Joey Magidson
The Sunday Scaries are upon us once again! Yes, as the weekend concludes, most of us feel an oncoming sense of anticipatory dread about the week ahead. Anxiety about work manifests itself into a feeling that’s known as the Sunday Scaries. However, we at Awards Radar are here to combat that, by taking back the name. Now, we want you think about a horror-centric piece on the site when you hear the term. So, let us continue on with another installment of the Awards Radar Sunday Scaries! Today, we’re looking at how one studio has two films doing very well, in part due to a decision to support a few auteurs…
Warner Bros. is trying to be a filmmaker friendly studio. Now, there’s been plenty written about the misfires and utterly awful decisions that David Zaslov has made, so when WB started signing up A-list directors like Paul Thomas Anderson (soon to be seen at the studio with One Battle After Another), one could consider it a craven play for good press. However, giving money to auteurs is still good for cinema, and with two horror works specifically in Sinners and Weapons, the studio is reaping the benefits.
Weapons is the hot new film on the block, horror or otherwise. Hell, as I wrote about last week (here), it even has Amy Madigan as a potential Oscar contender in Best Supporting Actress. Zach Cregger‘s follow-up to Barbarian is ambitious, complex, and supremely entertaining. A prior Sunday Scaries column (here) even declared Cregger a new master of horror. So, WB should be very pleased with how well this is doing, and to have made with New Line an ambitious play to land the film.
My review (here) of Weapons raved about the movie like so:
Only two films in, it’s time to proclaim Zach Cregger as a master of horror. Not only does the filmmaker have a very unique sensibility that he deploys in his movies, he’s able to mix comedy, horror, and genuine surprises with deft social commentary. Weapons is a far bigger scope than Barbarian, operating on a comparatively epic canvas to tell a much larger story. Barbarian may have been a bit more fun, all things considered, but Weapons a better movie overall. In fact, it’s another highlight of 2025 so far, further establishing this year as one that will go down in the record books for horror.
Weapons is a slow burn that builds to an absolutely insane and deeply satisfying climax. The juice is definitely worth the squeeze here, as Cregger masterfully plays with your emotions and expectations. The mystery is handled in such a way that regardless of what you think is happening, you’re drawn further and further in. Each new character is compelling, each WTF revelation is engaging, and by the end, you feel like you’ve seen something not just big, but original as well. Bravo to Cregger and company.
Sinners was even hotter earlier on in the year, as Ryan Coogler launched himself and his genre busting horror flick into the Oscar race. The success of the film inspired a Sunday Scaries piece (here) on how it could be the next horror title to contend for major awards. This success is even more satisfying to see when you consider that folks were assuming it would fail, given a high price tag and being an original project. Coogler and company certainly proved them all wrong, to the nth degree.
My review (here) raved about the flick like so:
Okay, listen up folks. For anyone who ever complains that Hollywood never does anything original, Sinners is for you. This is the type of film that spits in the face of those who say cinema has nothing new to offer. By taking one of the oldest movie monsters there is, spinning them on their ear, and filtering it through a setting/time period that’s never utilized them before, and you have something completely singular. There has never been anything quite like Sinners. Not only is this 2025’s first truly great blockbuster, it’s also the best film of the year so far.
Sinners absolutely rocks. Bloody, horny, musical, and full of genre-bending on the part of filmmaker Ryan Coogler, it’s all the right kinds of audacious. What begins as a light period drama, with plenty of reverence for the power of music, it slowly but surely transforms into horror, with the third act becoming an actual bloodbath. Through it all, there’s impeccable technical aspects, first rate acting, and a true feeling that you’re watching the full possibilities of film. Coogler makes movies for the big screen, with Sinners being just the latest example of an event picture, meant to be seen with the best sound and on the biggest screen possible.
Hopefully this continues for WB, both with horror and just with A-list auteurs in general. The success of Sinners and Weapons should be evidence that it pays dividends, both critically and commercially. So, just keep letting these artists cook. Coogler and Cregger should just be the first of many. The results speak for themselves…
Stay tuned for another Sunday Scaries installment next week!
Was David Zaslav visited by three ghosts last Christmas Eve or something?
It kind of feels that way, doesn’t it?