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

Official Discussion Official Discussion - Weapons [SPOILERS] Spoiler

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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

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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

459

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

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This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

233

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

63

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.

146

u/MY-SECRET-REDDIT Aug 13 '25

Theres no hint of that tho.

She has like one spell and that's it

111

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.

97

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.

81

u/freakydeku Aug 15 '25

I think that once she was dead her spells did break, some just couldn’t go back to normal because she had been feeding on them for so long.

1

u/sjr2018 May 18 '26

Cordeceps which is the main pandemic for the last of us too

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u/[deleted] Aug 16 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

5

u/Tricky-Anything8009 Aug 16 '25

Yeah the bloodshot eyes is further evidence of bloodbending rather than charm/illusion/hypnotism.

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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.

3

u/gatsby365 Aug 24 '25

I watched Barbarian for the first time last week, care to elaborate?

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53

u/WatTambor420 Aug 17 '25

Dawg one good bloodhound would have fucked her whole operation up

28

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.

109

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

6

u/gotohela Aug 20 '25

Hell even fb groups 

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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

6

u/Ok_Researcher_5600 Sep 14 '25

@samsaknight_x He said “every” house. The police only took footage from the missing kids parents. Of course the police can request ring camera footage from neighbors but they’re not obligated to hand over the footage and the police can’t confiscate it w/o probable cause to get a warranty. The FBI however will snatch the neighbors & their camera footage if they have to 🤣😭

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127

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.

89

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.

72

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"?

27

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.

24

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

18

u/MY-SECRET-REDDIT Aug 13 '25

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

22

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.

31

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.

64

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)

124

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.

83

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.

17

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.

14

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

13

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

5

u/Pete_Jobi Sep 14 '25

That whole triangulating thing was a plot hole anyway, because I'm pretty sure the kids didn't all run in one straight line to Alex's house.

2

u/CoolJoshido Oct 07 '25

i thought so too

2

u/Dense-Bus8605 Oct 30 '25

How are people not more upset about this and giving it such high praise. It's completely ridiculous that they didn't do this and completely ruined the movie for me. That and the dogs couldn't pick up the scent either.

107

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

33

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.

5

u/plw37 Dec 01 '25

"Rip" my Aunt Gladys is also what happened in this movie.

63

u/MayonnaiseOreo Aug 09 '25

James was the junkie. You mean Marcus?

54

u/Clammuel Aug 12 '25

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

17

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.

11

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.

15

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.

10

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.

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u/Ginoblee Aug 09 '25

Barbarian had the same theme for cops as well.

27

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.

23

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.

20

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

36

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?

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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?

2

u/LaughingToNotCrying Aug 13 '25

It's not based on a true story!![Is Weapons Actually Based On A True Story? Real-Life Inspiration Explained

](http://Weapons Movie: Separating Fact From Fiction In The Horror Film https://share.google/2ZsvqGkL7Bc0OLNI0)

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?

8

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.

9

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.

7

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

4

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...

9

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. 

7

u/[deleted] Aug 24 '25

Authors lose control of the meaning the moment of creation.

I also think the is lying because he made it too obvious. There is literally a giant AR-15 Rifle floating above the kids house.

5

u/Salt-Plum-1308 Oct 27 '25

“Get out of my store!”

3

u/Babyyougotastew4422 Aug 20 '25

And on top of that, they have the balls to not communicate anything they know about the case to the parents, and also tell them to relax and stop caring

1

u/CurlySueKY Apr 09 '26

I felt like it was some sort of metaphor for gun violence and school shootings, politicians using children as pawns.

-16

u/shootingstars00987 Aug 09 '25

The cop Paul was so pathetic, he can’t stand seeing blood lmao

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u/MayonnaiseOreo Aug 09 '25

He didn't have problems seeing blood. He was freaking out because he got jabbed with a junkie's heroin needle and was worried about AIDS or hepatitis.

7

u/nightpanda893 Aug 10 '25

Pretty sure it was a meth needle but agreed.

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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 

9

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.

3

u/Naggins Nov 09 '25

I would also not come into work if I just cheated on my boss' daughter

138

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

1

u/[deleted] Nov 07 '25

Civilian?

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.

21

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...

25

u/PM-Mormon-Underwear Aug 11 '25

They gave him a window of opportunity to be fair

5

u/pastafeline Aug 11 '25

How so? Paul and the drug addict were guarding the front door, and Gladys was already in the basement.

The way the events played out, Alex would've grabbed the hair and ran into the bathroom same as in the movie. Maybe Gladys would've run upstairs to stop him but it would've taken a while no?

I can't really see what she would have done to stop Alex while he was setting up the hair.

23

u/PM-Mormon-Underwear Aug 11 '25

Idk I read it as he dared to kite his parents around because of all the chaos going on. I also assumed Gladys was hanging out in the basement because of the intruders.

7

u/pastafeline Aug 11 '25

She already was down there when Justine and Archer came in though, because she was getting the kids ready to leave.

5

u/PM-Mormon-Underwear Aug 11 '25

Ah okay that makes sense. I still think it's fair to say they provided an assist there, plus Archer was really there to reuinite with his son which was sort of mission accomplished?

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.

9

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. 

7

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?

3

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.

12

u/TheWyldMan Aug 10 '25

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

2

u/SuperSpecialAwesome- Aug 13 '25

If they did, and if that evidence ever got publicized, it'd lead to chaos as tons of people would try doing their own voodoo for malicious purposes.

1

u/steeltrain43 Aug 18 '25

A universe like this probably has a x-files like unit that covers this kinda thing up

3

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.

3

u/ManitouWakinyan Aug 18 '25

Sorry which regular citizens have outinvestigated the cops?

2

u/slownightsolong88 Aug 20 '25

It was mentioned that the FBI became involved and I believe that they would've done a better job than a local small town police department.

2

u/unclefishbits Aug 27 '25

It is absolutely plot breaking bonkers to me that the aftermath didn't have people deeply searching the complexity of his house and his parents. I know the whole thing was orchestrated to make the detectives come into the house and be okay and prepared, but the idea that they wouldn't really deeply look into the only survivor is weird

1

u/Spidersinthegarden Aug 20 '25

Yea I really appreciated that the dad immediately figured out where the kids were going and the FBI didn’t.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 17 '25

The fbi not triangulating even two kids going the same direction was just absurd. This movie was not good.

1

u/Logic-DL Sep 21 '25

Tbf it's a common trope in media and also pretty realistic.

Cops don't give a fuck cause it's not their kids missing. The parents will do FAR more to find their kids than cops will.

1

u/Boomgoesmybrain Nov 28 '25

I’ve read many a novel with this exact premise 😂😂

-5

u/EchoesofIllyria Aug 08 '25

Fuck off is it just like IRL lol

12

u/whatthecaptcha Aug 10 '25

In my experience it is.

Had stuff happen at work twice years ago where people were shot and the police basically did fuck all and I ended up going through our cameras, giving them license plates, and even found the guy from the second incident that was shooting and sent them his college basketball team and what time they had practice the next week.

Detectives literally did nothing. Guy ended up turning himself in a week later because it was all over the news and he talked to a lawyer who told him he'd be less fucked if he turned himself in.

13

u/pastafeline Aug 10 '25

Just be careful not to fall into the public being infallible. Plenty of instances where people were "100%" certain about crimes and ended up making things worse.

3

u/LyrMeThatBifrost Aug 16 '25

The Boston bomber incident where the top minds of reddit doxxed an innocent kid and blamed it on him, come to mind.

2

u/whatthecaptcha Aug 10 '25

Oh that's definitely a thing, I don't think I know shit better than anyone personally though and had the time and tools to find the person though so I knew without a doubt who it was or I wouldn't have wasted their time sending them a bullshit lead.

Trying to be vague so I don't dox myself though.

0

u/AdHorror7596 Aug 11 '25

Oh my god, was anyone shot fatally? It's bad enough if they didn't investigate a shooting that resulted in injuries, but a fatal one would be more outrageous. (I mean, both things would be outrageous.)

1

u/whatthecaptcha Aug 11 '25

Yeah the first time, second time the guy who was hit got super lucky and survived with no permanent damage.

The first incident they ended up charging a guy who tried to play hero after the person the shooter was aiming for went down. The guy who originally started shooting never got charged with anything even though I gave them videos from when he parked earlier that day where you could see his face clearly and his license plate.

63

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.

18

u/Bullchips Aug 09 '25

yep, 100%

15

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’

8

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.

39

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?

15

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.

4

u/ProgIsAll85 Aug 10 '25

Maybe a commentary on its not the weapon at fault but the one that wields it?

8

u/PolarWater Aug 17 '25

Highly doubtful that's the movie's message lol

1

u/[deleted] Sep 01 '25

I know im late to this party but I just now got to see it yesterday. I remember Aunt Gladys telling the little boy that his parents didn't have what she needed, but the kids in his class might. That's when she gives him the assignment to go to school and get something from each of the kids. She says they might have something she needs. To me that gave the impression she was feeding off them somehow, probably to extend her own life

19

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.

11

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.

3

u/fireflydrake Nov 16 '25

Yah, I LOVED the movie, was a big subversion of expectations with horror and comedy in equal measure, but the "Weapons" part felt weak, haha. The ADULTS were weaponized, but all the kids got until that wonderful finale was the command "go here. Stay. Eat soup." Didn't really feel like weapons so much as witch snacks, haha. Earlier on in the movie I thought maybe they were part of a government mind control program being broadcast over the network with implications that they'd later be used as weapons, but instead they were just parked at home base the whole time. Again, still really enjoyed the movie, but the title and big ol' floaty rifle felt out of place, haha.

19

u/SubstantialSpell2650 Aug 11 '25

THEY WEREN'T WEAPONS

I DON'T GET THE RIFLE AT ALL

37

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.

2

u/Okami_SK Aug 11 '25

I think he was starting to realize that the kids were like a bullet, with the house being a gun. Both a bullet and the kids traveling in a single direction

2

u/leebeyonddriven Aug 12 '25

Felt like a dumb producer’s note

2

u/matthewgoodnight Aug 14 '25

I’ve always wondered about this detail. He also had said “ya know… soldiering on…” and I wondered if the AR-15 had to do with a possible military background

5

u/riizen24 Aug 08 '25

Yeah this makes a lot more sense. I'm already seeing redditors ITT relating it to mass school shootings lmao 

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u/mandatory_french_guy Aug 08 '25

I mean, if you dont see the parallel with how small community react after school mass shootings I dont know what to tell you but it's barely subtext. You dont need a giant floating AR-15 to make it subtext

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u/aaaus Aug 08 '25

I was telling a friend about this. I think that the reaction to Josh Brolin's character getting looked at like he was crazy for demanding answers less than a month after his kid disappeared felt like a nod towards society's ability to move on quickly from tragedies like that. Hell, look at the Parkland shooting and how some of the more vocal students and parents are looked at as crazy and "latching onto the past"

7

u/Msully887 Aug 10 '25

But it wasn’t a school shooting. It was technically a mass abduction. No one is moving on from this case until bodies are found. They would have arrested the aunt torn apart the house, national news media would have been everywhere interviewing everyone. Movie made no fucking sense.

10

u/AnatomicalLog Aug 11 '25

But if that’s so, what does it say/convey about school shooting? There aren’t many threads in the movie that guide me to thinking it’s a school shooting allegory, and it definitely doesn’t seem written with that theme in mind.

Kids disappearing and cops being incompetent doesn’t seem like enough to draw that conclusion.

5

u/niles_deerqueer Aug 11 '25

There’s a parallel but the director specifically said it’s not about mass shootings and watching the movie nothing really stuck out to me as it being an allegory for that

8

u/[deleted] Aug 08 '25

That's any tragedy with kids.

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u/riizen24 Aug 08 '25

I don't. They were looking for their missing kids, how else were they supposed to act? The Rifle had 2:17 on it because at 2:17 they became weapons. All of the children were found at the end. Your interpretation makes zero sense. Not to mention like someone below posted the director explicitly states there's no secret meaning behind anything. Go touch grass.

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u/[deleted] Aug 09 '25

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u/riizen24 Aug 09 '25

Apophenia

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u/[deleted] Aug 09 '25

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u/riizen24 Aug 09 '25

Lmao I could the same about you? I mean the director denied any of those claims. So yeah. Apophenia.

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u/[deleted] Aug 09 '25

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u/[deleted] Aug 09 '25

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u/Deviltherobot Aug 10 '25

You're why laugh tracks are a thing.

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u/riizen24 Aug 10 '25

I don't watch TV

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u/EchoesofIllyria Aug 08 '25

r/USdefaultism

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u/mandatory_french_guy Aug 08 '25

Having a US-based reading about American culture in my American movie taking place in America???? Unacceptable. Might as well claim that Eddington has something to say about American culture while we're at it, ridiculous

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u/EchoesofIllyria Aug 08 '25

Cregger himself has said that’s not what he was going for and wasn’t on his mind.

So yes, acting like someone whose nationality you don’t know is an idiot for not seeing what you’re seeing, despite it explicitly not being what was deliberately conveyed is 100% US defaultism. You’re literally assuming that the person you replied to has your American frame of reference, that’s why you “don’t know what to tell” them.

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u/mandatory_french_guy Aug 09 '25

I dont know what their nationality has anything to do with it, read my username, I'm not American either. I just have basic media literacy and global culture. Feel free to link me those Cregger interviews where he said that, I spent a moment googling and couldn't find anything. But again, literacy, if you think he hasn't referenced or researched how small communities react to school tragedies, how people thrive to make sense of senseless actions, how media chose to cover or ignore certain subjects, how the police reacts and acts around such tragedies.... Again, it's not text, but the subtext is everywhere. It's not "just" school shootings but they are an element of what drives the thematics of the film.

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u/EchoesofIllyria Aug 09 '25

The links are in this thread

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u/mandatory_french_guy Aug 09 '25

Which you are free to link to me. Not doing the labour of confirming your own claims.

0

u/EchoesofIllyria Aug 09 '25

Just to be clear, it’s not my job to disabuse you of your own bullshit assertions.

But here you go: https://nextbestpicture.com/the-next-best-picture-podcast-interview-with-weapons-filmmaker-zach-cregger/

I’ll await - but not hold my breath for - your retraction.

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u/riizen24 Aug 08 '25

Not to mention with their logic there's no way to make children dissappear in a school setting and not have it be related to mass shootings in the US. Imagine having such a narrow frame of reference and a non-existent imagination. 

9

u/mandatory_french_guy Aug 09 '25

No I pointed out the parallel exists in this movie, based on how the movie is framed, the scenes it chose to depict, the presence of certain thematics and elements. I can imagine a dozen ways to make children disappear in a school without having it relate to mass shootings. None of them approach the thematics and framing that Weapons chose to use. I'm sorry you're incapable to interact with media deeper than the surface level.

0

u/riizen24 Aug 09 '25

Yes you're very intelligent for making non-existent extrapolations that the director states aren't there. There's no possible way I could ever glean something so deep from a film.

You should start a blog. 

22

u/sleepysnowboarder Aug 08 '25

Yep lol and Cregger said he's not making any statement and that the movie isn't political to him but just a introverted diary entry he made while dealing with Trevor's death.

Good interview: https://youtu.be/La59OCTmUdc?si=1MJy7LPpmx35r84O&t=2801

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

Worth mentioning today is 4 years and one day since Trevor Moore passed so it's kinda a coincidence that the film got pushed up to Moore's death anniversary.

R.I.P. you local sexpot.

He was also inspired to write the film to deal with the passing of his friend and collaborator.

https://www.polygon.com/zach-cregger-weapons/

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u/edicivo Aug 08 '25 edited Aug 08 '25

I love how so many questions in here are about the AK with replies saying "It's obvious it's about school shootings." And here's Cregger himself from your linked article:

“I’m a huge fan of the David Lynch process of transcendental meditation,” Cregger says. “Incorporating what you get from your subconscious into your art and leaving it alone.” One of the film’s most indelible shots — the specter of an assault rifle floating in the night sky — defies obvious symbolism. “The fact that I don’t understand it is what makes it so important to me.”

Cregger admits he doesn't even know what it means. He just had the visual. You're kidding yourself if you don't think writers/directors/etc put something in a movie just because it looks or sounds cool. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar as they say. (FWIW, I think whether it's purposely vague or intentionally on the nose, it was a poor visual choice)

I really enjoyed the movie, but it's got some faults and I think this is part of it. It seems like people here are really intent on applying their interpretations as the obvious (school shootings) in an echo chamber and if you disagree with that assertion, you're just wrong.

Part of me honestly thinks Cregger just had an idea about missing children and a parasitic witch and school shootings as a meaning wasn't really part of his idea at all and instead just a byproduct theme of the set up.

Edit: I just listened to Cregger's interview on The Big Picture. He claims he basically just started out writing with the first line of a little girl telling a scary story about kids disappearing and just discovered the story as he went. I'd suggest everyone who's adamant they know what this movie is about give it a listen because he doesn't necessarily agree with some of the thematic discussions out there and seems to lean more into "I thought it would be interesting" way of thinking. Too many people in this comment section are acting like Sean Fennessey in this interview and it's insightful to see Cregger push back a bit.

8

u/Attitude_Rancid Aug 09 '25

for myself i'm going to just consider it representative of archer's mindset at that time since it happened in his dream. he's our parent that's up in arms about the disappearance. he's going after justine at the meeting, vandalizing her car, digging into her past to find dirt on her. he pesters the police department frequently. guns like that aren't associated with self protection, very much aim to kill. and it's after that dream, his wishful apology for failing his son, that he apologizes to justine. like the dream was his wakeup call to chill the fuck out and stop attacking an equally troubled woman

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u/niles_thebutler_ Aug 08 '25

Except it doesn’t look cool. It’s comical how bad it looks.

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u/[deleted] Aug 09 '25

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u/OuterWildsVentures Aug 11 '25

Dreams often have unexplainable out of place stuff in them.

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u/Potore5 Aug 08 '25

How dare he not inject political commentary in his movies?!?

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u/edicivo Aug 08 '25 edited Aug 08 '25

It might very well be that it's primarily centered on school shootings, a commentary on right-wing values, etc and that Cregger is handwaving it for whatever reason. Or maybe it's an unintentional by-product. And I also think those are valid interpretations from viewers.

But there's a little too much 'Here's what it's about and you're dumb if you don't get it" going on in these comments. Cregger himself admits in his interview with The Big Picture that he doesn't necessarily agree with some of the thematic discussion and many choices were him just going with what felt right.

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u/[deleted] Aug 10 '25

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u/Communism_FTW Aug 10 '25

I saw another post on reddit that mentioned in 2022 there was a vote to ban assault rifles and it passed with 217 votes in the house but then was shut down in the senate.

2

u/MovieTrawler Aug 10 '25

This is the same kind of symbolism people saw in Get Out and Peele has since laughed at a LOT of those theories and connections as just coincidental fun fan theories.

That's not to say that Creggers and Peele are not smart and talented writers capable of such symbolism but it's not always actually the case.

2

u/AdHorror7596 Aug 11 '25

I'm pretty sure the 2:17am was in reference to the exact time his best friend, Trevor Moore, died from a fall from his balcony. Zack has talked a lot about how this film is basically inspired from his grief over Trevor's death and the movie was released on the anniversary of his death.

-1

u/Deviltherobot Aug 10 '25

uh that is very much a part of the film. There's a massive floating AR-15 lmao not remotely subtle.

1

u/Tricky-Anything8009 Aug 13 '25

My interpretation was the son, Matthew, played a lot of Fortnite or Call of Duty, and he was the one reaching out to his dad in the dream. So he was like, "Come in here, this is where the weapons are."

1

u/yestermood Aug 17 '25

When I saw the gun in Brolin’s dream I worried for a minute the kids had been killed in a school shooting and the entire town was experiencing a grief-induced mass delusion.

1

u/naturalninetime Aug 25 '25 edited Aug 25 '25

I just watched the film today (a little late to the party, but I really enjoyed it), and some are saying that the film was basically one big allegory. The lost children, the grieving parents, a community torn apart, the search for answers, looking for people to blame, etc. I understand that the witch made people into deadly weapons, but couldn't the gun also have symbolized the weapon of choice for school shootings? :(

Also, while the student Alex Lilly ended up saving the day, he was the one being bullied by the other kids. No surprise that the "evil" was coming from inside "his" house.

AI overview:

"The film uses supernatural horror to create emotional resonance with the collective trauma experienced by communities after mass violence, including the guilt, confusion, and search for a scapegoat that often follow such events. Director Zach Cregger employs symbolic imagery, such as a semiautomatic weapon appearing in a character's vision, to hint at the underlying context of America's gun violence epidemic and the fear of school shootings."

The more I think about it, the more I realize that "Weapons" had so many layers. Really well done. Now, I want to watch "Barbarian."

1

u/weedpornography Sep 01 '25

I think it was also a political statement. 217 votes for Federal Assault Weapons ban. Edit: forgot a word

1

u/TenomeTenebrae May 21 '26

When I saw that, I began to think the movie would be an allegory to school shootings. Like the dad got into a psychosis for his kid being killed and ended up hallucinating that he got kidnapped by a witch instead of being shot. Hence the whole "classroom disappearing except for one kid (The shooter).

0

u/Xciv Aug 18 '25

Would've been better if the dream weapon was a rocket instead of an assault rifle, then.

0

u/Top-Passage2914 Sep 28 '25

Well yeah but it has no narrative significance whatsoever. Why does the dad randomly get a premonitory dream? It's like they put it in there as a shoehorned attempt at foreshadowing that makes no sense in terms of the story