Warner Bros. goes the creepy viral route to advertise Weapons, the brand new baby horror movie from Barbarian writer-director Zack Cregger: A brand new two-hour, unlisted video options two hours of supposed surveillance video, principally of kids working via the evening.

The innocuously jarring title is just “2025_░_░_06:17AM.mov.”

It’s a beautiful little bit of thriller, positive to boost curiosity in what’s already one of many most-anticipated horror movies of the summer season. The brand new poster for the movie explains its idea: “Final evening at 2:17 am, each baby from Mrs. Gandy’s class wakened, acquired off the bed, went downstairs, opened the entrance door, walked into the darkish… and by no means got here again.”

That abstract raises quite a lot of questions: Does each single child in Mrs, Gandy’s home have at the very least a two-story home? However we guess the extra vital query, which we hope the movie will reply, is the place all these youngsters went. Additionally: What or who’re the weapons in Weapons?

Spend some time watching the Weapons video — sorry, we imply “2025_░_░_06:17AM.mov” — and also you begin to discover some extraordinarily jarring issues (or cool issues, for those who love horror.) Amongst them is the truth that one of many displays we’re seeing seems to characteristic the mirrored, impassive face of a middle-aged man. Who’s he? Why is he watching? What does he need?

Weapons stars Julia Garner, Josh Brolin, June Diane Raphael, Toby Huss, and Benedict Wong, amongst others. We don’t assume any of them seem in “2025_░_░_06:17AM.mov,” however who is aware of? (The center aged man simply would possibly be Huss.)

Additionally Learn: The 11 Most Nightmare Inducing Horror Villains

Further advertising and marketing supplies for the movie notice that 17 youngsters run away in all. And whereas the poster says it occurs at 2:17 am — and time stamps on a number of the assembled surveillance footage say 2:17 — the title of the video consists of the time stamp 6:17 am. So possibly one thing is going on with the quantity 17?

We already love this film.

Zack Cregger and the Campaigns for Weapons and Barbarian

The Weapons unlisted video continues a future of cool viral Warner Bros. immersive advertising and marketing campaigns: 2008’s Christopher Nolan Batman movie The Darkish Knight, for instance, fascinated followers with an interactive web site, not clearly recognized as promotional, to drop hints about Heath Ledger’s daring tackle The Joker. Such campaigns have since develop into a frequent a part of the rollout for hotly anticipated movies.

Cregger’s Barbarian, launched in 2022 by twentieth Century Fox, benefitted from a equally jolting marketing campaign. A trailer for the movie promoted it pleasantly as “Justin Lengthy’s New Film,” and featured Lengthy’s character driving alongside Pacific Coast Freeway in a convertible, as cheery music performs.

“From the Producers of the Lego Film,” the trailer brightly misdirects, earlier than including extra bona fides: “The studio that introduced you Alvin and the Chipmunks.”

However across the one-minute mark, issues take a darkish flip. Lengthy’s character realizes considered one of his Michigan properties has an undesirable customer. There’s a thud. The cheery music drops out. And the trailer drops a hammer: “From the Producer of It.”

With Weapons, the scares are proper up entrance: two hours of creepy photographs, accompanied by static-y, disorienting sound. What’s discombobulating this time is the medium: As with The Darkish Knight marketing campaign, we don’t even know what we’re seeing has something to do with a film. If you happen to missed the title Warner Bros., you would possibly assume you had been simply seeing some very alarming footage, from Ring cameras, sprint cams, and no matter else is surveilling the suburban streets.

Barbarian went on to be probably the most surprising breakthroughs of 2022, incomes greater than $45 million towards a low manufacturing price range of simply $4.5 million. Hopes are even increased for Weapons.

Weapons arrives in theaters on August 8, from Warner Bros. Footage.

Foremost picture: Kids working within the evening in 2025_░_░_06:17AM.mov to advertise Weapons. Courtesy of Warner Bros.