File under W
Here are a couple of semi-recently released horror movies that I was interested in checking out: Weapons (2025), Witchboard (2024), and Woman in the Yard (2025).
Weapons
warnerbros.com
Cregger has the same storytelling style with the new Weapons film. You’re only given part of the story with each character that is introduced in Weapons.
Let me setup the story: one night, on a random Wednesday, 17 children from a school teacher’s third-grade class all got up at 2:17am and just ran off and disappeared. Only one student remained. What happened? Two years later, and the whole town is hounding the school teacher for answer. Why her class? What did she do?
It’s a good mystery. That’s how the story starts, with the point of view of the school teacher. As we’re introduced to each character, going to their point of view, you find out more and more.
You’re confused about the whole thing, but it all made sense when a certain character is introduced: the surviving boy’s old aunt.
I’m trying to be vague, because I didn’t know what the film was about until that character shows up. It’s like a shift in movie genre, from mystery to just horror and the supernatural.
Maybe I’m in the minority, but I wish the story was told in a traditional linear timeline, because I felt like I was manipulated, because information were held from me intentionally. Instead, I was, “what’s going on?” and it’s sometime a turnoff. I’m glad I stuck with it until the director/storyteller finally gives me the answer.
The film is doing really well, as of September 16, it had already grossed $148.3 million domestically, not bad for a budget of $38 million.
It’s been a while since I saw the original 1986 version of Witchboard, but I recall it was a movie based on the Ouija Board… but to be honest, I don’t think you even need to watch the first film to see the new version.
I finally got to watch the film, I’ll be honest, it’s not great. The special effects are… low budget. Especially the drug dealer falling off the building, it just looks bad. Given their budget, they could’ve have made smart cuts and maybe just leave it up to the viewer’s imagination.
My other problem with the film was that half of the film seems to be a French Witch film. I was honestly more interested in the French film, because I didn’t really like the two leads of the film. In fact, the male lead isn’t even on the cover of the movie poster – instead it’s a rich pagan guy that isn’t even introduce in the film until halfway in the movie.
The film was actually finished in 2023, and made its film festival throughout 2024, but it finally made it to streaming last week (September 16) via Paramount Home Entertainment.
I saw the film earlier in the year, and had meant to write about it, but since I didn’t really like the film, I just forgotten about it.
The film was produced by Blumhouse, which is known for being a cheap production company. The whole film takes place in a farmhouse in the middle of nowhere. The impoverish family that lives in the house is going through hard times. They shut off the electricity, which meant that the family couldn’t call out. You even find out later that they didn’t have gasoline in the car… so basically, they’re not going anywhere.
One day, a woman, with black covering, just appears in a chair in the family’s yard. That’s the whole concept! I don’t know. I honestly didn’t really care about this woman in the yard, it’s just stupid!
Of course, there’s more to the story, like why the woman is there, what she represents (duh!), and the backstory of the car and the situation. It was predictable, and I didn’t care for it.
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