‘Weapons’ is a fright-night delight from a promising director

Even greater than the pleasure that accompanies the emergence of a new talent is the pleasure of seeing that talent confirmed. With “Weapons,” an almost absurdly enjoyable nerve-shredding night at the movies, the writer-director Zach Cregger vaults into the esteemed company of modern horror maestros like Ari Aster (“Hereditary,” “Midsommar”), Robert Eggers (“The Lighthouse,” “Nosferatu”) and Jordan Peele (“Get Out,” “Nope”).

Where those directors can have ambitions and/or pretensions toward art, Cregger simply (and not so simply) prefers to toy with audiences in ways that keep them off guard while letting them play along. Hitchcock did the same, and none better, but Cregger is an apt pupil. So where the director’s 2022 breakthrough “Barbarian” appeared to be telling one story before takin