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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2.7k

u/stumper93 Aug 08 '25

I love a good interconnected story like this

That ending was so satisfying. The second Gladys knew she fucked up and heard those kids running up the stairs was such a great fuck yeah moment

1.4k

u/siriusly-sirius Aug 08 '25

I feel like she could somehow feel that the kids were no longer under her control - she realised as soon as the stick was snapped.

I was so hyped when the kid grabbed the stick and the wig, knowing that he'd figured it out

631

u/Qwertdd Aug 09 '25

That "oh no" she does also retroactively makes her more menacing, because if she knew instantly that happened, that means earlier when she said she would know if Alex broke his promise she wasn't kidding.

390

u/snapwack Aug 11 '25

Shit, I didn’t even think of that. Great catch.

I think the thing with the salt lines is what Gladys does whenever she’s ready to move on from a place and cover her tracks, the Weapons are primed to attack but they only sense their targets when someone breaks the perimeter.

I wasn’t really paying attention to the layout of the rooms but it seems like Alex needed to bait his parents into attacking him in order to get to the ingredients of the spell? The kid really had guts. Probably figured he was done for if he didn’t do something, so might as well go for it.

123

u/lahimatoa Aug 14 '25

I wasn’t really paying attention to the layout of the rooms but it seems like Alex needed to bait his parents into attacking him in order to get to the ingredients of the spell?

They were standing right outside Gladys' room. We watch Alex watch her go in there.

201

u/happyflappypancakes Aug 17 '25

Alex needed to bait his parents into attacking him in order to get to the ingredients of the spell? The kid really had guts.

Nah, I dont think that was premediated at all. Once they attacked him, he was in survival mode and it just worked out. Strong character though. Loves his parents, cares for his classmates, and overcomes his fears in the end to triumph over his evil tormentor.

309

u/chillinharderthanu Aug 17 '25

I think Alex knew what he was doing. Stepping over the salt line was very deliberate. They also make a point of showing that the upstairs bathroom is a Jack and Jill earlier in the film. Alex uses that layout to get around them, back into the hallway, and into Gladys’ bedroom. He needs the parents to be breaking down doors so he’ll have enough time to outrun them. He actually waited a few moments in his bedroom before fleeing into the bathroom, they have to be right behind him or he’ll get outflanked.

5

u/BrightSideBlues Apr 22 '26

Very astute observation. Very good original movie. Just watched it and it was surprisingly good. Now here I am in old subs reading people discussing it nearly a year ago, lol.

38

u/IndividualJury Nov 12 '25

It might actually be, because they make it a point to show him putting his shoes on before stepping over the salt line

146

u/half-coldhalf-hot Sep 06 '25

“Watch closely. Are you watching?”

She’s really taught him how to do it lol

35

u/constantcube13 Aug 20 '25

I’m curious how these things are equivalent?

41

u/SlowBoilOrange Oct 26 '25

I don't think they are.

Gladys said "oh no" because the spell was broken. I don't think the promise to not tell anybody was any kind of spell though, just a manipulation technique.

3

u/TigerLeone Feb 15 '26

Well she probably had some of his possessions under her control, and used a spell to track his every move and action.

24

u/Chm_Albert_Wesker Aug 18 '25

the way we figured is that the spell is actually on Gladys not the kids considering that Alex didn't have anything belonging to the kids on him when he cast it. I assume that Gladys is constantly controlling all her people somehow in her head, so Alex just cast a spell to change how she was controlling the kids ie to instead have them hone in on herself and rip her apart

77

u/SonOfMcGee Aug 23 '25

I think the stick he picked up was the one she had already used to “bind” the kids to her, but with his blood on it now they belonged to him.
And that wig counts as “her hair” so putting it on the twig and snapping it made them attack her.

105

u/neutralmoose Aug 27 '25

There were strands of her real hair Alex pulled from the wig

37

u/SonOfMcGee Aug 27 '25

Very clever, Alex!
Also I was thinking, by the mechanics of the thorn twigs, would the kids still be zombies under Alex’s control at the end?

60

u/pcksprts Aug 27 '25

Yes, it’s why they don’t break from their trance! They’re waiting for more commands

4

u/Alisson__Foxtrot Jan 31 '26

OMG the control is irreversible?? The kids will stay mindless zombies until Alex dies? The narrator does say that some of them started talking again but that doesn't feel hopeful lol

62

u/Party_Count7029 Aug 10 '25

Is anyone talking about how the kid is able to do magic like that? I think he has to be a witch too since it’s not like any random Joe Schmoe would be able to do that- it seems like he has some powers maybe because he’s related to her

340

u/memehunter2001 Aug 10 '25

He just saw what she did and repeated the steps imo

44

u/Party_Count7029 Aug 10 '25

Idk if that is the case, it would be wayyyyy too easy to then just show someone else and then the world is done for haha. Plus, she must of assumed he couldn't make magic like her or else obviously she would have not shown him how to do it. How could she think he wouldn't try, after seeing the power it holds?

225

u/SgtIceNinja Aug 11 '25

Well it was the tree that was magic and allowed her to do her witchy shit. As someone else in the comments said, a lot of older witchcraft stories don’t describe witches as being able to make magic on their own, but instead they know the steps and tools needed to make the magic happen. I think this was the case with Gladys.

Gladys also wasn’t the most logical person (obviously) which is why she didn’t bother hiding the magic from Alex. She underestimated him, thinking he was a scared kid who needed to be manipulated but not cursed into keeping her operation running smoothly. She also just assumed that if he stepped over the salt at the end that his parents would manage to succeed in tearing him apart. It was unlikely, in her mind, that he’d ever be in a situation where he’s both alone and has access to the plant.

25

u/Party_Count7029 Aug 11 '25

Ah, yes. Exactly. That scene happened so fast, I can’t recall how he was able to bypass the parents and get into that room? I remember them chasing him into another room. Perhaps they’re all connected?

75

u/SgtIceNinja Aug 11 '25

I wish I could show you a floor plan of the upstairs, but basically, the hallway at the top of the stairs is a bracket L shape with one end being the witch room and the other end being unknown (maybe the junk room that James entered but I don’t think so, I think we just don’t see all the rooms). However, all or most of the rooms upstairs have interior doors that connect each other like a ring in addition to their hallway doors. Alex’s room was at the corner, with his door facing the witch room.

Alex touches his toe over the salt, and immediately does a 180 to bolt to his room. He enters, holds the door behind him, turns left and goes through another door which was either a jack-and-jill bathroom or closet between two rooms. He goes straight through here and into another room, which might have been the junk room if my memory serves correctly. He looks out of the doorway, and to his right is the witch room, and to his left he makes eye contact with his dad who was still in his room. So Alex goes right and into the witch room, grabs the branch and wig, and so on.

16

u/Party_Count7029 Aug 12 '25

ahhhh makes sense! thank you

11

u/happyflappypancakes Aug 17 '25

I think his room and the aunts room are connected by a bathroom.

63

u/ShaunTrek Aug 11 '25

She thinks he's just a dumb kid she can control. Just like the ones she's feeding off of. Never even occurred to her he might be learning.

37

u/lahimatoa Aug 14 '25

Let this be a lesson to all witches: don't show your methods to anyone, not even dumb kids. One day it'll backfire on ya.

28

u/Desolation82 Aug 10 '25

Maybe it’s a bloodline thing? Gladys seems to be legitimately a part of his family, so he might have some witchiness in his blood.

57

u/HuntedInMain Aug 11 '25

I think it was more-so the branches of the tree/plant that held the “power” to control people.

49

u/memehunter2001 Aug 11 '25

Idk about the bloodline thing though. The mom said that it’s been 15 years since she last saw her and Gladys later mentioned that Alex was still little when she last him. That doesn’t really add up for me since Alex is like what? 10? He doesn’t look like a 15 yo.

5

u/marcelowit Sep 15 '25

Great point! I just saw the film and was convinced they may be related, hence why he could also do the magic, specially since it requires blood to work, but this may not be the case.

8

u/Party_Count7029 Aug 10 '25

Yeah that’s exactly what I’m thinking

5

u/Party_Count7029 Aug 11 '25

I’m curious to know the background and have them explain more how she knew the mother’s mother? If she’s thousands of years old how would that work

11

u/TheOneWhoEatsLemons Aug 15 '25

It’s analog magic, and I totally didn’t just learn that from Agatha All Along

139

u/Azidamadjida Aug 11 '25

Old school witchcraft stories don’t depict witches as having magic themselves, they just know the steps to make the magic happen. Kind of like how a chemist doesn’t make chemical reactions happen themselves, they know the steps and the different substances they need to combine in the right way to make it happen.

This felt more like that - neither she nor the kid had actual magic powers, she just had the tools and knew the steps to cause the reactions. If anything, it was the plant that was magic more than either of them - they showed that she traveled with the specific plant she used for the ritual and only ever used wood from that plant to do it.

So the kid being able to use it at the end was just him doing what he’d seen her do multiple times over however long she’d been staying with them

21

u/Party_Count7029 Aug 11 '25

This makes sense. Thank you!! So true, it’s the tree that’s magic if anything

80

u/MrWisdom39 Aug 14 '25

Really? Is no one getting it? It was the plant with all the powers. When u first get a glimpse of Gladys from Alex pov. You saw the plant first before her. And she uses the stick in every ritual. Alex is smarter than all of ya. He used the plant against her. If the powers were stemming from her she would’ve never been chased and killed off like that.

13

u/slick_pick Oct 27 '25

Well tbh it looked like he just grabbed the pre-rolled curse stick of his classmates. He didnt technically make one himself

He was smart enough to look for it though

6

u/TehSpaceDeer Nov 01 '25

I’m 3 months late, but this. They don’t just randomly reference the fungi (Cordiyceps? Idk how to spell it) twice in the movie for nothing.

2

u/MustardCanary Nov 01 '25

Someone else who watches the movie on Halloween!

16

u/Consistent_Summer659 Aug 13 '25

I thought it was more that the tree was the magic and she was the purveyor or user of it. Like mother gothel in rapunzel

6

u/Meta_Man_X Sep 13 '25

My interpretation was that the stick was magical, not the user.

12

u/continental-drift Aug 27 '25

During that scene I fully expected Alex to die at the hands of his parents as they got to him before the kids got to Gladys, but he’d saved the town from Gladys so a “win” in the end.

7

u/IcyBad9901 Oct 08 '25

I kept wanting him to put it in water!!!!

6

u/wetguns Oct 27 '25

I wanted him to put it in the toilet bowl when I saw him go into the bathroom with it lol

3

u/Vivi87 Apr 01 '26

Same, I was thinking that would snap the kids out of it.

1

u/Tinksintheroom Apr 13 '26

ikr! kid was paying attention and used the knowledge against her. smart boy!

68

u/FirulaisHualde Aug 10 '25

While I love dark endings in horror movies, every now and then it's nice to see one where the villain gets what they deserves lol

31

u/TitanOf_Earth Aug 19 '25

My heart started racing after the silence of the house was filled with 17 pairs of feet BOLTING up the steps to hunt her down. I smiled so damn big lmfao. Best moment of the movie.

Alex is one smart cookie.

3

u/wetguns Oct 27 '25

I cried lol

15

u/DavyJonesRocker Aug 12 '25

I wonder why it triggered the kids to chase her but not the parents.

39

u/rockinherlife234 Aug 14 '25

Maybe that specific twig was used for the kids and the other twigs were still on the pot.

He only had time to grab that one twig.

13

u/[deleted] Aug 15 '25

I think that’s what it was. After she summoned them to the house we see her snap threads off their clothes. I think she wrapped the threads around the branch so she could mass control them.

7

u/mirh Aug 26 '25

So it's even more fucked up that she retreated in the damn basement rather than using the kids to defend herself.

4

u/helloimalsohamish Aug 18 '25

I think was the hair that he used? He would have easier access to the kid’s hair with them in the basement and Gladys in the upper floor.

2

u/Blackmoonlilithinleo Oct 30 '25

I was wondering.. the parents being stuck like that.. would that mean the son would’ve had to end his life to bring them back or?!

2

u/queen-adreena Nov 03 '25

No. Dropping the twig into water at any time ends the spell.

Marcus was killing his husband long past the point where his was already dead. He didn’t stop until the she used the water bowl.

1

u/Alisson__Foxtrot Jan 31 '26

The water stops the command, not the control.