Agent10

With just a short collection of ethereal and beautiful street shots of kids running Naruto style in a small suburban town, we are immediately drawn into an eerie and breath taking horror film.

Bereft of exorbitant gore but heavy on visuals and unease, Weapons is certainly a better film than Zach Creggor's previous effort in Barbarian. Amidst the chaos of nearly an entire class of children disappearing, we are treated to the multiple perspectives of several characters in the film, some of them essential to the plot while others providing much needed clarity on the plot. With each vignette, we are treated to the increasing stakes of the situation, until we ultimately reach the final vignette.

Reliant on atmosphere and technical craftwork, the film conveys a tense and surreal landscape. Small towns hide big secrets, and the town of Maybrook will be no exception. While many are taking about family trauma being the center of the film's emotional core, it feels more macro, as I mentioned before. The town will ultimately be the center of a massive secret, and it's a typical trope even in this current world of over sharing and the desire to be viral.

Don't be afraid of the run time. It goes quickly and you keep wanting more as the story moves along. Even when the credits hit you still want more.

So let me preface this review by saying this...Zyzzyk Road is not as terrible as some people make it out to be. Is it bad? Yes, absolutely. But is it all-time bad. Probably not. The biggest issue with this film is the fact it was poorly realized, especially when you have a semblance of a story underneath.

A major strike against this movie is the fact it is not interestingly bad. I mean, Tom Sizemore is okay in his role and Katherine Heigl is just a typical horror movie girl. Leo Grillo is definitely the weak link, and of course he is in the entire film. We get some competent scenes here and there and the bad pacing is all throughout, but there is too many competent things going on. The sound is solid, as well as the post production dialogue recording. The director tried something interesting with the color timing, which has a point when all is said and done. I mean, there are ideas there to work with. However, bad press and terrible box office distinctions hurt this film tremendously. Would I watch it in a theater? No! On Tubi? Yes!

So I implore you to check this film out. I mean, there is worse stuff out there and this one at least tried its best. Its biggest sin is that it is boring, which is typical for this type of production.

The things you stumble onto when looking for a movie. Initially, I wanted to watch the all time bad epic that was Zyzzyk Road. But being a little drunk and not paying attention, I stumbled onto Zzyzk (a.k.a. Burned). I regret my curiosity.

Okay, so this movie was just something to watch. Two guys, who seem like friends, accidentally kill a man on the back roads while seeking out a little adventure on the notorious Zzyzk Road (located somewhere in Nevada). They soon stumble onto the dead man's wife and suddenly a cat and mouse game happens between the two men and the woman. A lot of twists and cussing happen along the way, but it ends up being a convoluted and sometimes ridiculous movie.

This movie is just a bad student film trying to be some kind of weird indie flick. It's crudely shot and it seems to have a lot of off the cuff dialogue. It has a weird subplot about some cult or something broadcasting their dark message through the radio, but I lost interest pretty quickly in that subplot as the story devolved. I suppose with some more money and in more capable hands this could have been a very cool film, but unfortunately it doesn't have those things working for it. I'll give it a 3 for trying its best.

I'm also pretty sure this is a better film than Zyzzyk Road.