{"id":310445,"date":"2025-08-01T23:10:31","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T23:10:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/310445\/"},"modified":"2025-08-01T23:10:31","modified_gmt":"2025-08-01T23:10:31","slug":"zach-cregger-breaks-down-the-years-most-twisted-surprising-horror-movie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/310445\/","title":{"rendered":"Zach Cregger Breaks Down the Year’s Most Twisted, Surprising Horror Movie"},"content":{"rendered":"

Writing and directing a breakout hit can be both a blessing and a curse for some filmmakers. On the one hand, you\u2019ve just achieved your dreams of success and adoration in the world of cinema. Well done. On the other hand, now you have to do it again. And again. And again. Some filmmakers fail at this. Others, especially the great ones, rise to the challenge. George Lucas followed<\/a>\u00a0THX 1138 with American Graffiti and Star Wars. Steven Spielberg followed<\/a> Duel with Sugarland Express and Jaws. Fast forward a few decades, and Quentin Tarantino followed Reservoir Dogs with Pulp Fiction, Wes Anderson followed Bottle Rocket with Rushmore, and Paul Thomas Anderson followed Hard Eight with Boogie Nights, just to name a few. It\u2019s not an exact science, but usually the real measure of a filmmaker is not that first movie; it\u2019s the one (or two) that follows.<\/p>\n

Zach Cregger made his mark with the 2022 film Barbarian. The shocking horror ride made it clear he was a force to be reckoned with, and when his next film was ready to go<\/a>, several major studios wanted it. That movie, called Weapons, shows what happens to a town when a group of children mysteriously vanish. It releases next week<\/a>, and as we\u2019ve already written about on this site<\/a>, it\u2019s fantastic. A level up on par with those aforementioned filmmakers, to be sure.<\/p>\n

Recently, io9 spoke with Cregger about the pressure to follow up Barbarian. We talked about putting together this much more complex, layered movie and his writing and directing process, as well as a tease of what to expect from his third movie, a new take on Resident Evil.<\/a> Read all about it below.<\/p>\n

\"WeaponsImage: Warner Bros. <\/p>\n

Germain Lussier, io9. After Barbarian, I know you said you wanted to go bigger, but did you feel pressure to deliver something equally horrific and surprising again? And were you worried that by doing that the audience might kind of become to expect the same type of thing from you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Zach Cregger:<\/strong> Um, no. I don\u2019t really think that way. I just kind of wanted to write a story that was on the story\u2019s terms. If I\u2019m thinking result-oriented or what are people gonna think, then I\u2019m doomed. That\u2019s not the right way to be creative. The right way to be creative is to just do it for fun and just do it because you love to do it. To write it because you love to write. So I was able to kind of seal out that sort of result-based thinking.<\/p>\n

io9: I read in the press notes that you kind of just sat down after the death of your friend and just wrote this movie. But it\u2019s a pretty complicated movie. So once you had the rough idea, how\u2019d you kind of settle on this structure, when to reveal what, and all the intricacies?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cregger: <\/strong>Yeah. So look, I sat down, and I kind of puked out a first draft. There are like 70 pages of just emotion on there. And the structure was the structure. So I had the structure in place, but it didn\u2019t really work. It definitely didn\u2019t connect right, and certain things were absolutely broken. And so then I got my 70 pages; it\u2019s time to actually roll up my sleeves and use my brain and fix it. So the first pass is definitely like a really subconscious kind of transcendental state. And then the second pass is like, \u2018Okay, time to get brainy here and make it function.\u2019 And that was like a three-week [process]. I went to my manager\u2019s house in the woods on the East Coast, and I didn\u2019t do anything for three weeks. All I did all day was just work on it. And I got it in shape.<\/p>\n

\"Weaponstease\"Image: Warner Bros. <\/p>\n

io9: You also mentioned in the press notes that when you sat down to write the script, you had the idea of the missing kids but didn\u2019t know the why of it yet.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cregger: <\/strong>Right.<\/p>\n

io9: That\u2019s obviously the whole point of the movie, and we\u2019re not going to spoil it, but I\u2019m curious, what was the process of figuring it out? Did you get to the point in the script and you\u2019re like, \u201cNow I need to have this answer?\u201d Did you make a list? Was the process of settling on what you were going to do?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cregger: <\/strong>No, I hadn\u2019t gotten to that moment of truth yet. I hadn\u2019t hit that point of no return. So I was kind of just like hoping it was going to come to me, and it did. Like, about 50 pages in, I got the answer, and it was a really joyful moment. I was like, \u2018This will work. Like this is a satisfying reason.\u2019 And, and then I was able to kind of like bend the story toward that. So yeah, it worked.<\/p>\n

io9: By the end of the movie, it\u2019s very clear why it\u2019s called Weapons, but I\u2019m wondering, were there ever any other titles, and when did you come up with Weapons as the title?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cregger: <\/strong>I don\u2019t remember when. I might\u2019ve come up with Weapons when I started writing. It\u2019s very possible. I think it was like always there, but I\u2019m not sure. I should go on my computer and see if there are earlier documents that have a different title. I doubt it, though. You know, it just felt right. It was just one of those things. I really try not to think about anything when I\u2019m writing. I don\u2019t want to intellectualize anything. So it\u2019s just kind of like, \u201cBleh, that\u2019s it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"WeaponsJulia Garner in Weapons. Image: Warner Bros. <\/p>\n

io9: Similar to Barbarian, there are a lot of surprises in this movie. How involved are you with the marketing to say, \u201cWe can show this, we can\u2019t show that?\u201d Because as a young filmmaker, usually you wouldn\u2019t have a lot of say in that, but this seems like it\u2019s got your fingerprints on it a little bit.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cregger: <\/strong>Yeah, [Warner Bros.] was definitely very collaborative, and they were interested in keeping the mystery intact. And so there was never any roll up your sleeves and duke it out things. There were a couple of moments where they showed me cuts. I was like, \u201cCan we lose that shot and that shot?\u201d And they\u2019re like, \u201cNo problem.\u201d So they\u2019re wonderful. And I think they did an amazing job.<\/p>\n

io9: Next up you\u2019re making Resident Evil. And after doing two movies that you conceived of yourself, was there any trepidation about doing not just a movie that\u2019s a major IP, but one that has so many other movies and games and stories that fans are used to?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cregger: <\/strong>Yeah. I mean, you, you have to respect the IP, and you have to take it seriously. I\u2019m a natural, huge fan of the games. I\u2019ve played them all. I love them deeply. So I feel like I know how to tell a story in that world. It\u2019s an original story. I\u2019m not telling a story that\u2019s been told in the games, but it\u2019s a story that lives in the world of the games and obeys the rules. And so, look, as long as you\u2019re telling a really good story, then I think you\u2019re going to be okay. I\u2019m not breaking the rules. I don\u2019t think people are going to come crucify me for this.<\/p>\n

\"BenedictBenedict Wong in Weapons. Image: Warner Bros. <\/p>\n

io9: Since it\u2019s in the trailer, I feel safe asking about this, but the eyes. Those unblinking eyes. Those bloodshot eyes. How did you go about doing that practically? Or was it\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cregger: <\/strong>It was VFX. We researched Graves\u2019 disease. And so we had a lot of reference material from that. And then, you know, it was an iterative process in post of like, how big is too big? And you want that thing where it looks wrong, but it\u2019s not immediately obvious. And so yeah, we dialed it in slowly. It\u2019s pretty wild.<\/p>\n

io9: This is a horror movie for sure, but it\u2019s got detective stuff, family drama, and mystery too. How did this mishmash of genres come to be, or was that sort of a result of you just kind of like throwing this whole story out there?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cregger: <\/strong>It was that. This is just kind of what came [out], you know? I knew I had all these different characters that were all going to kind of dive headlong into this mystery, but all from different places. So you got a cop; you\u2019re going to get a cop way in. You\u2019ve got a drug addict, you\u2019re going to get this like seedy way in, and you\u2019ve got the teacher, and she\u2019s going to get preyed upon. So I was able to kind of do like five different horror movies, or seven, as it were, in one. It was really fun.<\/p>\n

\"WeaponsJosh Brolin in Weapons. Image: Warner Bros. <\/p>\n

io9: We\u2019re at a place now where this movie is coming out, and I think it\u2019s going to be a real big hit, but it\u2019s been a great summer for horror overall. Horror has really seen a resurgence in the last couple of years. Do you feel like you\u2019re carrying the torch at all, now having two movies as part of that? Do you feel like an ambassador in any way?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cregger: <\/strong>I don\u2019t know. I don\u2019t think that way, of like, my place in the broader framework of horror. I\u2019m more than happy that there seem to be people excited to see the movie, and that\u2019s enough for me.<\/p>\n

io9: The movie allows us to see scenes from multiple points of view. How\u2019d you go about that? Did you shoot them all at the same time?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cregger: <\/strong>You got to shoot it all together because of the limitations of time and money, and it\u2019s such a big machine making a movie. So it\u2019s like when you\u2019re at the gas station, you\u2019re going to shoot all the gas station stuff. I\u2019m not coming back to the gas station for that person\u2019s chapter. We\u2019re going to do it all together. And it\u2019s confusing, but if you\u2019re really organized and you\u2019ve shot it out, like you storyboarded it and you have a plan, it\u2019s not so bad.<\/p>\n

io9: And my last thing here is when the movie was first announced, Pedro Pascal was playing the Josh Brolin role. Ultimately he had to leave, and now it\u2019s Josh Brolin. How would the movie have been different with Pedro than with Josh, and why was Josh ultimately the right person for it?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cregger: <\/strong>I have no idea because I didn\u2019t make the movie with Pedro. I can\u2019t really answer that. I can just only say that I adore Josh\u2019s performance in this movie, and I\u2019m so glad he\u2019s in it. He\u2019s amazing.<\/p>\n

Weapons is amazing too. Check it out on August 8, and come back next week for more from Cregger about a few spoilers in the film.<\/p>\n

\n

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel<\/a>, Star Wars<\/a>, and Star Trek<\/a> releases, what\u2019s next for the DC Universe on film and TV<\/a>, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Writing and directing a breakout hit can be both a blessing and a curse for some filmmakers. On…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":310446,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3935],"tags":[77,3943,16,15,1116,14191],"class_list":{"0":"post-310445","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-movies","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-weapons","13":"tag-zach-cregger"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114956037668569273","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310445","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=310445"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310445\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/310446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=310445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=310445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=310445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}