Weapons (MA) - 128 minutes

The mysterious, dastardly story unfolds via a child narrator who says the events spoken about occurred at her school two years ago.

So, what happened?

In short, 17 primary school age children – all from the one class – simply disappeared.

It was 2:17am when each of those kids got up from their beds and fled out the front door of their homes with their arms spread, never to be seen again.

As dawn broke, only one child from that class was at school, along with his teacher.

Police have no leads.

The parents of the missing children are understandably distressed – sick with worry.

Suspicion falls on the teacher who was close to the kids.

For her own safety, the principal asks her to take a leave of absence.

She is intent on speaking to the one remaining youngster in her class, but the principal forbids her from doing so.

Not that that stops her and that is when the first teaser appears.

That only happens when the teacher turns up at the boy’s home and peers through a small slit in a window that has been covered with newspaper.

All the other windows have also been papered over.

There is much more to this story, but to say any more would be to spoil the surprise, which I am not about to do.

The narrative unfolds from the different perspectives of key players in the conundrum.

There is the principal, the teacher, a father, the surviving child, a policeman and a homeless drug addict.

Their stories cross over. Gradually, more and more is revealed, before a frenzied ending.

It is a seriously well told, if twisted tale, one where you can’t possibly guess what is going on.

The man responsible for the script and direction is Zach Cregger (Barbarian).

He is a master at twisting the knife, without pushing it in too soon.

Weapons is weird, wacky, occasionally gory and humorous.

The actors certainly play their parts.

As teacher Justine Gandy, Julia Garner refuses to be silenced. That is not to say that, from time to time, she isn’t intimidated, just that she will keep going regardless. She is gutsy.

Josh Brolin, too, brings a “refuse to die without trying” attitude to bear as builder Archer Graff, the father of one of the missing children.

Benedict Wong is level-headed in his portrayal of the pragmatic principal who is not looking to create waves.

It feels like Alden Enhrenreich has the weight of the world on his shoulders in his role as Paul Morgan, a policeman not sold on his job.

Austin Abrams is on edge as drug addict and rough sleeper Anthony.

Cary Christopher is impactful, even though he plays a boy of few words, in realising the one youngster who is still with us, Alex Lilly.

Complete with evocative, deliberately overly applied make up, Amy Madigan is arresting as Alex’s aunt, Gladys.

There is much to admire in the restraint that Cregger shows as we try to piece together the puzzle.

And then we have an all guns blazing ending that has us cackling in our seats.

Rated MA, Weapons scores an 8 out of 10.