Zach Cregger’s Weapons taps into the same suburban fear that gave his 2022 surprise hit, Barbarian, staying power. What’s more, while Weapons includes a similarly rewarding and refreshing twist, the film doesn’t depend on it. Instead, it uses it to create a tonal anomaly of a flick that — at least for now — solidifies the former Whitest Kids U’ Know member as a must-watch horror director on the level of Jordan Peele and Ari Aster.

At 2:17 a.m. in the middle of a week, 17 third-grade classmates mysteriously vanish, save Alex (Cary Christopher). Their teacher, Justine (Julia Garner, The Fantastic Four: First Steps), shoulders the blame as the town demands a culprit. Archer (Josh Brolin, No Country for Old Men), the father of one of the missing kids, begins his own investigation of the disappearances while school principal Marcus (Benedict Wong, Doctor Strange) struggles to quell the town’s spiraling rage.

Like Barbarian, Cregger opts for a split narrative across six characters. While this helps Weapons comfortably outpace its two-hour runtime, it does feel somewhat needlessly inflated and could’ve benefited from a narrower focus. That said, it doesn’t significantly detract from the film; it just causes it to tread water for a decent chunk of the third act.

Minor criticisms aside, Weapons shines with exceptional cinematography, snappy dialogue and an expectation-subverting meld of heartwarming storytelling and unflinching brutality. Multiple tracking shots cleverly capture the self-destructive drinking and “eating” habits of three prominent characters. (This aspect of the film culminates with an especially wild scene that feels like it borrows from 2000’s Snow Day as much as it does 1980’s Cannibal Holocaust.)

While the film’s central figures feel a bit one-note, they’re leveraged by excellent performances from Garner, Brolin and a returning Amy Madigan (Uncle Buck). And while Austin Abrams’ (Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark) character is ultimately overexposed, his future collaboration leading Cregger’s Resident Evil movie carries a lot of promise.

Ultimately, Weapons earns most of its resonance through its unexpected accessibility. No, this isn’t a kids’ movie. Yet it borrows enough elements from early 1990s films like The Witches and Ernest Scared Stupid that it feels comfortably nostalgic despite its originality. Declaring it an instant classic feels like an overstep, but its undeniable charm paired with its grotesque violence could give it the legs to be timeless. And maybe it will be.

In a year already stacked with heavy-hitting horror movies, Weapons rises to the top of the pack. While it might not be technically “better” than Ryan Coogler’s Sinners, it operates on a different, largely incomparable level. In the end, Weapons is a crowd-pleasing flick that reminds us we should spend less time placing films on hierarchies and more time celebrating them.

See Weapons in a theater, and be sure to order seven hotdogs and a couple cookies. It’ll be more immersive than any RealD Cinema ever could be. —Daniel Bokemper

Get it at Amazon.

Aliens in a cornfield? Obviously. Murderous children in a cornfield? But of course. Mia Goth violating a scarecrow in a cornfield? Uh, sure. But a Clown in a Cornfield? Maybe we’re jumping the shark. Wait, that’s been in a cornfield, too?!

While Eli Craig isn’t the first to put horror on the cob, 2010’s Tucker & Dale vs. Evil showed a playful understanding of the genre — not originality — is the director’s strong suit. An adaptation of Adam Cesare’s 2020 novel, Clown in a Cornfield sees Craig drop an original story credit, too. This change in his routine doesn’t quite hit the highs of his first standout film. But in a world where Terrifier’s Art reigns supreme, the Midwestern clown holds its ground.

Looking for a fresh start, Quinn (Katie Douglas, Lazareth) and her doctor dad, Glenn (Aaron Abrams, Code 8), move to a seemingly quiet, rural town. As Glenn discovers the residents’ firm commitment to tradition, Quinn meets a classmate named Cole (Carson MacCormac, Shazam!) and quickly falls in with his group of friends looking to buck the old-fashioned values of Kettle Springs. However, the teens quickly discover the town’s mascot, Frendo, isn’t playing around when it comes to community’s way of life. As Frendo starts to prey on Quinn and her friends, they start to unravel the mystery behind the town’s killer clown.

Unfortunate spoiler alert: Frendo isn’t from outer space. In fact, Clown in a Cornfield is significantly more grounded than you’d probably expect from Craig. While it doesn’t avoid humor outright, it doesn’t really try to channel it either. If it weren’t for casting Will Sasso (2012’s The Three Stooges) as the town sheriff, one could almost argue that Craig decided to take this flick a bit too seriously. Those who expect a return to Tucker & Dale’s uproarious gags — or, hell, even Little Evil’s — might find this clown running out of steam fast.

Granted, what makes Clown in a Cornfield at least somewhat interesting isn’t dependent on humor. It’s his straightest horror film yet, with a bit of classic slasher allusions thrown into the mix. It also dips its big, red shoes into an examination of generational tension. Unfortunately, it doesn’t dig particularly deep into this idea. It just kind of dances around it with about as much strength as a rubber chicken with a broken squeaker.

Which isn’t an entire miss, either. In the era of A24’s elevated horror, Clown in a Cornfield is admittedly very accessible. Similar to Cesare’s book, the movie is extremely easy to grasp. It’s not entirely inconsequential, either, as its romantic subplot is surprisingly deep and fresh. Still, it’s as if we’re trained at this point to expect something more from every horror film that isn’t franchised. And that’s probably unfair, given we need introductory films like this to get younger horror fans to dive deep.

Clown in a Cornfield has its moments, including a fair share of creative kills. Still, if you’re expecting some kind of in-depth dissection or even a few decent gags to wash down the mayhem, this cornfield probably isn’t for you. —Daniel Bokemper

Get it at Amazon.

With Bong Joon Ho’s Mickey 17, Osgood Perkins’ The Monkey and now Ryan Coogler’s Sinners, 2025 is already the year of dual performances. While Joon Ho and Perkins’ scripts couldn’t keep up with their films’ top stars, Sinners offers a complete package that — much in the way of S. Craig Zahler’s Bone Tomahawk — transforms its B-movie premise to an instant classic.

After surviving World War I and thriving in Chicago’s criminal underground, twins Smoke and Stack (Michael B. Jordan, Black Panther) return to their Mississippi hometown with a stolen fortune in tow. They quickly take their little cousin Sammie (Miles Caton) under their wings as they prepare to convert a dilapidated sawmill in a juke joint. The twins reluctantly reignite old flames, assemble a tight-knit group of employees and prepare for a party the likes of which Clarksdale has never seen or allowed. Meanwhile, an Irish vampire (Jack O’Connell, Ferrari) starts building an undead army out of anyone he can sink his teeth into, starting with a couple of Klan members.

Given the film’s primary location and bullet-ridden bloodsuckers, From Dusk Till Dawn comparisons aren’t out of the questions. Honestly, both flicks skew more action than horror, shifting into a gear that overrides terror with tension. But that’s where their similarities end. Sinners plants its own stake into vampire canon with a vibrant cast, an immersive attention to detail and music that will undoubtedly wind up on more than a few Spotify Wrapped lists.

More than a group of quirky, grizzled players thrown together in a life-or-death situation, Coogler invests a significant amount of time in his first act developing his characters. Slim (Delroy Lindo, 2015’s Point Break) and Annie (Wunmi Mosaku, Deadpool & Wolverine) are notable standouts, the former building the film’s historical and musical foundation, whereas the latter drives Sinners’ emotional and spiritual strength. The red-eyed antagonist is more than a run-of-the-(saw)mill vampire, but an assimilator seeking to devour Black culture, music and being.

In creating this monster, Coogler also raises a fascinating question: If the art a community produces is so compelling, what’s stopping someone from colonizing it, recreating it and ultimately perverting it to the point that its original source is basically lost, like the effect created by so much of Elvis Presley’s music. It casts a shadow over Sinners, and while vampire media has more than a few lame and overly convenient tropes, none of them take too much away from the film. Instead, it wields them in a way that illuminates a complex systemic process and makes it accessible. In other words, Sinners is just as much of an effective social examination as it is a high-octane blockbuster. And surprisingly, neither seems to work against the other.

Any doubt Coogler could direct a compelling original film ends with Sinners. While very much not for children, it feels like the kind of horror flick you could captivate anyone with, like Ron Underwood’s Tremors or John Carpenter’s The Thing. In an era of never-ending content and films that wind up on streaming before anyone knew they had a theatrical run, Sinners helps keep cinema’s blood pumping strong. —Daniel Bokemper

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Between 2022’s Talk to Me and 2024’s Oddity, cursed-object flicks might not be back in full force. They are, however, resurging enough for the creepy old shopkeepers to flip the dim lights back on. Unlike the aforementioned films, Osgood Perkins takes a different and comical tact with his adaptation of Stephen King’s The Monkey.

After Petey (Adam Scott, Krampus) fails to return the titular toy due to a stringent return policy and a disemboweled pawnshop owner, he leaves the monkey to his twin boys, Hal and Bill (Christian Convery, Cocaine Bear). Then he walks out on their mom (Tatiana Maslany, TV’s Orphan Black). The boys quickly learn winding up the doll triggers a Final Destination-like series of events that kills someone close to them.

The two try to rid themselves of the monkey and drift apart. But as an adult Hal (Theo James, HBO’s The White Lotus) prepares for one final trip with his teenaged son (Colin O’Brien, Wonka) before forfeiting custody, he encounters a string of familiar and often explosive deaths. It seems somebody is making the monkey drum its sticks once again.

The Monkey sails through its brisk runtime, cutting through would-be lulls with quick vignettes of increasingly outlandish kills. James gives life to an otherwise flat character in Hal, breaking through the deadpan dialogue to produce a standout performance. His dual role as his brother lacks the emotional weight, but still carries its own compelling and maniacal charm. O’Brien compliments James well, grounding realism to the outlandish circumstances that surround him.

Unfortunately, Perkins’ attempt at real emotion doesn’t mesh particularly well with the film’s wackier side. It’s like he’s fighting against himself, bloating the film with gags when the premise is entertaining enough. The grossly unprepared priest and the borderline-creepy babysitter work presumably well in King’s universe, but they fail to jive well in Perkins’.

And that may be what this and the director’s previous work lacks: an artistic impression. While it’s not necessary for every filmmaker to make it painfully obvious they made something, Perkins doesn’t appear to leave any mark at all. For a director that has firmly rooted himself in horror — even to the point of putting his name front and center in The Monkey’s promotional material — he doesn’t leave a meaningful signature. There’s probably a director who has made a point to operate like this, and maybe even successfully, but for Perkins, it just feels uninspired and hollow. Hopefully he can use 2025’s Keeper to establish himself a bit more. Because as it stands, it doesn’t feel like he’s truly emerged as a director.

While it manages to earn a few solid laughs and deliver some — at the very least — interesting deaths, it still feels overly clinical in the wash. Perkins understand dark comedy, sure, but he lacks restraint and subtlety, unintentionally robbing his more poignant and frankly funny sequences of their power. Akin to the director’s 2024 film, Longlegs, The Monkey slips on the peel. —Daniel Bokemper

Get it at Amazon.