One of the biggest box office surprises of the year is finally making its way to streaming, and its online debut couldn’t come at a more perfect time. This week, HBO Max revealed that the year’s most exciting horror movie is set to make its streaming debut in the very near future, surprising those that were wondering if the film would hit streaming in time for Halloween.
Weapons, the buzzy new hit from Barbarian director Zach Cregger, is going to begin streaming on HBO Max October 24th. That puts it on the service just one week before Halloween, capitalizing on the most popular time to watch horror movies every year. The film will have its linear premiere on the HBO network one day later, on October 25th.
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The original Weapons trailer dazzled movie fans earlier this year by setting up a terrifying and mysterious premise: One morning at 2:17 AM, all but one child in an elementary school class ran out their front door and into the darkness, never to be seen again. The film follows the people in the town who try to deal with their grief and get to the bottom of what actually happened. Saying any more would be a disservice to Weapons, which is best experienced with as little knowledge of its plot as possible.
This is one of those movies that is told in a very non-traditional way, giving you the story in fragments, rather than in a continuous narrative. You get a piece of the puzzle through one character’s perspective and, just as soon as things start to come unglued, you return to an earlier point in time with a different character.
All of this set up provided a perfect build to a climax that you will absolutely not see coming. The final 20 minutes or so is totally surprising and completely cathartic, a perfect storm that helped build an incredible word-of-mouth for Weapons during its theatrical run.
Image courtesy of Warner Bros.
New Horror Movies on HBO Max
While Weapons isn’t hitting the HBO Max lineup until the 24th, October has been a huge month for horror movies on the service. The Substance was added to the HBO Max lineup on October 10th, and that was on the heels of a massive list of new horror arrivals at the start of the month.
Below, you can check out the full lineup of horror films that joined the HBO Max roster on October 1st.
A Nightmare on Elm Street
A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge
A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors
A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master
A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child
Beetlejuice
Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh
Christine
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1932)
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941)
Drag me to Hell
Edward Scissorhands
Firestarter
Freaks
Freddy vs. Jason
Friday the 13th (2009)
From Hell It Came
Gremlins (1984)
Halloween H20: 20 Years Later
Halloween: Resurrection
Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers
Hereditary
House of Wax (1953)
House on Haunted Hill (1958)
I Died a Thousand Times
Insidious: Chapter 2
Insidious: Chapter 3
Interview With a Vampire
Isle of the Dead
Lady in the Lake
Macabre
Pearl: The X-Traordinary Origin Story
Poltergeist (1982)
Practical Magic
Scooby-Doo (2002)
Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed
Talk to Me (2023)
Tension
The Disembodied
The Exorcist (1973)
The Monster
The Mummy (1959)
The Mummy (2017)
The Mystery of the Wax Museum
The Picture of Dorian Gray
The Return of Doctor X
The Shining
The Sixth Sense
The Walking Dead (1936)
The Witch
Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride
Trick ‘r Treat
X
You Can’t Get Away With Murder
Zombies on Broadway