Spoilers ahead for the plot and ending of Weapons .

Weapons is not the kind of movie you should wait to stream at home. As in writer-director Zach Cregger’s previous horror effort, 2022’s Barbarian , the film’s power lies in its ability to keep the audience on its toes. While the plot is ultimately more straightforward here, the third-act escalation is perhaps even more extreme — once Cregger’s foot is on the gas, even the quietest theatergoers become reactive. If you’re not cheering at a vegetable peeler to the face, are you even alive?

In its early scenes, Weapons doesn’t necessarily scream a fun time at the movies. At 2:17 a.m., 17 children from Justine Gandy’s (Julia Garner) class leave their homes, seemingly drawn into the night by an unseen force. The one student left,

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