Continuing my countdown of last year’s best films…

Best Films of 2025
#7. Weapons

Zach Cregger’s 2022 Barbarian was an easy top ten entry for me — a twisty delight, alternately nerve-wracking and hilarious. It made me an instant fan, eager to see what he would deliver next.

The answer is another twisty delight, alternately nerve-wracking and hilarious. Weapons is broader and more ambitious than Barbarian but it serves up the same intoxicating blend of mystery, humor, scares, and catharsis.

Cregger says one of the key influences on this film was Paul Thomas Anderson’s 1999 Magnolia, and you can see that in Weapons‘ extended cast of characters, each of whom has a chapter told from his or her point of view. That clever structure allows Cregger to tiptoe up to major reveals, only to pull back and visit them from another perspective. It’s an ingenious trick that simultaneously builds suspense and character.

Cregger’s camerawork also nods to Magnolia, always on the move, peeking around corners, tracking behind actors, pushing the pace and the drama. It’s a credit to his careful direction that the film feels propulsive but also incredibly patient.

Like Jordan Peele, Cregger likes to mine deeper thematic territory in his horror. Barbarian explored toxic masculinity, and Weapons has been called a metaphor for both school shootings and the devastating impact of our gerontocracy on the young. Both readings work well, or the movie can be enjoyed as a simple Pied Piper-style fable.

The film’s villain is kept a secret until the final chapter, but social media (not to mention awards bodies) have long since revealed that Amy Madigan delivers an instantly iconic performance as Aunt Gladys, a cartoonishly made up elderly woman with a talent for the occult. Her ultimate fate provides one of last year’s most surprising and exhilarating scenes, a set piece that is somehow hilarious, moving, and horrifying all at once.

I’m happy to see a horror performance recognized by the Academy Awards, but I wish the body was bold enough to nominate this movie for its screenplay, direction, editing, and sound work, not to mention in Best Picture. Fortunately, the stellar box office receipts will help ensure Zach Cregger’s unique vision reaches big screens for many years to come.