Tag Archives: Zach Cregger

Feb 1 2026

Mel’s 5 Second Review: Weapons

Weapons (2025)
Julia Garner, Josh Brolin, Alden Ehrenreich, Benedict Wong, Amy Madigan, Cary Christopher, Austin Abrams, Scarlett Sher (v.o.)
Directed by: Zach Cregger

This film was on a lot of people’s Best Of lists for 2025. And I gotta say, I don’t understand the hype.

When all the children save one in a teacher’s classrom leave their houses in the middle of the night and vanishes, a small town is thrust into a mystery where anyone and every one are suspects.

So this is a film by Zach Cregger. Had I known that going in, maybe my expectations would have been more tempered. I didn’t hate Barbarian, but I didn’t love it either. I have to say, I enjoyed the first act. The mystery, the suspense, it was all great. The characters are imperfect, just like real life. But then the second act, where we find out what’s actually going on (which I won’t spoil in case anyone still has yet to see it and wants to), I was left very cold. I was like “Oh, It’s (redacted). Is that it?” And then the third act, holy shit. It was so silly, so over the top. People in the cinema with me were laughing out loud, and so was I, but not in a good way. Had it have been comedic all the way through, then maybe it wouldn’t have been so jarring.

But, I have to give credit where credit is due. The film looked beautiful. There were a few creepy moments. And all the acting was superb, and I’m not mad that Amy Madigan got an Oscar nod. Actually, horror is doing well at the Oscars this year, and I’m here for it. Now to see if they actually win any… But I digress. I just feel like Cregger picked the low hanging fruit as his reveal. I’m not saying I could have written it better, but he should have.

Now for the hard part. Do I recommend it? No… and yes. Knowing how many people adored this thing, I would say “I didn’t care for it, but so many others loved it, so give it a shot.” As for me, I give this a 5/10.

M.

Nov 8 2022

Mel’s 5 Second Review: Barbarian

Barbarian (2022)
Georgina Campbell, Bill Skarsgård, Justin Long, Jaymes Butler, Richard Brake, and Matthew Patrick Davis
Directed by: Zach Cregger

Barbarian

So, I hadn’t really planned on watching this one. I’d heard of it, seen it mentioned a few times in my Facebook horror groups, but I didn’t really know what it was about, save the vague synopsis of the beginning of the film. But my mom started it last night (then walked away cause she doesn’t do horror), so I figured I may as well. And boy, what a ride.

Tess gets to the Airbnb she rented just to find out another person has also been booked for the same time. Against her better judgement, she decides to stay the night. She soon finds out that may not have been the best idea, since the house is not what it seems.

I’m not 100% sure how I feel about this film. Don’t get me wrong, it was very well done. Everything was great. Acting, atmosphere, makeup, all pretty stellar. But it was off-the-wall bonkers. And pretty gory, which I’m not a huge fan of. It’s a little slow in the beginning, but definitely not a slog. The characters are engaging, so even when they’re not doing much of anything, it’s still at least mildly interesting to watch them. At least until they do truly idiotic things, which, unfortunately, is a lot of the time. I was watching with my sister and dad, and the main thing that kept coming out of our mouths is “Why would you do that…?” There was also one laugh-out-loud moment that I won’t spoil, but if you’ve seen it, you’ll probably know what I’m talking about (it comes near the end). Now I’m not sure if it was intentionally funny, or if they were trying to be scary. If they were, it didn’t work. There was also the ENORMOUS suspension of disbelief that had to happen to get this story to happen at all. All I’ll say is: all those years. How?? It just doesn’t make sense. All in all, I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t love it. It gets a 7/10 from me.

M.

This film is currently streaming on Disney+