• Director: Zach Cregger
• Screenplay: Zach Cregger
• Cast: Josh Brolin, Julia Garner, Cary Christopher, Alden Ehrenreich, Austin Abrams, Benedict Wong, Amy Madigan
• Cinematography: Larkin Seiple
• Editing: Joe Murphy
• Score: Ryan Holladay, Hays Holladay, Zach Cregger
• Genre: Mystery horror
• Runtime: 128 minutes

At exactly 2:17am, 17 children up and leave their respective houses and scarper into the night, leaving their parents bereft. And full of questions. Where did they disappear to? These kids left of their own volition – this isn’t a cut and dry abduction. The way they’re running is odd too: arms outstretched as if they’re pretending to be fighter jets. All 17 belonged to the same class at school, taught by Ms. Justine Gandy (Julia Garner). Except one boy didn’t flee by foot: Alex, who claims not to know the whereabouts of his classmates.

Justine becomes the town pariah, understandably so, unfair as it may seem. A month after the incident, a community meeting takes place where she unsuccessfully attempts to cool tempers of frantic parents. Her car is vandalised: ‘witch’ is scrawled across it. Could she really be responsible?

‘Weapons‘ is divided into chapters, each from a different character’s point of view. As the portions pass, the enigma begins to unravel. Justine’s story is first; we see her processing the situation by drinking and hooking up with her married ex-boyfriend (Alden Ehrenreich). Then comes Archer (Josh Brolin), grieving father of a young son, who actively seeks an answer to the disappearances (doing a better job than the police certainly). Next: Paul (Justine’s ex, a cop), James (a petty burglar), Marcus (the school principal) and Alex (the boy at the centre of the whole thing).

Good performances from Garner, Brolin and Ehrenreich as flawed characters and an eerie atmosphere keep you sufficiently curious. There’s a couple of jump scares thrown in to maintain the horror levels and some strangely comedic moments courtesy of Alex’s wacky Aunt Gladys but ‘Weapons‘ is a genuinely intriguing mystery in every sense of the word.

My rating: 7 / 10