It’s tough to sneak up on audiences twice.

Yet even though Zach Cregger established himself as a promising horror director with Barbarian, he manages to up the ante and deliver a unique, multifaceted, and unnerving work of terror—and, in the process, prove himself a genre filmmaker of tremendous talent—with Weapons.

Expanding upon many of the ideas and devices he employed in his breakout hit, Cregger’s latest upends suburban domestic calm by stealthily plumbing fears about family, home, and the social norms and bonds that tether our clans and communities together. Escalating at a mad rate until it tips into outright lunacy, it’s a higher and more hellish brand of nightmare.

Weapons, hitting theaters Aug. 8, commences with narration from third-grader Alex (Cary Christopher), who explai

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