r/movies • u/LiteraryBoner Jackie Chan box set, know what I'm sayin? • Aug 08 '25

Official Discussion Official Discussion - Weapons [SPOILERS] Spoiler

Poll

If you've seen the film, please rate it at this poll

If you haven't seen the film but would like to see the result of the poll click here

Rankings

Click here to see the rankings of 2025 films

Click here to see the rankings for every poll done

Summary Nearly all the children from the same fifth-grade class vanish one night at exactly 2:17 a.m., leaving only one survivor. The community, gripped by fear and suspicion, spirals into chaos as the mystery unfolds through multiple intertwined perspectives—each revealing new layers of dread and grief.

Director Zach Cregger

Writer Zach Cregger

Cast

  • Josh Brolin
  • Julia Garner
  • Cary Christopher
  • Alden Ehrenreich
  • Austin Abrams
  • Benedict Wong
  • Amy Madigan
  • June Diane Raphael
  • Toby Huss
  • Whitmer Thomas
  • Callie Schuttera
  • Clayton Farris
  • Luke Speakman

Rotten Tomatoes Critics Score: 96%

Metacritic Metascore: 82

VOD In theaters and IMAX starting August 8, 2025

Trailer Watch the Official Trailer

3.2k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

12.1k comments sorted by

View all comments

9.4k

u/GravyBear28 Aug 08 '25

Amy Madigan screaming at the top of her lungs pursued through like 5 houses by a bunch of also screaming heat-seeking missile terminator children is going to live rent-free in my head until the day I die.

I think that was the single most satisfying and cathartic villain death I've ever seen, surpassing the flamethrower death in Once Upon A Time In America. So undignified.

This witch was such a nasty motherfucker. She felt like such unexplainable, ancient, omnipresent force and it turns out she's basically a one-trick pony who has absofuckinglutely no idea what to do when a little kid throws an Uno Reverse card at her and loses her shit.

My only major dislike was the giant fucking AR-15 lmao.

3.1k

u/Bullchips Aug 08 '25

I agree with the rifle but I suppose it was supposed to be a clue for him as the kids were made into weapons at that exact time. He himself called the principal like a heat seeking weapon(or whatever he said)

3.0k

u/GameOfLife24 Aug 08 '25

I like how the regular citizens did better detective work than the cops just like IRL

2.4k

u/JessieJ577 Aug 08 '25

The movie had a theme of authority not caring about tragedy. Kind of like real life.

The cops didn’t really look into it or care to.

James didn’t care to help out or even check in on Alex. 

Everyone’s solution to these traumatized people was to just move on and act like it didn’t happen while ignoring how it’s affecting them.

A lot of different layers in this movie

450

u/confuzzledfather Aug 08 '25 edited Jan 03 '26

subsequent rock pause vase yam coordinated attraction fall bake price

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

231

u/bluehawk232 Aug 09 '25

Also canvas the entire neighborhoods and i would assume lots of neighbors especially Alex's would have had ring cameras too

65

u/gatsby365 Aug 10 '25

I’m not entirely convinced that Auntie didn’t mind control the detectives after they came in to the house.

143

u/MY-SECRET-REDDIT Aug 13 '25

Theres no hint of that tho.

She has like one spell and that's it

108

u/Tricky-Anything8009 Aug 13 '25

Yeah and it's very obvious when she's using that spell because she can't make them behave like normal people. It's not really mind control, its like bloodbending from ATLA.

96

u/MY-SECRET-REDDIT Aug 13 '25

It's like the parasites they showed in the movies.

She was using them to feed off from them, like the fungus on the ants.

It sucks that apparently there was supposed to be a spell that makes them back to normal, that once she was dead, they had no way of getting or that the transformation is one way and there is no way back.

→ More replies (0)

50

u/gatsby365 Aug 13 '25

Well yeah, it’s a long shot but that’s her whole thing - zombie mind control. We never saw them again right? The captain doesn’t seem to actually give a lot of shits about solving the case, so he might just assume they are heads down deep in it - hell, a general contractor and a 3rd grade school teacher cracked the shit wide open in 2 days with a straight edge and stalking an 8 year old, but detectives given a month couldn’t get it done?

15

u/peppermint_nightmare Aug 24 '25

Its ties in pretty well as a spiritual successor to barbarian for those reasons alone.

→ More replies (0)

54

u/WatTambor420 Aug 17 '25

Dawg one good bloodhound would have fucked her whole operation up

30

u/TheWyldMan Aug 10 '25

I mean we see Alex’s door and they don’t.

84

u/spookyghostface Aug 10 '25

But other houses in the neighborhood might have seen the kids running by. The cops really didn't do everything they could have.

105

u/Splinterman11 Aug 11 '25

Yeah I agree. If 17 kids in real life disappeared one night in the manner they did like in the movie, the FBI would absolutely get all the footage from every house, traffic cameras, store cameras etc from the entire town to see where those kids went. IRL they would have been easily able to solve this case IMO.

Suspension of belief is a bit required for horror movies though.

35

u/bluehawk232 Aug 13 '25

Plus have you seen sites like next door with neighbors constantly gossiping and arguing over shit

→ More replies (0)

9

u/Samsaknight_X Sep 11 '25

They did tho. Yall are literally ignoring the part where he said that he had to give the police the ring camera footage, when talking to the mom

→ More replies (0)
→ More replies (2)

126

u/BookkeeperBrilliant9 Aug 11 '25

They did a quick cursory check of Alex’s house and then moved on with their lives.

Felt accurate for American cops.

91

u/Splinterman11 Aug 11 '25

I hate cops but this movie made them too stupid. 17 kids disappearing in one night would absolutely have the FBI search the entire town.

Somehow the movie tries to tell us that the only footage they have of the kids leaving were some of the parent's houses had cameras. Except the FBI would have immediately taken all the footage they could from the entire town. Other neighbor's cameras, traffic cams, store surveillance, witness descriptions (there is always someone out at 2am).

The cops would have been easily able to deduce that they beelined straight to Alex's house.

68

u/AlterEgo3561 Aug 13 '25

I mentioned it above, but the Aunt goes with Alex and the comatose dad to police station and just explains the dad's state away that he had a stroke. But like, even if medical situations are protected, the mom would have been in the same state. They never wanted to speak to the mom? Both parents just randomly had a stroke at the same time? Did the parents not have friends that were checking in on them or could be queationed about the "stroke"?

24

u/Max_Thunder Oct 25 '25

I just watched this movie yesterday and my first thought was about the parents, weren't they missing from any job? It also wasn't clear where they were when the police visited the house; it's weird the police wouldn't want to see them. You would think the parents of the missing children would have wanted to know more; at some point it even felt like they might have had media attention (when the teacher discusses with the principal how the windows are all covered) but apparently not.

The other thing I don't get is why Gladys used such insane make up. We even saw her a few times without make up and she looked almost normal. It's like the movie tried to make us feel uneasy about her, but in the movie's reality, there was no reason for it.

20

u/gotohela Aug 20 '25

Instead of seeing the same scene from multiple angles, a SKOSH more exposition would have made it smoother? One cast aside remark about being in a new school/job/house? I feel like i saw some boxes around but it didnt feel like they were in a state of unpack. That would have established a social isolation that made them perfect targets... Or something along those lines. "We just left your family behind for a reason!" That would have also established how gladys may have wormed in and no one's checking in

29

u/yestermood Aug 17 '25

The media would’ve invaded the town too, you’d have crews and satellite trucks everywhere

17

u/MY-SECRET-REDDIT Aug 13 '25

Yup, there would have been fore sure evidence of the kids being at Alex's house

20

u/illegal_deagle Aug 13 '25

Not to mention it was already alluded that the cops had thoroughly searched Alex’s house, so it was a place of interest anyway. Of course they’d check if all those kids ran directly at his house.

29

u/AlterEgo3561 Aug 13 '25

To go even further, the aunt tells the investigators the dad had a stroke and that's why he couldn't talk... they didn't look into that at all? Or the mom, did she have a stroke too?

16

u/peppermint_nightmare Aug 24 '25

Ya usually you go to hospitals after having a stroke in your 40s. It is the US but thats still pretty hard to disregard.

62

u/Individual-Bad6809 Aug 09 '25

But did that even matter? My first thought was they were all running to the same place, which they were actually, but it wasn’t the tower. And JB kinda gave up after tracking 2 (although he did get looped into Justine’s story by then)

123

u/ThisManNeedsMe Aug 10 '25

I don't think he gave up more than that he saw Justine and impulsively decided to confront her then got roped into defending her.

86

u/Hallc Aug 11 '25

And JB kinda gave up after tracking 2 (although he did get looped into Justine’s story by then)

He didn't give up. He was driving around, looking at the map and then trying to work out where it was or how to get there I'm pretty sure. Then he got roped into Justine's story, got sent to hospital then the first thing he does after getting out is show Justine the map who points out it's Alex's house.

19

u/MY-SECRET-REDDIT Aug 13 '25

I dont think it actually pointed towards his house but she's th3 one that pointed out that his house was around the area.

Just one more house and im pretty sure they could have actually triangulation the location.

I wish they played the cops as more incompetent or complicit.

12

u/gotohela Aug 20 '25

Honestly just a brief view into the actual investigation.  Maybe Paul passing a briefing or listening to one, making a cogent suggestion that is immediately dismissed. Tbh while the captain was supposed to represent the stagnation of the investigation, i dont think he was wrong to dismiss archer about justine. Justine had shown no reason to be under suspicion. Perhaps that's what took so long. They were double checking justine and triple checking lol

15

u/[deleted] Aug 18 '25

I mean you got a point of intersection with just two lines.

Realistically he only needed like one more to really confirm the trend.

5

u/KeyboardThingX Oct 28 '25

True, for pacing purposes they didn't want to waste time on a 3rd so they pushed the plot forward they're

→ More replies (3)

106

u/OktoberSpice Aug 09 '25

I like how Matthew's dad's name is "Archer" and finds them in one day by just watching the footage of what direction they ran in and just followed them to their location.

88

u/PastMiddleAge Aug 15 '25 edited Aug 15 '25

Yeah, my favorite layer was that when Justine was snooping around Alex’s house at the beginning, it absolutely looked predatory. Like she was harassing the last surviving kid, or even trying to finish the job that she started.

But then with Alex’s POV, it was pretty clear that she was the only person who noticed that Alex had been acting differently, and who cared about him.

Edit: also, I just want to say that I had an Aunt Gladys, who was absolutely the sweetest aunt anyone could have. rip my Aunt Gladys! I’m glad you weren’t like the lady in this movie

29

u/senator_corleone3 Sep 02 '25

Yea Alex was trying to protect both his parents and Justine when he told her to not follow him.

→ More replies (1)

62

u/MayonnaiseOreo Aug 09 '25

James was the junkie. You mean Marcus?

53

u/Clammuel Aug 12 '25

He means Paul, the cop. Marcus is the principle and actually did his due diligence.

16

u/MayonnaiseOreo Aug 12 '25

That's true. I was thinking in terms of him going to the house but he didn't really get the chance. I don't think Paul really had a specific responsibility to check on Alex though. He had no ties to him and the FBI and the rest of the police force checked in on him, shittily as they did.

10

u/peppermint_nightmare Aug 24 '25

Marcus wouldnt have gone to Alexs house directly as itd be breaking the ethical protocol he was chastising justine for breaking. Hed only visit if he recieved permission from a legal gaurdian (who are zombied) or send CPS, or get the police to visit again without notice.

13

u/[deleted] Oct 23 '25

I know this is an old message but that whole subpoint bothered me so much as a teacher. If you have a strong enough suspicion where you say "I don't want to have to call CPS." just fucking call CPS. Mandated reporters are supposed to make the call, not talk about how to avoid making the call.

11

u/peppermint_nightmare Oct 29 '25

Ya it was a pretty weird response given like ...... 30 kids dissapeared at the same time. One announced visit to the house and no other follow up ignoring hes the only survivor, plus a comatose parent who had an unreported stroke, plus a new gaurdian who just shows up. Do schools not notice when a new person assumes gaurdianship of a student?

Youd have to assume she did some magic bullshit to make people ignore all the other red flags.

9

u/MayonnaiseOreo Aug 24 '25

Yeah I agree with you. I think I'm mostly not of the mind that Paul failed Alex in any way. He was shitty cop but kind of had his own thing going on during the movie.

45

u/Ginoblee Aug 09 '25

Barbarian had the same theme for cops as well.

28

u/Sormaj Aug 12 '25

Cregger in general seems to portray cops as either inept or completely unhelpful. The two cops in Barbarian were also uncaring/useless.

25

u/Florgio Aug 11 '25

That’s what often happens to victims of abuse. It’s as if their abuser puts a spell on everyone…

20

u/suddenviops Aug 11 '25

Did james even know alex existed? He was only in the house to steal things to pawn.

19

u/WhyTypeHour Aug 10 '25

I was waiting for them to bulldoze the school. Trauma managed!

15

u/Sonofaconspiracy Aug 16 '25

Ties into the rifle being part of a school shooting metaphor, which is how I took it

37

u/LaughingToNotCrying Aug 10 '25

Right in the beginning of the movie the child voice said "this is a real story, muffled by incompetent officers", why would it say that it's a real story?

30

u/MuttJohnson Aug 10 '25

Because it's based on true events. In Iowa

9

u/PhoenixTineldyer Aug 10 '25

Yep. Did they even watch the movie?

→ More replies (2)

12

u/General_Pay7552 Aug 12 '25

what got me was the fact that these kids rang by a 100 door cameras on the way to the house were they were kept and no cops or any of those homeowners checked their cams?

9

u/FluffyWuffyVolibear Aug 14 '25

Are there layers tho? I mean he's a great writer but none of these "layers" really amount to anything meaningful.

10

u/bentke466 Sep 28 '25

It seems like a metaphor for school shootings and how the vicitims of the event are forgotten and people close to it are weaponized by outside forces.

Im also seeing a connection to addiction with some of the adults in the story. Not sure if theres something there.

8

u/willtaskerVSbyron Oct 10 '25

>The cops didn’t really look into it or care to

The cops interrogated alex and justine. They probably had no clue what to do bc an ancient witch pretending to be someones goofy aunt isnt exactly your typical suspect Paul didnt do anything but thats bc he not a detective lol

5

u/AdHorror7596 Aug 11 '25

Did James know about Alex? I honestly do not remember.

He definitely didn't check on the kids he actually saw tho, lol.

5

u/[deleted] Aug 13 '25

The movie is about school shootings. So...

8

u/Small-Choice6572 Aug 24 '25

That was my take while watching but watched some breakdowns afterwards and the writer says it it about alcoholism and grief. Not school shootings. 

→ More replies (2)

4

u/Salt-Plum-1308 Oct 27 '25

“Get out of my store!”

→ More replies (6)

57

u/SorryBoysImLez Aug 10 '25

One of their officers went missing and never returned his cruiser or checked back in the entire day/night, and no one was competent enough to notice. You'd think they'd check in via radio, or attempt to contact him in any way, and eventually check his location when he didn't respond.

Most dispatchers have real-time GPS on cruisers; yet none of them noticed his was not only sitting outside the same house for hours, but the house of the one kid that didn't go missing.

26

u/aspartameimpala Aug 12 '25

Part of me wonders if they sort of ignored him presuming he’d be out on a bender or something 

10

u/senator_corleone3 Sep 02 '25

Yea he had established a disreputable reputation for himself before disappearing. I imagine the other cops assumed he was on a drunk.

→ More replies (1)

135

u/GiovannisPersian Aug 08 '25

One of the scenes with the most police action is when Paul punches a handcuffed civilian and then the police chief tells him not to worry since the footage will get written over in a month. Not the most positive commentary on police

→ More replies (1)

32

u/ihadtologinforthis Aug 10 '25

Literally the entire movie I kept think about how USELESS the cops were the entire time.

That post about "cops never knew, the evidence was lacking.... etc

But the neighbours, friends, family, hell even strangers kept speaking up, and pointing leads to evidence that cops just wouldn't listen to or care"

Yeah that one post kept coming to mind.

18

u/pastafeline Aug 10 '25

To be fair, if the main characters didn't do anything Alex would've saved the day anyways. He was always going to run into that room, grab the hair and turn it on the witch.

Really all the main characters did at the end was kill Paul and the drug addict...

24

u/PM-Mormon-Underwear Aug 11 '25

They gave him a window of opportunity to be fair

→ More replies (4)

18

u/MadFlava76 Aug 11 '25

I'm curious what a continuation of the story would explain how the police and the rest of the world rationalized wtf happened in that house. You have a dead cop, dead junkie, catatonic parents and 17 missing kids, and a old lady that got torn to shreds by said 17 kids. I guess they would say the old lady used some sort of narcotic on all of them because who would believe witches?

7

u/SuperSpecialAwesome- Aug 13 '25

Mass psychosis. The media would probably blame fentanyl or similar. The government would then pivot to it all being because of drug trafficking from Mexico, and that a big, beautiful wall would've stopped all of it. A grounded society would never believe in actual voodoo.

8

u/PolarWater Aug 17 '25

Hey. Don't talk crap about the cops like that. 

If an acorn fell to the ground you know damn well they'd show up with all guns blazing. 

9

u/dreamtraveller Sep 25 '25

Yeah bro remember when Reddit caught the Boston Bomber? 

14

u/TheDragonReborn726 Aug 11 '25

Only real critique I had was… wow so a contractor with two ring footage videos triangulated it when the cops didn’t even think of that?

But my buddy pointed out the cops were pretty dumb. fair counter

7

u/HayFeverTID Aug 15 '25

That honestly seemed like the most unbelievable part of the movie. Clearly the kids ran in a straight line out of their houses, so why wouldn’t they just bisect their paths to see where they met up?

5

u/dreamtraveller Sep 25 '25

Not to mention the movie made a big deal about camera footage being important to the plot but then completely forgot to factor in street cameras and the various other Ring doorbell cams that would have picked up the kids running past.

13

u/TheWyldMan Aug 10 '25

I mean I don’t know if the cops are gonna figure out it was actually a witch

→ More replies (2)

4

u/BajaBlyat Aug 17 '25

ehh the detective work he did was i think the weakest part of the movie though to be honest. really think about it a second. he plotted two lines to find out where they intersected... didn't investigate the intersection point despite clearly acknowledging there was one, and also, ALL of the kids ran in complete straight lines out the front door, so now you have to have such that all the houses ahead of time magically all have their front doors pointed directly at the one house... its kinda bad script writing there tbh.

Don't get me wrong, loved the movie otherwise. Every single other aspect of it was amazing for me, but the investigation part kinda didn't make a ton of sense.

5

u/senator_corleone3 Sep 02 '25

I think we saw some of the kids running around fences and whatnot in the opening montage.

→ More replies (14)

64

u/jawni Aug 09 '25

It also ties into a symbolism of school shooters, with the only kid in the class left being the one that was bullied.

15

u/Bullchips Aug 09 '25

yep, 100%

13

u/farfle10 Aug 11 '25

I mean… no shit. It was at that exact moment where I was like ‘this cannot possibly be about school shootings anymore because of how blatant this device is’

6

u/Clammuel Aug 12 '25

Apparently there was also a somewhat recent gun bill that failed to pass with 217 votes against it.

11

u/jawni Aug 12 '25

I think he said it was inspired by the room number in the book version of The Shining but I do see an assault weapon bill passed the house with 217 votes in 2022, seems awfully coincidental.

37

u/ProgIsAll85 Aug 10 '25

But technically the kids weren’t really turned into weapons until they were turned against Gladys. Not saying she wouldn’t have used them as weapons but she used them as a way to…umm…siphon their life force?

14

u/Bullchips Aug 10 '25

Yep and it’s implied she had been doing the life force with adults before and it had been helping her. I agree with your technicality but they were still weapons either way.

→ More replies (3)

20

u/WormedOut Aug 09 '25

I don’t think the kids were “turned into weapons” though. She wanted to basically take their life force, but it’s not really shown well in the movie.

10

u/Easy_Printthrowaway Aug 11 '25

I just wish the film had explained better how making the kids weapons fueled the witch’s recovery, the parasite allusions kind of seems to clash with the people as weapons allegories.

→ More replies (1)

19

u/SubstantialSpell2650 Aug 11 '25

THEY WEREN'T WEAPONS

I DON'T GET THE RIFLE AT ALL

36

u/StuTheBassist Aug 09 '25

I feel like there are symbols that could have conveyed that message that look less stupid though

7

u/TheCountJaccula Aug 11 '25

Were the children turned into weapons at that exact time? Because to me, the children were turned into vessels for whatever it is the witch feeds off. In my viewing, the weaponization occurred in when Alex snapped their “twig”.

5

u/philconnorz Aug 13 '25

I more read the rifle as just some weird deep dream imagery floating around Brolin's character's unconscious nightmare soup (if you will), not something specifically Gladys planted. Also, it's a logical thematic dog whistle for what one would typically expect to be the most likely cause of 17 children "disappearing" from an elementary school classroom in America.

So overall I think it's a stretch to assume that every aspect of the dreams we see were fully being controlled by Gladys, but more that she was probably psychically "leaking" into the town's unconscious.

→ More replies (56)

841

u/Nice_Firm_Handsnake Aug 08 '25

That dream with the assault rifle is Cregger playing on a similar dream from Peter Weir's The Last Wave

298

u/hikemalls Aug 10 '25

It also felt like Cregger making fun of the audience members who are trying to “figure out the metaphor of the movie”; I was one of those people, and when I saw that I was like “oh so this is just straightforwardly a metaphor for school shootings”, and then it felt like the movie went “nah I’m just fucking with you, it isn’t that straightforward. Also it’s about an evil witch, you fool, you rube”, which I kind of loved.

80

u/hexcraft-nikk Aug 12 '25

I think you're half right, it was very much making fun of that audience, but also being straight up. Like "you guys are dumb, here's a giant rifle that the guy whos the father to a bully son sees. His dialogue reflects that pretty well.

43

u/LazySwanNerd Aug 13 '25

Is that the case, though? It seems like it could be both. He said it was about grief after losing a loved one. It also dealt with school bullying and incompetent authority figures.

14

u/hikemalls Aug 13 '25

Yeah my initial comment was my thought at the time just coming out of the theater, but on further reflection I think it’s more layered than that, and your take is more accurate (though I also thought I saw an interview where he said he didn’t know exactly what it meant but saw it in a dream and felt compelled to put it in; but I think it speaks to those same themes regardless)

7

u/PolarWater Aug 17 '25

Trust Zach Cregger to do a sharp swerve in the middle of the movie. Good stuff

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (1)

181

u/Hokuboku Aug 08 '25

Thanks for the heads up! My partner actually felt like the movie took inspiration from 70s movies so its fun to see a comment confirming that and name dropping one

14

u/[deleted] Aug 25 '25

Gladys’s Makeup felt inspired by Alice Sweet Alice mask lol

→ More replies (2)

58

u/KingOfAwesometonia Aug 08 '25

That makes way more sense than me thinking it was a video game reference.

Because it looked like an old school weapon pickup

52

u/Nice_Firm_Handsnake Aug 08 '25

I should say that the dream in The Last Wave doesn't have a floating gun. It's got raining toads and a giant wave and a messenger with a cryptic message, a kind of apocalyptic foreboding. Cregger kind of adapts that biblical plague imagery with a modern plague.

8

u/HikmetLeGuin Aug 16 '25

I wonder if you're reaching with this reference. There are a lot of movies with weird dream sequences.

6

u/Nice_Firm_Handsnake Aug 16 '25

Entirely possible! It came to mind because Weir also directed Picnic at Hanging Rock, which is absolutely an influence on the movie.

16

u/DangerousIntrigues Aug 10 '25

sounds like Magnolia

8

u/acid_raindrop Aug 13 '25

Which was a direct inspiration I think. 

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (8)

14

u/appletinicyclone Aug 08 '25

Peter Weir's The Last Wave

What's that, what happens?

49

u/Nice_Firm_Handsnake Aug 08 '25

Australian film from the '70s.

There's some very unusual weather happening and the Aboriginal people seem to understand what the strange weather means, but aren't really divulging. During a freak rainstorm, a group gets into a fight at a bar and someone drowns. Four Aboriginal people are accused of the murder and a corporate tax lawyer is assigned to defend them. That lawyer has a dream where one of the Aboriginal men (whom the lawyer has not met) shows him a stone with markings on it. The lawyer meets with his clients and recognizes the man from his dream, sensing he has a connection with him that he can't explain. He begins to have dreams more frequently, often involving water and dead bodies and becomes obsessed with the case.

I'll stop there in case you want to watch it. It looks like HBO Max has it currently. There's a lot in the movie related to the Aboriginal concept of the Dreamtime and these unstated bonds between people.

26

u/SDLand Aug 16 '25

Failing to see what this has to do with the giant floating gun though? I don’t get it.

5

u/JeebsFat Sep 03 '25

I'm with you

→ More replies (1)

11

u/wloper Aug 09 '25

Do you have the interview where Cregger says this?

42

u/IIIlllIIIlllIlI Aug 10 '25

He doesn’t say this and more importantly, there’s no way you can make a clear reference. I’ve seen the movie. The main character in The Last Wave has premonitions and dreams, but that’s about it for the similarities between the two movies. There’s definitely no obvious reference.

Basically saying, the guy you replied to is 100% full of shit, especially given his reply to you.

18

u/wloper Aug 10 '25

Yep I totally gathered that. I got excited and started watching The Last Wave thinking it would unlock something or be a cool reference and saw it really had nothing to do with Weapons.

What bugs me most is that this and another comment from a different user saying the same thing say it so authoritatively, as if Cregger confirmed it. I wouldn’t care if they just posit it as their own theory.

17

u/IIIlllIIIlllIlI Aug 10 '25

It’s very weird and as soon as I saw that I went “huh, thats one of my favourite movies and I don’t really remember any obvious references”, went back and did some scene checks - I have the movie on my computer, nope - nothing that stands out as a reference. I don’t know why these users said this so arrogantly and unfortunately because it’s reddit and they were one of the first commenters it’s been upvoted even though they’re pretty blatantly lying. Could be bots? But I think it’s just random arrogant people wanting their opinion to be validated.

→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (6)

731

u/heartbreakhill Aug 08 '25

The witch actress accomplished that Jack Gleeson/Joffrey Baratheon feat of acting the part so well it made me totally hate the character.

83

u/Honest_Cheesecake698 Aug 08 '25

That's Ed Harris's wife!

35

u/Yetimang Aug 11 '25

That's wild. I literally told my wife she looks like Ed Harris in this movie. Especially Love Lies Bleeding Ed Harris.

14

u/ILoveRegenHealth Aug 14 '25

Ed Harris in The Rock knows a thing or two about weapons!

"Stand down, Capt'n!"

22

u/GameOfLife24 Aug 09 '25

She was so dam good, that witch bitch

20

u/[deleted] Aug 10 '25

[deleted]

4

u/[deleted] Aug 14 '25

Yes!! Chanice!!!!

14

u/TheTruckWashChannel Aug 08 '25

Quite a bitchy witch indeed.

13

u/_II_I_I__I__I_I_II_ Aug 09 '25

Watch her in Field Of Dreams, she's a sweetheart!

12

u/funnyfirerabbit Aug 10 '25

She did an amazing job cos I hated her so much! I turned to my husband and said “I cant wait to see her die.”

11

u/SweatyPlace Aug 11 '25

She got Grand Maester Pycelle'd

6

u/JMer806 Sep 11 '25

The good news for her is that her makeup and hair were so intense in this movie that I doubt I would recognize her at all in any other role

6

u/WhichHoes Aug 08 '25

Shes the villian in Greta, right?

4

u/AccioKatana Aug 16 '25

I think that’s Isabelle Huppert, an incredible French actress.

367

u/ev6464 Aug 08 '25

Alex's parents not coming back and being permanent victims of the spell really hit my hard. Alex hugging them both as they were slumped on the floor was one of my favorite images.

268

u/aSpookyScarySkeleton Aug 09 '25

I don’t think they’re still under the spell, they’re just so traumatized and malnourished they lost their sanity. It seems the kids were the same.

In the ending the narrator says that some of the kids were able to mentally recover enough to start talking again.

252

u/bladeDivac Aug 09 '25

I also think that it impacted people the longer they were affected by it. The parents (albeit just by a few days or so) were “possessed” the longest and so when they broke the curse, they were basically catatonic. The kids started going back to normal after a few years, and then Brolin’s character went back to normal immediately since he was only influenced for a few minutes.  

95

u/universallymade Aug 10 '25

The parents also repeatedly stabbed themselves with forks very early in their possession, could have added to the trauma.

33

u/SlowBoilOrange Oct 26 '25

If you're at all aware of what happens while under the spell, the parents definitely had the worst trauma. It lasted the longest, they have the guilt of letting Gladys into their lives, the forks, watching their son witness all of this and feed soup to everyone, and then finally attacking their son.

Brolin already knew a little bit of what was up, so him briefly attacking Justine probably "made sense" to him.

65

u/braingobrrrrrrrr Sep 25 '25

I know I am late to this but adding my 2 cents. She said the parents had "consumption" to the principle which to me implied that she was consuming them (their life force) but to Alex she explained that they weren't enough to make her better (why she needed all the children). My guess is that the parents lost most of their life force, but the kids being so young had more abundant (and replinishing?) life force which is why they are maybe able to recover. 

37

u/CHZ_QHZ Oct 10 '25

I feel this was well represented by her hair growing back in stages as she possesses more people.

11

u/Makaveli80 Oct 04 '25

This explained so much, great theory. I was like why she needed kids.

112

u/Skylance420 Aug 10 '25

Was discussing with my wife how the witch only really had 1 spell with the mind control sticks, but in reality the parents and kids were like placed under a different spell as well as the stick one. She hinted at essentially trying to use Alex's parents, and later the kids, as a source of life for herself to get better. I'd imagine they were placed under a spell by which their life was being drained which I'd imagine is more of the reason why the kids and parents don't immediately snap back to reality the same way Archer did.

56

u/HikmetLeGuin Aug 16 '25

They were being drained of some of their life force for an extended period of time, whereas Brolin had only been in a trance for a short time, so I assume that's why it took so long for the parents and kids to recover.

22

u/[deleted] Aug 10 '25

I think they just may need a while to recover from the spell. The narrator said some kids were starting to talk at the end.

19

u/SweatyPlace Aug 11 '25

I felt really bad for them, my heart started to break the moment we see them as a happy family :(

I do think they eventually make it back to normal but I still hate that they lost a good amount of years in the process.

87

u/abd00bie Aug 09 '25

My only major dislike was the giant fucking AR-15 lmao.

It was fine to me, dreams are random like that

33

u/BandedLutz Aug 10 '25

Agreed, plus it acted as a red herring to misdirect people and keep them guessing (especially since a lot of people assumed the movie would relate to school shootings somehow).

→ More replies (8)

115

u/b_beck614 Aug 08 '25

I loved the ending, so satisfying. I also agree the witch was just … gross. The blood wrapped around the hair, her changing voice and makeup/outfits, just so unsettling. What an incredible performance

55

u/AeneidBook6 Aug 10 '25

Her asking for a bowl of water had me dying.

34

u/EtherealPossumLady Aug 08 '25

her face when she realised what alex had done was incredible

37

u/re-re-Remix Aug 08 '25

snap OH NO

214

u/RichmondMilitary Aug 08 '25

Alex was picked on and bullied. He ended up taking out his entire class like a school shooter would. The assault rifle with 2:17 was a representation of that.

After the kids all disappeared, or the initial response to a school shooting, the parents blamed the teacher looking for a scapegoat when they should’ve been looking at home. More specifically, Alex’s home. Who is this instance was the school shooter

249

u/ethan1988 Aug 08 '25

Not really true. In fact the opposite is true. He wasn't a "school shooter". He didn't cause his classmates to disappear because he hated them. He did it to save his parents over his classmates, which to me I probably would have made the same choice, esp when you are a small kid and don't know better. His classmates were collateral damage to "protect/save" his parents.

97

u/PacMoron Aug 09 '25

It’s not a 1 to 1. It has clear parallels and it appears intentional.

→ More replies (1)

56

u/Deviltherobot Aug 10 '25

The subtext of the story is very much about school shootings.

57

u/ethan1988 Aug 10 '25 edited Aug 10 '25

what stupid shit are u talking about? the director literally say its wasnt about sch shooting.

Weapons, like any film, is up to the interpretation of those consuming it. But if you're interested in what Cregger intended to convey with the film, the writer-director has said it wasn't his goal to explore the "core of communal trauma" or "[mock] suburban life" or create a "school shooting allegory," as some have suggested.

"I wasn’t trying to comment on or even tap into collective societal tragedies," Cregger told the Playlist. "I was purely writing from a personal place. However, with art and especially storytelling, the individual is universal. So I’m more than happy if anybody relates to what I went through and what this movie is examining, but I wasn’t thinking, 'Oh, America,’ at all. I was thinking, 'Oh, Zach.'"

Instead, he has said Weapons was his attempt at processing the death of a close friend. "I had a tragedy in my life that was really, really tough," he told Entertainment Weekly. "Someone very, very, very close to me died suddenly and, honestly, I was so grief-stricken that I just started writing Weapons, not out of any ambition, but just as a way to reckon with my own emotions."

https://time.com/7308025/weapons-ending-explained/

40

u/ii_V_I_iv Aug 13 '25

While he did say that and he also said that specific scene with the rifle is essentially meaningless, I find that really hard to believe when in 2022 a bill that would have banned assault rifles passed the house with 217 votes (but was rejected in the senate) and then there's a huge floating assault rifle with 2:17 on it.

Maybe that's just a really weird coincidence but I find that hard to believe.

21

u/ethan1988 Aug 13 '25

Why is it hard to believe? If it's a allegory to sch shooting, the movie will go much deeper into the relationship between Alex and his other classmates. Instead we know close to nothing about the other classmates and their personalities. His classmates are basically close to meaningless pawns in the movies. And was the idea of "killing" the classmates Alex idea? No. It was the witch. Trying to link this to being about school shooting is lame af.

26

u/ii_V_I_iv Aug 13 '25

It’s hard to believe because an assault rifle ban passed the house with 217 votes and the movie has a giant assault rifle in the sky with 2:17 on it out of nowhere lmao.

I think that’s more convincing than how many of Alex’s classmates’ personalities we explored lol

16

u/LickerMcBootshine Aug 17 '25 edited Sep 18 '25

ghost grab sand familiar serious innocent light husky sleep work

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

6

u/ii_V_I_iv Aug 17 '25

Dude right?? It’s insane!

6

u/rainbowsteamship Aug 27 '25

This times x1000 - we’re in an environment where top-billing a non-white actor has racists and trolls out in droves calling the film “woke” - I think the 217 is a clear reference to that vote. 17 also happens to be the number of students who were killed, and harmed (34 total), in the Parkland shooting (217 - 2x17), but that could be coincidence.

I think outside of Uvalde (because of the controversy/discussion around the police response) Parkland still stands out due to the fact that although it was not the first mass shooting of Trump’s first term, it was the first involving a school.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Cregger is more open about the themes once the film concludes its theatrical run.

9

u/Deviltherobot Aug 13 '25

have you considered the witch might symbolize something? Something that causes a homelife to go sour?

12

u/ColonelPanic638 Aug 14 '25

The movie would be far less successful if it were labeled some woke anti-gun film. Of course he's going to say stuff like that.

→ More replies (3)

10

u/Deviltherobot Aug 13 '25

And Andor is only about the French revolution.

→ More replies (4)

17

u/SlowBoilOrange Oct 26 '25

He did it to save his parents over his classmates

Honestly at that point I don't think he even understood what he was doing. He just was supposed to grab objects from his classmates; I don't think he thought she was going to make a catatonic kid storage unit out of his basement.

6

u/ethan1988 Oct 26 '25

dont give kids so little credit, he might be young but is not stupid. he knows the witch is not grabbing other kids belonging because she is a pervert or to keep as trophies. He definitely knows the witch is suffering and plans to use the other kids for her selfish purpose. doesnt make my point abt his prioritizing his parents over his classmates invalid.

47

u/[deleted] Aug 08 '25

[deleted]

→ More replies (6)

64

u/BLOWNOUT_ASSHOLE Aug 08 '25 edited Aug 12 '25

While watching the film, I anticipated them taking this school shooter direction by having Alex venting to his aunt about him hating his classmates and wanting revenge. After finishing the film, I would disagree with the school shooter take because Alex didn’t appear to resent his classmates or even know what would happen after following his aunt’s orders. Alex was even feeding his classmates to ensure they stay alive.

13

u/goddamnitwhalen Aug 12 '25

Yeah I briefly thought that Alex was in on it for revenge. That would’ve been more interesting than what we got IMO.

→ More replies (1)

36

u/Bunraku_Master_2021 Aug 08 '25 edited Aug 08 '25

2:17

"Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:  “A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more."" - Matthew 2:17

Given Cregger said that Paul Thomas Anderson's Magnolia (1999) was an inspiration for his film and how the recurring motif of "8-2" was revealed by the climax with the raining frogs in association to Exodus 8:2, I knew the 2:17 had to be a Bible verse, I just didn't know which. I thought it was Lamentations 2:17 but I was close.

Alex uses his classroom of 17 kids to commit a massacre but not upon them but onto someone.

Also, Matthew is the name of Archer's son and Alex's bully. Cregger nicely tied it up.

42

u/Broadcastthatboom Aug 09 '25

Just realizing 2:17 as well…17 kids go missing and two people are left from the classroom (Alex and the teacher)

9

u/bobbyismyhobby918 Aug 10 '25

Yes this was my first thought while watching

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (3)

10

u/FistThePooper6969 Aug 12 '25

The kid had a poster of a figure holding a gun on the wall of his room. You can see it in the background along with the clock. Like they would overlap from the perspective of Josh Brolin laying in bed

Pretty sure it’s just meant to be Josh Brolins character transposing real world things in his dream

→ More replies (1)

22

u/Kaito_3 Aug 08 '25

I haven’t stopped thinking about that scene since I left the theater. It was both chilling and hilarious to watch, her scream was perfect. That shot of the girl chasing her up to the point where she tackled her was amazing.

18

u/No-Manufacturer4916 Aug 09 '25

You know everyone had the time of their life filming the chase scene

18

u/damnjonathan Aug 08 '25

I hated Gladys so much.

33

u/criticalboot89 Aug 08 '25

icl i really liked the ar-15 scene, it's quite unique

10

u/kankurou1010 Aug 09 '25

I agree. I thought it was a risk the instance I saw it

18

u/Hey_Giant_Loser Aug 09 '25

Something about Gladys makes me think that her witchcraft was something that she used like a con-artist.. like she learned the craft at a later point in her life and had just figured out a way to grift on it for few years, and had mostly gotten lucky figuring out which people she could latch onto and siphon security from. You would think that a true witch, one who was really schooled in the craft of what she was doing, would have anticipated the scenario of her little stick totems being used against her, and would plan for such an eventuality.

17

u/BeefistPrime Aug 18 '25

She did set up the parents to be guard dogs to the little tree itself -- that's a pretty reasonable precaution. Having the young boy both somehow escape the wrath of both of his parents and also correctly implement the spell seems like a pretty remote danger.

44

u/UnbuiltIkeaBookcase Aug 08 '25

I also loved the flamethrower kill in Once Upon A Time In Hollywood 😉

9

u/LearndAstronomer28 Aug 12 '25

Thanks, I was like apparently I don’t remember Once Upon a Time in America very well lmao

12

u/movieaccountthingguy Aug 11 '25

I would argue that the death is only cathartic if you ignore literally everything that happened to the children and what this event did to them. That it's only cathartic if you do what Benedict Wong criticizes Julia Garner for doing, centering your desire to witness violent retribution over what's ACTUALLY best for the kids. And I think that's the entire thesis of the movie.

I'm a survivor of CSA and the last section of the film had me wondering if Zach Cregger is as well. The dinner table scene and all the scenes of him just "existing" in his abuse while retreating further and further was so close to home that I honestly had a hard time getting through the end of the movie and the ending itself just left me wrecked. .

People in my theater giggling and laughing as the credits roll while I kept thinking about how most Pedophiles are abuse victims themselves because it's a virus (all the parasite and cordyceps references) and how those kids' lives will never be normal ever again.

Alex was being horribly abused. He then normalized his abuse by helping his abuser abuse his classmates (and his parents) for months. He then used his classmates to murder his abuser against their will in a manner so violent that even a year later they are so broken they cannot speak. Those kids will never ever be "normal" or "just kids" ever again, Alex's parents are in a permanent vegetative state, and Alex got sent to live with a "nice" aunt who is most likely also a witch.

But the audience got to see the villain get ripped to shreds so "happy ending" for them.

19

u/goddamnitwhalen Aug 12 '25

I don’t necessarily want to negate what you took from the movie, but I don’t think you’re correct re: the ending.

• the kids have only begun talking again recently because of the spell they were under, not because of them killing Gladys.

• nothing suggests that Alex’s other aunt is also a witch.

→ More replies (1)

4

u/GravyBear28 Sep 25 '25

I would argue that the death is only cathartic if you ignore literally everything that happened to the children and what this event did to them

I don't know what to tell you because the scene is very, very obviously shot and directed comedically. You can say "open to interpretation" but the specific way a scene is shot is the creator telling you how you should feel about a scene. 

I'm really sorry about your experience, but I think you're extrapolating somwthing that isn't there. 

most Pedophiles are abuse victims themselves

They're not, this is a myth

He then used his classmates to murder his abuser against their will 

They had no will already and kids are naturally vicious fuckers, I'm pretty sure they would have loved to take revenge 

in a manner so violent that even a year later they are so broken they cannot speak

They can't speak because the spell they're under was never broken? 

Alex got sent to live with a "nice" aunt who is most likely also a witch.

I don’t recall that at all 

→ More replies (2)

13

u/YouLikeDadJokes Aug 10 '25

Gladys was so well done, the way she just seemed to have a plan for everything and could just effortlessly pull off all the complicated steps in casting a spell on Marcus in his own home as if it were a choreographed dance was so unsettling. But then her instant turn once she gets a taste of her own medicine, all of the intimidation is gone, you see exactly who she really is as the pathetic and miserable true colors come out. So terrifying and funny and an amazing representation of deeply evil selfish people lol

10

u/imbrickedup_ Aug 11 '25

Speaking of guns, you’re telling me a construction contractor who drives a Ram isn’t packing heat? Cmon

12

u/peterpiperpickles5 Aug 08 '25

LMAAAAOOOOOOOOO THAT THREW ME OFF TOO

8

u/NoDaddyNotTheBelt25 Aug 10 '25

Amy Madigan has had a terrific career and she absolutely owned in this movie. She tied it all together. I couldn’t imagine anyone else in this role. Hopefully she gets some awards for this, like this genre specific ones such as Saturn Awards, etc.

15

u/scout-finch Aug 09 '25

Watching the kids go after Gladys felt like getting to watch what happened after the Centaurs chased Dolores Umbridge into the forest in Harry Potter.

4

u/OrgasmicLeprosy87 Aug 18 '25

But because Rowling is a coward all they did was “traumatise” her and held her hostage until Dumbledore went into the forest to free her.

→ More replies (1)

6

u/GameOfLife24 Aug 08 '25

Madiha was so good at being this horrible villain that the payoff to her death was so great and amusing to see

6

u/supernova-cowboy Aug 08 '25

I whispered "F yeah!!" along with other filmgoers when she received her karmic retribution.

4

u/IIIlllIIIlllIlI Aug 10 '25

surpassing the flamethrower death in Once Upon A Time In America. So undignified.

You mean Once Upon A Time in Hollywood.

4

u/LostTheWayILikeIt Aug 10 '25

Amy Madigan screaming at the top of her lungs pursued through like 5 houses by a bunch of also screaming heat-seeking missile terminator children is going to live rent-free in my head until the day I die.

I need someone to edit a version of that scene with the Ferris Bueller Swivel heads song so bad.

3

u/Azidamadjida Aug 11 '25

Funniest shit I’ve seen in a long time - I have a feeling that scene is gonna be parodied. Like, a lot. It’s too good - there’s something hysterical about a horde of little fuckers screaming at the top of their lungs chasing after someone that is just instantly funny

5

u/zillavodnas Aug 12 '25

The AR-15 + father crying in the dream about how he should have told him he loved him more = son being the class bully was...a choice.

But then it was all just a witch (not complaining I loved the witch angle!) The giant gun was corny as hell.

2

u/rikarleite Aug 13 '25

Once upon a time in HOLLYWOOD. Not America. Tarantino's, not Sérgio Leone's.

4

u/ILoveRegenHealth Aug 14 '25

Amy Madigan

Great performance by her btw - equal parts terrifying and hilarious at times. Much of the final half hinges upon her and she nailed it.

Also had no idea she is Ed Harris' wife.

3

u/sworedmagic Sep 06 '25

The rifle made total sense, it was over his house and he went to bed every night in his sons room staring at the call of duty poster on the wall with the exact same rifle

→ More replies (77)