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Learn moreZach Cregger's horror film "Guns" has successfully debuted in international cinemas. It is a mysterious story about missing children in a small American town. Even before its premiere, the project was already named the most anticipated film of 2025, and now it is setting new records both at the box office and on Rotten Tomatoes. Let's take a closer look at what this film is and whether it has the potential to become a new phenomenon in the world of horror.
In this article, we will discuss the following:
- In this film, the destinies of a teacher, a police officer, and a robber are intertwined in such a way that each of them affects the lives of others. The teacher, at first glance, leads an ordinary life, but her inner experiences and aspirations become an important context for the events unfolding in the plot. A police officer, while carrying out his duties, becomes involved in an investigation that affects both the teacher and the robber. And the robber, acting under difficult circumstances, becomes a link between them, forcing them to reconsider their views of the world and themselves. These three characters, representing different sides of society, find themselves in a situation where their paths intersect, and each of them is forced to make a choice that will affect their destinies.
- How the entire Hollywood industry negotiated for the opportunity to film the work.
- Pedro Pascal was unable to take part in the filming of the film, despite initially planning to do so.
- The connection of this film with the works of the Coen brothers and Stephen King can be analyzed through several key aspects.
Firstly, the works of the Coen brothers often immerse the viewer in a world of unpredictable events and complex characters, which can be observed in this film. Their characteristic style includes dark humor and elements of the absurd, which are also present in the plot, creating a rich and multi-layered narrative.
Secondly, the influence of Stephen King is manifested in the creation of a tense atmosphere and the development of themes related to human nature and fears. King skillfully explores the psychological aspects of his characters, which is also reflected in this work.
Thus, the film not only pays homage to the style and themes inherent to the Coen brothers and Stephen King but also enriches their legacy, offering viewers a unique experience that combines the best qualities of both creators.
- The work "Guns" skillfully intertwines elements of comedy and horror, creating a unique atmosphere that captures the reader's attention. This combination evokes dual emotions in us and makes us reflect on profound themes. Funny and scary, presented side by side, not only enhance each other but also allow us to look at the complex aspects of human nature.
This interaction helps create a multi-layered plot, allowing us to perceive it from different perspectives. A sense of humor makes it easier to perceive, lightening the horror moments, and vice versa - sudden comic situations can awaken fear, giving them additional spice. Thus, the author manages not only to entertain, but also to make the reader think about more serious issues, which makes "The Tools" a work capable of evoking a wide range of emotions and reflections.
Events that changed the face of Maybrook.
In the small town of Maybrook, located in Pennsylvania, a terrible tragedy occurred. At 2:17 a.m., surveillance cameras captured how seventeen children got out of their beds, left the house and disappeared into the night darkness, strangely spreading their arms. A month later, the fate of the children remains unknown, and the anger of the parents falls on the young teacher Miss Gandhi, because all the missing were her students.
Only one boy is missing - shy Alex Lilly, who claims that he has no idea what happened. His teacher decides to talk to him and goes to his house, where she encounters something unusual. All the windows are covered with newspapers, and in the dark room, someone is sitting motionless on the sofa. Miss Gandhi is overcome with anxiety, but now her determination to get to the truth only grows stronger.
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The identity of Zack Cregger: who is he
Zach Cregger, the creator of the film "Guns," didn't start out in the horror genre. Previously, he was a musician and writer of comedy sketches, and also acted in erotic comedies and sitcoms. In 2022, he released his first horror film, "Barbarian," which tells the story of a girl renting a house through Airbnb and encountering horror in the basement. As Cregger himself admitted, he initially wrote the script simply for fun and did not imagine that this would become the starting point for his new career. However, "Barbarian" became a real hit. Critics noted that the film is "smart, rich in dark humor, and genuinely creepy," and some even included it among the best films of the year. Audiences, in turn, expressed their support, since with a modest budget of $4.5 million, "Barbarian" earned dozens of times more at the box office.
Major players in the film industry, including Netflix, New Line Cinema, TriStar Pictures and Universal Pictures, have joined the fight for the right to adapt the script of the promising newcomer. According to Cregger, he sent his script to the studios at eight in the morning, and by nine-thirty a deal had been made with the CEO of Warner Bros. - the producers of their subsidiary New Line Cinema began working on the project.
The cast of the new horror from Cregger
The cast also confirms that Cregger, who was only yesterday a newcomer, is highly respected by the studios: the film exclusively stars well-known personalities.
Julia Garner, known for her performance in the series "Ozark", for which she won three Emmy Awards, plays a teacher named Justine Gandhi in the new film. As the story unfolds, it becomes clear that she had problems with alcohol in the past and now struggles with bullying, resorting to a bottle of vodka every night.
Pedro was originally supposed to participate in the "Guns" project Pascal, known for his roles in The Last of Us and The Mandalorian, was cast, but had to turn down the role due to his commitments to Fantastic Four: First Steps. In February 2024, he was replaced by Josh Brolin, an actor familiar to audiences from films such as Dune and The Avengers. He portrayed Archer Graff, the father of one of the missing children, Matthew. Graff is portrayed as a typical strict American father, adhering to traditional values and possessing a tough character. His hatred for Miss Gandhi is so strong that he decides to paint the word "Witch" on her car in red paint.
Alden Ehrenreich's character, Paul Morgan, a young patrolman, constantly thinks about his carefree teacher, but he has his own reasons: they had recently been romantically involved. However, Paul himself cannot boast of an ideal behavior as a police officer. He also suffers from alcohol addiction, has difficulty controlling his anger, and in difficult situations at work, he always relies on the protection of his father-in-law, who is the chief of police.
Benedict Wong, known for such films as Doctor Strange and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, plays Marcus Miller, the head of the school where disaster has erupted. His character tries to protect Justin from the wrath of his parents, while striving to maintain the good reputation of the school.
In the film by Austin Abrams, known for The Walking Dead and Euphoria, the character James is a drug addict and burglar who unexpectedly finds himself involved in the mystery of missing children. However, the situation itself does not interest him at all.
Amy Madigan, a famous actress, who became famous thanks to the mystical series "Carnivàle", embodied on the screen the image of Gladys - the great-aunt of Alex, who turned out to be the only boy, not missing. This overly sociable elderly lady prefers bright, acid-colored outfits, as well as bright wigs and expressive makeup. Her communication style probably irritates most of the town's residents.
"Guns": More Than Just a Genre Horror Film
All these characters are interconnected: the film consists of several parts, each representing the same event, but from different angles. Here, an unexpected twist in the genre occurs: the film, which began as a real horror film, gradually turns into a detective story about the search for missing children. Then the focus shifts to everyday life - and "Guns" becomes almost a dramedy with lively, realistic dialogue and many everyday details. Ultimately, the film's main impact comes not from the characters' experiences themselves, but from how their fates intertwine.
Cregger drew a parallel between his film and Paul Thomas Anderson's "Magnolia," noting that in both works, many small destinies intersect to form a unified whole. However, it must be admitted that he exaggerated somewhat: "Guns" does not reach the scale of a universal epic, as Anderson does. Cregger is more inclined to lyricism, focusing on his own experiences rather than on social and life aspects. Nevertheless, the approach remains similar. Small decisions or even random events can develop into a new chain of events, and ultimately everything becomes even more confusing.
Another significant aspect of the film is its humor. While watching "Guns" it is difficult to hold back laughter - many scenes are simply comical. The film evokes associations with the Coen brothers' misanthropic comedies such as The Big Lebowski and Burn After Reading, as well as Martin McDonagh's Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. In these works, human foibles and stupidity also lead to terrible, but also insanely funny, consequences.
According to Josh Brolin, “Cregger evokes the Coen brothers for me because he embraces the absurdity of the human condition. He realizes that we often create our own failures. We can sometimes seem, for lack of a better word, ‘stupid’ by making our lives more complicated than they need to be. And we're not just talking about missing children anymore. <...> We create chaos in our lives to feel like we're truly living. But in reality, we do the exact opposite.”
Cregger's works do not feature idealized characters; His characters are funny, sometimes absurd. Miss Gandhi emerges as selfish and irresponsible, Archer is rude and aggressive, Principal Miller is indifferent and hypocritical, and Patrolman Morgan, in turn, is quite a lowlife. All of these characters, in one way or another, seek to exploit each other for their own ends, ignoring human nature. However, it's worth noting that all of their weaknesses seem insignificant compared to the evil they face, and the question of whose side to take disappears. This evil is capable of influencing every inhabitant of the town simultaneously, and only a lucky chance can lead to some positive outcome.
"Guns" does not fit into either pure comedy or traditional horror, but They balance on a fine line between these genres. It's not simply a fusion of two pleasures—for example, horror with comedy, or vice versa. One of the significant strengths of Cregger's film is that it highlights the profound connection between laughter and fear, demonstrating how the absurd can transform into something threatening, and vice versa. This isn't just speculation: according to one linguistic theory, humor arose as a response to situations that initially seem alarming or dangerous, but later turn out to be harmless. Cregger himself shares this view: "Comedy and horror are closely related. Both genres rely on the violation of expectations. Both comedy and horror depend on the right rhythm and intonation. So I think the experience I gained in comedy is useful in this new direction as well."
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Cregger's Inspiration for Creating
Humor, deep psychology, and experiments with multiple unreliable narrators—all these characteristics confidently place
Guns
in the category of post-horror, a new wave of horror films. This trend began to emerge approximately ten years ago with the release of Jennifer Kent's The Babadook and includes independent works by directors such as Ari Aster, Robert Eggers, and Jordan Peele.Post-horror films are distinguished by offering a completely different perception of fear: they avoid clichés such as jarring sound effects and unexpected appearances, and give characters significantly greater depth, turning them into multifaceted figures rather than simply victims of ghosts or maniacs. These films essentially subvert the traditional boundaries of the genre established by commercial thrillers. Moreover, they often contain important social or political subtext. Jordan Peele's films, such as Get Out, No, and Us, metaphorically explore themes of racism and discrimination in American society. It's no surprise, then, that Peele was eager to produce Guns—he reportedly even fired his executives in anger when they failed to reach an agreement with Cregger. Beneath the surface of Guns's sci-fi plot lie numerous social themes. The decline of class can be interpreted as a reference to issues surrounding child abduction and trafficking, drug- and violence-related deaths, or the utter disappearance of the American future. Lonely high school student Alex Lilly is bullied by his classmates, and his disappearance along with other children creates a dark metaphor for school-age massacres. This idea is also underscored by Brolin's Archer Graff's dream, in which a massive Kalashnikov rifle hovers above his house. Furthermore, the fact that Alex's bully turns out to be the son of the confident Graff highlights how toxic male behavior patterns are passed down through generations.
Cregger added many personal aspects to the story. In the final part of the film, Alex realizes that his parents also became victims of a sinister force. This is connected to his own childhood experiences, including with an alcoholic father. In an interview, the director noted: "Imagine something alien entering your home that changes your parents' behavior, and you can't do anything about it and don't understand what's happening."
The film's plot arose from the experience of loss: in 2021, the director's close friend and colleague Trevor Moore tragically passed away. His death was alcohol-related: while intoxicated, he fell from the balcony of his home. "It was an extremely difficult period in my life," Cregger shared. "I decided to write a screenplay to somehow process my feelings and not let them destroy me. <...> I have raging emotions inside, and the best I could do was create characters who were going through the same feelings as me, and then let them behave in ways I couldn't in real life, colliding with each other and doing things I wouldn't dare. It was a kind of release for me, a catharsis."
Films Cregger References in "Guns"
"Guns" doesn't limit itself to personal experiences; the author openly draws inspiration from classic cinema. We've already mentioned films like "Magnolia," "The Big Lebowski," and "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri." Cregger also shares his own sources of inspiration, including Denis Villeneuve's "Prisoners," Ari Aster's "Hereditary," Peter Weir's "Picnic at Hanging Rock," and Sofia Coppola's "The Virgin Suicides." All of these films take place in an inconspicuous rural setting, where emotional chasms and dark secrets beyond the ordinary soon begin to unravel.
The film contains numerous references to classic horror films. Notably, the disappearance of the children occurs at 2:17 a.m., echoing Stephen King's novel The Shining, where the most terrifying events unfold in Room 217 of the Overlook Hotel. Although Stanley Kubrick changed the room to 237 in his film adaptation, Cregger chose to keep the original number, thereby paying homage to the book.
The director also mentioned that "Guns" has direct connections to another Stephen King adaptation, the 1993 film Needful Things, starring Ed Harris and Max von Sydow. The plot unfolds in a small American town where a mysterious store opens, leading to chaos. Cregger recalled seeing the trailer for this film as a young man, and the idea of an entire community being thrown into turmoil by a single unsolved mystery resonated deeply with him. However, the film itself didn't leave a positive impression on him. Ultimately, Cregger created something new, inspired by that very trailer.
Incidentally, the king of horror has also become a fan of the young and ambitious director and never misses an opportunity to attend his premieres. On social media, he noted that he was impressed by "Barbara," calling it "amazing" and stating that it "stunned me to the core." Regarding "Guns," King left a review in which he emphasized that it was "very scary and masterfully told," adding that he truly enjoyed it.
The film contains numerous other references, some of which are quite obvious. For example, the small town that hides its secrets is reminiscent of the works of Stephen King, David Lynch, and many other films. The profound mystery the main characters are working to solve evokes the style of M. Night Shyamalan. Furthermore, the image of a frightening boy evokes associations with Richard Donner's The Omen. At some point in the plot, there is a mention of the cordyceps mushroom, which is capable of zombifying insects, which involuntarily brings back thoughts about the TV series and game "The Last of Us."
This clearly does not indicate a creative failure of the author - Zach Cregger is inventive enough to rely on his own strengths. However, his desire to fill the film with references for devoted fans of the genre is not the only reason. Using obvious homages and even clichés, the director defines the boundaries of his creative space, establishes familiar landmarks and lets the audience understand the rules of the game: "We are creating horror." In this arena, Zach Cregger skillfully finds an opportunity to express something of his own: combining original ideas with proven techniques, he masterfully combines elements of horror with comic moments, sadness with optimism, the personal with the mass. He creates a nighttime fairy tale that will certainly return to you in your dreams, and more than once.
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