The Snapshot: When all but one child from the same class mysteriously vanish on the same night at exactly the same time, a community is left questioning who or what is behind their disappearance.
(WEAPONS is now showing in theaters)
The Performance: If you’re a parent, consuming any piece of entertainment that focuses on a missing, harmed or murdered child is enormously difficult. So when there are 17 missing children at the heart of the story, it’s nearly unbearable. That said, Zach Cregger’s Weapons is a very entertaining creep fest that showcases some stellar acting, as everyone involved desperately tries to understand what happened to those kids.
In This Article:
- Gladys’ unnerving presence combines a striking physical appearance with subtle psychological manipulation, showcasing how restraint can amplify fear in horror storytelling.
- Amy Madigan’s portrayal of Gladys is a masterclass in understated horror; her calm, controlled menace creates a more terrifying villain than traditional over-the-top performances.
- The film’s structure—separate chapters for each character—allows the ensemble cast, including Julia Garner, Josh Brolin, and Benedict Wong, to shine individually before Madigan dominates the latter half.
Julia Garner, Josh Brolin, Benedict Wong, Alden Ehrenreich, Austin Abrams and newcomer Cary Christopher each shine in their individual showcases, which the structure of the film allows with separate chapters, each focusing on a different character. Cregger, whose Barbarian is both one of the best first films, and one of the best horror films of the last few years, takes his time setting everything up, and leaves the audience guessing about where the story is going and how it’s going to get us there.
But then, a little more than halfway through the movie, Amy Madigan’s Gladys shows up, and it becomes very clear that she has everything to do with this particular mystery. She is seen in a trio of brief flashes before then, but when she first walks into the office of Marcus (Wong), the principal of the elementary school where all the children were in the same class, wearing makeup that would make the Joker notice, a sense of dread sets in.
Gladys is a walking nightmare come to life. She is terrifying in almost every way, a wraith of a human wearing a freakish smile and a bright red fright wig that gives her an almost alien look. The smile gains her entry into the places she needs to go, but it’s what’s behind that smile that is so devastating.
Madigan is a talented character actress who has been doing great work on-screen for more than 45 years, but it’s rare that she has played a straight villain like this. She should do it more often, because she provides a genuinely unnerving presence every time she appears. The way she terrorizes Christopher, who is a child star in the making, but does so by never raising her voice or threatening him directly, might just make your skin crawl.
There’s something about a horror movie villain that is so often over the top and bombastic, but while Madigan’s physical look is both of those, the performance is not. Madigan understates everything. As more details are revealed — though not all details, as Cregger only shows the audience what he believes they absolutely have to know, and even then, he does so sparingly — and the reason for why she has done what she has done starts to take shape, that unnerving, unsettling feeling blossoms into a thick sense of real fear.
For most of the movie’s second half, there is never a moment when you don’t believe Gladys is in complete control, and while Cregger’s writing is excellent, it’s how Madigan brings her to life that makes this work. The best villains are the ones who feel genuine, and even though there’s a supernatural aspect to Gladys’ power, the casual nature with which she wields it is perhaps the most frightening thing of all.
Horror movies don’t tend to produce Academy Award nominations, Get Out being a notable exception, but the way Madigan holds the screen for most of the film’s final hour should get her into the conversation, at least.
Don’t laugh. A performance this frightening should always be in the conversation.
The Career: The first time Amy Madigan showed up on screen was in a 1979 episode of Hart to Hart. She was 28 years old, after having come up in the theater. The first role of any substance was in the apocalyptic 1983 TV movie The Day After, but to most Gen Xers, the first thing we remember her for is Streets of Fire, which hit theaters a year later. As the mechanic and driver McCoy, she’s the heart of the film, and steals every scene she’s in. That would set the tone for a lot of her work throughout the rest of the decade.
She earned an Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for the 1985 film Twice in a Lifetime, played Kevin Costner’s wife Annie in Field of Dreams, and John Candy’s love interest Chanice in Uncle Buck. She starred alongside her husband, Ed Harris, in the 1996 TV movie Riders of the Purple Sage, based on the novel by Zane Grey.
Over the last 30 years, Madigan has worked regularly, showing up in multiple-episode arcs of shows like ER, Grey’s Anatomy, Criminal Minds and Fringe, and working smaller roles in movies like Gone Baby Gone, American Woman and The Hunt. But this is the first time in decades where she has had such a meaty role in a movie this mainstream. Cregger’s casting of her is perfect, as she brings a unique combination of both experience and freshness to the role. It’s the kind of thing only a talented actress who hasn’t been seen that much could do, and Madigan does it perfectly.
Final Takeaways:
- Amy Madigan’s decades of acting experience culminate in one of her most chilling roles, proving her versatility and skill in embodying a straight villain.
- Horror performances don’t need to be loud or bombastic to be effective; authenticity and control can make a character genuinely frightening.
- Casting seasoned actors in pivotal horror roles can elevate the material, turning ensemble horror films into showcases for both tension and performance.
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