Weapons

Together

29/08/25

Cineworld, Edinburgh

Horror is enjoying a bit of a resurgence at the moment. Together has the misfortune of being released around the same time as Zach Creggar’s superb Weapons, which means it has inevitably been somewhat overlooked, but it’s well-worth seeking out on the big screen. At its heart, it’s a great big metaphor about the potential perils of co-dependence, but it also draws parallels with other subjects.

Tim and Millie (real life couple, Dave Franco and Alison Brie) are at a tricky point in their relationship, beginning to wonder if they’ve made the right decision by moving away from the city to a new home in the country. Of course, we viewers know that in the world of cinema, the countryside is a terrible place, full of satanic cult worshippers and the like, but clearly Tim and Millie haven’t watched a lot of films.

After a farewell party where Millie’s proposal of marriage to Tim is awkwardly received, off they go, with fingers crossed. Tim is annoyed that he is sacrificing his dreams of a career in rock music, but schoolteacher Millie finally has the job she wants and is happy to continue doing what she’s always done – fulfilling the role of main breadwinner in the relationship.

Things get off to a sticky start when the couple decide to go for a hike in the woods. They get caught in torrential rain and fall down a hole in the ground, where they’re forced to spend the night in the remains of a very creepy subterranean church, a place we’ve already been alerted to in the film’s opening scenes and… well, maybe it wasn’t such a great idea to replenish the water bottles from that pool?

Some people stick together through thick and thin but, after their overnight stay, Tim and Millie find themselves getting stuck on each other – quite literally. At first, it’s just awkward – and in one particular scene, set in a school toilet cubicle, utterly toe-curling – but as time moves on, and the effects steadily worsen, things get very gnarly indeed.

Since the success of The Substance, film makers have increasingly ventured into the realms of body horror. While in Together, the effects are initially played for laughs, as the story progresses, the scenes are increasingly visceral. Writer/director Michael Shanks handles everything with enough momentum to stop viewers from asking awkward questions about those opening scenes and, I have to say, I have a great time watching as things turn nastier, trying to stop myself from exclaiming out loud at each successive twist.

The final scene delivers a delicious sucker punch that I really don’t see coming. If you’ve ever asked yourself if you’re too into your partner, this film may provide some answers.

4.2 stars

Philip Caveney

Weapons

15/08/25

Cineworld, Edinburgh

Yes, I know it’s the Fringe and I do appreciate that cinema is supposed to be taking a back seat this month, but anyone who caught Zach Creggar’s debut movie, Barbarian, back in 2022, will doubtless be as fired up for his sophomore feature as I am. Like its predecessor, Weapons is a wild ride, one that has more twists and turns than a passenger could ever anticipate. I sit spellbound as I am thrown this way and that, sometimes mystified, occasionally terrified, but never ever bored.

The story begins with an inexplicable event. In the little town of Maybrook, Pennsylvania, teacher Justine Gandy (Julia Garner) arrives at school, ready to teach her class – to find only one pupil waiting for her. He’s Alex (Cary Christopher) and he’s the only kid left because, earlier that same morning (at 2.17am precisely), all his classmates woke up, got out of their beds and ran off into the night with their arms held out at their sides.

Now, nearly a month after that event, the children still haven’t been located. Archer Graff (James Brolin), the father of one of the pupils, wants to know why Justine hasn’t been arrested. After all, it’s only her class that has vanished; she must know more than she’s letting on!

Archer wants an explanation and so does the film’s audience, but, just as he did in Barbarian, writer/director Creggar refuses point blank to offer a straightforward, linear narrative. Instead, he gives us seven different points of view, allowing us to gradually piece the events together as we are flung back and forth in time.

As well as Justine’s and Archer’s observations, there’s the story of what happens to mild-mannered school principal, Marcus Miller (Benedict Wong); the misadventures of Justine’s old squeeze, police officer, Paul Morgan (Alden Ehrenreich); there’s Paul’s clash with vagrant drug addict, James (Austin Abrams); and, of course, Alex’s account. Dare I mention a propitious visit by Alex’s Great Aunt Gladys (a bone-chilling performance by veteran actor, Amy Madigan), who provides the final piece in the puzzle?

I really can’t say any more about the plot without giving too much away; suffice to say, Weapons is an absolute smorgasbord of delights, by turns poignant, tense, bloody and, in its later stretches, darkly comic. It keeps me enthralled from start to finish and, happily, my initial fears that the central premise would remain unexplained prove to be completely unfounded. The explanation might be as mad as the proverbial box of frogs, but it’s right there, waiting to punch you in the kisser, then run gleefully away with its arms held out at its sides.

If Barbarian was a promising debut, Weapons is proof that horror has a brilliant new exponent. Creggar has created one of the most downright unmissable films of 2025 and I’m already hyped to see whatever he comes up with next.

5 stars

Philip Caveney