Tag: julia garner

I can make them hurt each other. “Weapons” (2025)

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directed by Zach Cregger
© 2025 Warner Bros. Pictures. All Rights Reserved.

Halloween is coming! And you know what we need? Lots of sweets (to eat or to give to little terrorists in bedsheets with holes), candles (for the atmosphere and smell), creepy decorations (so China doesn’t go bankrupt) and a decent horror. Today, I’m recommending you a film that is perhaps not the scariest thing I’ve seen, but surely one of the weirdest recently. And if you dislike children and they creep you out, then you’ll love this one! The story is told in a nonlinear way, so we jump from a perspective to a perspective and we put everything together like puzzles, but I’ll try to give you a small idea what this film is about. We end up in Maybrook where one night, exactly at 2:17 a.m., 17 children disappear. UFO? Kidnappers? Well, we don’t know. They simply run out of their houses and poof – gone. Turns out those were all students of one class and after the night only one classmate, Alex (Cary Christopher), survived and showed up to school. Since it’s an unusual coincidence, the boy is asked lots of questions and the class teacher, Justine Gandy (Julia Garner), becomes the main suspect. The woman feels like an outsider, yet she tries to make sure her only present student, Alex, is fine. When she starts following him, she notices strange things about him, his house and his parents. Doom, doom, doom. What can I tell you… the previous horror by Zach Cregger (“Barbarian”) was much more interesting to me, because it was strange and surprising, yet I didn’t feel overwhelmed. This one is like a protein shake made by 3 different people who didn’t discuss the ingredients so each of them adds something random. Still, I enjoyed the fact that the narration wasn’t linear and I had to discover everything myself instead of just being told what happened. However, this film also made realise that I’m not a big fan of Julia Garner. She’s a lovely lady, but her performances here and in “Wolf Man” were actually disappointing. Perhaps it’s just wrong casting, so I hope to change my mind and appreciate her acting skills in the future, because for now I just found her characters incompatible with the films. But, when it comes to the boy playing Alex, Cary, he did a wonderful job. I had chills how convincing he was, so chapeau bas, little man! Anyway, if you feel like you’ve guessed what happens in this horror, I bet you’re so wrong, because literally everything happens here. I kind of miss those simple horrors where there was just a guy with a chainsaw and people running for 90 minutes. Still, I stayed entertained and this film qualifies as a horror, so why not recommending it to you? Have fun and watch it after you give strange children sweets. Because after this film you might not want to open your door. You’re welcome, buddy.

My rating: 6/10
S.

You’re so scared of your kids getting scars that you become the thing that scars them. “Wolf Man” (2025)

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directed by Leigh Whannell
© 2025 Universal Pictures. All Rights Reserved.

Another film about werewolf? Yes, please! I mean, I wasn’t that excited about it at first, but this one is worth it, trust me. If you’re looking for a horror that will make you scream while eating popcorn, then it’s not such case. This one is rather disturbing and the source of fear comes from very common and natural human relations. Interested? Let’s go! We get to know a father and a son, Grady and Blake (Sam Jaeger & Christopher Abbott). They go on a hunting trip during which they most probably run into a mysterious creature known in this area. In the 90s, a hiker disappeared and some locals say he was infected by “Hill Fever” and became dangerous. We may observe the relation between the man and the child, which is quite difficult and cold. Grady is very impulsive and authoritarian, which has a significant influence on Blake. Then we move 30 years later, where the boy is already a grown-up, has a wife and a daughter. Blake seems to be quite similar to his own father, even though he tries to limit his implusiveness. Soon we find out that Grady got missing and his son decides to take the whole family and visit his childhood home. And the rest is for you to see. Trust me, it’s not another “silly people go to an abandoned house”, although it may look so. In fact, the beginning of the film and presenting the relation between Grady and Blake is important. I guess you won’t be surprised to know that there will be a werewolf in the film, since that’s the main theme, but the whole story is much deeper than an average horror. The filmmakers focused on the topic of trauma that stays with us no matter how much time passes. The only thing we can do is trying not to pass it forward, which sometimes seems like an impossible challenge. Also, no matter how hard we try to avoid it, we must face those traumas in order to move on. It’s a common topic in drama films, yet combining it with a horror about a werewolf – that’s something unusual, which I personally enjoyed a lot. Plus, the whole atmosphere is creepy and it makes you more insecure than scared. Similar to the feeling some people might have experienced in their childhood. Perhaps they weren’t actually scared of their parents, but somehow unsure about their intentions and insecure about their own selves. This film will stay in my mind for quite some time and I hope you’ll give it a try despite its average ratings.

My rating: 7/10
S.

First one in, last one out. “The Assistant” (2019)

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directed by Kitty Green
© 2019 Bleecker Street. All Rights Reserved.

This isn’t an ordinary film. When I was watching it, I felt horribly uncomfortable. And I guess that was the point. Because “The Assistant” is about how usual sexual harassment has become, which is definitely not the nicest topic. The main character is Jane (Julia Garner), who’s a young woman that’s just begun her first serious job. She works as an assistant at a film production company and starts realising how pathological the situation there is. And it’s not just this one company. The film presents some kind of culture that has been created, which allows people to harass others and make everything look fine. I’m glad such production was made and I definitely appreciated how they presented the problem. I mean, we follow Jane for the whole day and experience everything she does. Very often those are long moments of silence, which are impossible to stand because of the constant tension there. Generally, the film may seem boring, because it’s just about a random assistant at work. What’s so special about it? She needs to take care of some papers, make calls, sit at the desk and wait till her day is over. And that’s exactly what we see in the film. However, the atmosphere is so intense that you really wish to stop watching. Not because it’s boring, but because it’s hurting you from the inside. A really strange production. Yet, a very important topic, wonderful camerawork and great idea for the story. Even though I’m recommending it, I hope I’ll never watch it again.

My rating: 6/10
S.