Weapons director Zach Cregger and star Josh Brolin on the new horror movie
Cregger explains why he had to drop a lot of the film’s jokes, while Brolin reveals why he initially hesitated when approached for the film
If there is one thing Zach Cregger learned while writing and directing his new horror movie Weapons, it is that the best laughs will not come from the jokes he writes.
The film follows Cregger’s 2022 solo directorial debut Barbarians, the widely celebrated genre-bending horror. This time, the young director bends even more, spinning a town into chaos when all children but one from the same classroom mysteriously vanish, leaving a trail of questions in their place.
“If the humour is coming from an authentic reaction that a character’s having, then it works,” Cregger said. “There’s a lot of jokes that didn’t make it into the movie that I thought were going to be so funny. And then we did a test screening, and nobody laughed and I’m like, OK, it’s gotta go.”
Paranoia runs deep in the film. The town’s heartbroken parents are represented by Josh Brolin’s character, Archer, whose son is among the missing. The students’ teacher, played by Julia Garner, is determined to solve the mystery, despite parents blaming her for the disappearances.