A staggering good time….

Its 2:17am and a strange occurrence has taken place in the fictional town of Maybrook. 17 children, all in the same school class have got out of their beds, left the comfort of their homes and running off into the unknown, arms stretched in an odd way, with eerie grainy doorstop footage the only witness to this event.

And there is the hook! Writer and director Zach Cregger setting the plot out early, thanks to a creepy narrative from an unknown child and the tune of George Harrison’s Beware Of Darkness bellowing out in which we the viewer after only a few more minutes are desperate to know where these kids went and the reasons why this has happened The explanation by the way, does not disappoint.

Cregger’s follow up to BARBARIAN does not disappoint. While that fan favourite film started off with a creepy build-up, the genre switched thanks to an insane twist that became bat shit crazy as the plot unfolded, here there is more restrain, cleverly crafted and offering an atmospheric build-up that is reminiscent of a great Stephen King novel, as shown by the “chapter” approach that sort of gives us a tantalising cliff-hanger throughout as we switch from one character to another.

The always wonderful Julia Garner plays Justine, the teacher of that classroom in which suspicion is cast, the word “Witch” is painted onto her car as angry parents demand answers, why in all the school was it her class that vanished?- bar one child, Alex (Cary Christopher), a quiet young boy who just wants to be left alone, tired of the same questions of why his friends disappeared and he remained.

An angry father in the shape of Josh Brolin’s Archer leads the pitchfork gang, believing that Justine must be responsible, but it’s his determination and refusal to back down that leads them both on a path to discover the truth of what is actually happening in their small town and if you add a cop with a bad temper Alden Ehrenrenich’s Paul who also has a romantic link with Justine and his battle with a drug addict named James (Austin Abram) whose need to get the next fix leads to one of the film’s biggest scares, it’s such simple plot threads that all build to a bigger confrontation of extreme violence.

As you can guess, going into WEAPONS without knowing anything is vital and while the gore-hounds may get some sort of fix thanks to two scenes of brutality, those expecting a full blown horror may be left disappointed as this plays more like a dark thriller that dips its toes into the macabre on a few occasions.

This is smart storytelling at its highest level. Yes, you can read into the many metaphors that better critics will no doubt pour into their reviews, but most will only care about the addictive, supercharged tale that comes from watching, believe all the hype – WEAPONS is one of the year’s best and at times the most brutal!

4.5 Hatchets out of 5