh Brolin, or in the darkest reservoirs of Alex’s home, where candle lighting and creepy amber tinges are all the coloring you see. Being that this is authored on a 100-gig triple-layered disc, the bitrate remains high, with no signs of any major artifacting or compression anywhere. I DID see two small flashes of banding when Josh Brolin is rolling around on the floor with the druggie and catches a glimpse of the children, but it was literally just a flicker, so no harm, no foul in terms of grading. All in all, this is a creepy and atmospheric film that really uses the advances in 4K technology to give us an amazing-looking image.







Audio:

Weapons Dolby Atmos track brings the pain with a seriously impressive and immersive mix. Strongly atmospheric and creepy, the Atmos track permeates the entire sound structure with a layered and heavy-sounding mix that features throbbing bass, screaming kids, and organic sound effects that really bring the film to life. Surrounds and overheads are in constant use with the creepy score, and effects right from every corner of the room, with the 3rd act really bringing the goods (that final chase is hilarious and an amazing audio treat at the same time). LFE is earth-shattering when needed, but also complementary and softer when not needed as well. There are more than a few jump scares with thumps and bumps in the night to keep typical horror fans enticed, and enough nuance and subtle variations to keep audio nerds like me enthralled.








Extras:

• Director Zach Cregger: Making Horror Personal (featurette) - Zach Cregger unravels the intricate origins of Weapons. In this insightful exclusive, he details the initial sparks of inspiration that ignited the project, revealing how elements of his own life experiences found their way into the film's core.
• Weaponized: The Cast of Weapons (featurette) - An ensemble piece showcasing the stark personalities and combative dynamic between the different characters, as well as the motivations that lead them down the path of mystery, conflict, and death.
• Weapons: Texture of Terror (featurette) - Maybrook, a seemingly perfect town, harbors a darkness that runs deeper than its charming façade. Tom Hammock, along with key cast and crew, delves into the intricacies of designing the terror that grips this unsuspecting community.

Final Score: ​

Weird, well-acted, and one of my favorite horror movies of the year, Weapons is a treat for horror fans of all ages and creeds. My only caveat is that just like Barbarian or It Follows, Weapons is not your typical horror movie, and takes a different approach to its pacing. So if you’re not a fan of either of those two movies, then you may find criticism in this one as well. As for Cregger himself, I’m absolutely loving his take on the horror genre, and look forward to more projects from him. My only fear is that much like Robert Eggers, Cregger may rely too much on the same “tricks” that he used in both Barbarian and Weapons and turn into a one-trick pony. But that is neither here nor there regarding the film at hand. Warner’s 4K UHD disc looks and sounds amazing, but the extras are pretty slim. But don’t let that minor hiccup dissuade you from watching the best horror film of 2025. Highly recommended.



Technical Specifications:

Starring: Josh Brolin, Julia Garner, Cary Christopher, Scarlett Sher,
Directed by: Zach Cregger
Written by: Zach Cregger
Aspect Ratio: 2.391 HEVC
Audio: English: Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 Core), French, Spanish, English DD 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish, French
Studio: Warner Bros
Rated: R
Runtime: 128 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: October 14th, 2025

Recommendation: Great Watch

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