Commentary: ‘Weapons’ Struggles With Tone

Tone is a very important factor in any horror movie. Horror and comedy go together very well — probably because it is easy to find laughter in a very tense, uncomfortable situation. So horror movies can range in tone from deathly serious to absolutely silly and anything in between. For the most part, Weapons takes its tone at face value. It’s extremely grounded and doesn’t try to make the audience laugh with jokes and silliness. And yet, some filmgoers continue to refer to it as a comedy because there are moments where laughter is the appropriate response. The result: a film that struggles to define exactly what tone it falls into.

The premise concerns an entire classroom of children who voluntarily leave their bedrooms in the middle of the night. The only child that did not mysteriously vanish is named Alex (Cary Christopher). Over the course of the film, it’s revealed that Alex’s Aunt Gladys (Amy Madigan) is a witch who had lured the children away with Alex’s unwilling help. The children’s teacher, Justine (Julia Garner), and one of the missing kids’ parents, Archer (Josh Brolin), uncover the mystery and enter Alex’s house in order to find the children and stop the witch for good.

There are several moments in Weapons that are undoubtedly tense and nerve-wracking. The film does a good job creating this atmosphere that’s perfect for grounded horror. But the film has several quirky moments that can make the audience laugh. One such moment: when Archer is repeatedly attacked by a drug addict named James (Austin Abrams), who is under the witch’s spell. James doesn’t know when to quit and keeps coming after Archer, even after being tossed around the room repeatedly. Also, James’s drug addict behavior can unfortunately also lead to some humorous moments. Other horror films that create similar atmospheric tension don’t usually have these moments, but Weapons never shies away from them, which can make for an uneven tone.

Weapons is now in theaters.