They are all in the same class. One child remains, while suspicion falls on their teacher. It is a terrific opening for Weapons, and the less you know about where it goes, the better.
Zach Cregger, who directed Barbarian, understands how to make an ordinary place feel unsafe. Julia Garner plays the teacher with a convincing mix of concern and disbelief, while Josh Brolin gives one of the parents a grief that can tip into something frightening. You can understand why both need answers, even when you dread what they might do to get them.
Cregger tells the story from different perspectives, letting each new piece change what you thought you knew. The suburban streets look almost too familiar, and the sound gives you plenty of time to anticipate something awful. Then, occasionally, the film catches you looking in entirely the wrong direction.
The shifting structure is clever, though it slows the momentum in places, and the final stretch trades some of that carefully built dread for a much louder kind of horror. It works, but I found the mystery more unsettling than its answer.
Still, Weapons has memorable performances, real nerve and an opening that will stay with you. If you like horror that gives you something to piece together as well as something to fear, this is an easy recommendation.