Weapons: A well-crafted, spooky narrative.

In the early scenes of Weapons, from the child-like narration reminiscent of the opening scene in Children of the Corn to the fact that the apparent protagonist of the film is this neurotic, alcoholic elementary school teacher, got me thinking that perhaps the trailer, as trailers sometimes are, was misleading, that the image of children running spookily through the town and a blood-soaked, crazed-looking Benedict Wong was going to fall short of its promise. Weapons, however, is ultimately a tightly woven, cleverly written and directed horror film with a little something for everybody.

One night, in the town of Maybrook, all the children in Justine Gandy's (Julia Garner) class don't show up except for one, a young boy named Alex. Panicked parents come to realize that 19 children are missing, the doorbell camera footage showing that they all ran off into the night to parts unknown. The extensive police investigation uncovers nothing, leaving Ms. Gandy and Alex to bear the scrutiny and ultimately the avarice of the desperate parents. Gandy, seen by many as the culprit, takes it upon herself to launch her own investigation. What follows is an intricate, non-linear narrative told from multiple characters' perspectives, revealing just a little bit of the plot at a time.

Directed by Zach Cregger (Barbarian), Weapons has some legitimate jump scares, some very spooky sequences, and a few gruesome parts you don't quite see coming (and that might disturb some audience members). Drawing on many modern horror tropes - scary kids, creepy old ladies, madcap dream sequences, screechy violin sound effects- the movie sprinkles in enough paranormal to keep the audience engaged while the plot unfolds, which does just a bit slowly at first, but this is misleading. It sets the stage for seemingly supporting characters to intertwine with the overall narrative and become integral to it later on.

We meet Archer Graff (Josh Brolin), a local contractor and father of one of the missing children, whose obsession with finding his son makes him have it out for Ms. Gandy and launch his own investigation as well.. We occasionally drop in with Mr. Miller (Benedict Wong), who seems to just be cast as a recognizable supporting character ... until that scene you might have seen in the trailers. A subplot - if you could call it that - the movie is a series of intertwining subplots - revolves around Justine's relationship with James (Austin Abrams), a local police officer and seemingly on-again, off-again lover, who seems to have a troubled relationship of his own, possible anger issues, and perhaps a hint of hypochondria. And there's others I wont mention so as to avoid spoilers. Cregger gives each of his characters a bit of back story and a touch of humanity, which is key to not only good horror but all good stories in general, culminating in a surprising direction and jaw-dropping climax.

The tone of the picture fluctuates sometimes, leaving audiences wondering if this is supposed to be tongue-in-cheek or somewhat humorous in nature, only to whack you in the gut with a gruesome death scene or jump scare. When you learn what has been happening, it is an unexpected revelation and a relatively original take on an old motif.

There are some pretty gruesome death scenes in the film, some of which remind me of Smile, which makes me hope that directors and producers haven't decided that viewers always want and need severed heads and broken bodies to make us cringe. It can be a little much, but mostly works here. Mostly.

Overall, Weapons is a good warm up for spooky season.