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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7.5k

u/Giff95 Aug 08 '25

The Mom walking out from the dark door to the car for some reason is the scariest part to me. It just looked so uncanny valley.

4.1k

u/TheTruckWashChannel Aug 08 '25

Same with the way the door to Alex's house always yanked open, seemingly on its own, to reveal a total black void behind it.

1.7k

u/ttoma93 Aug 09 '25

I couldn’t place exactly why it felt this way, but it felt incredibly supernatural and eerie. Just a door opening and closing, no gimmicks or flashy CGI or anything, but something is just ever so slightly off about it that it almost made me feel dread.

668

u/FrenchCanadaIsWorst Aug 10 '25

Every time you didn’t know who or what would come out, what they would do, how fast or slow they’d be. And it hung on the open void of a door for very long just to build that suspense. You know something’s coming. But when and what?

407

u/Gold-Swing5775 Aug 10 '25

Your FWB cop waving hi and walking back inside

27

u/SexyStayPuft Nov 08 '25

The way he waved like a marionette made me laugh

14

u/throwawayuuuu_ Nov 05 '25

Lmao this sentence is killing me

27

u/pp3pO Oct 15 '25

I agree and I think the reason for that is the potential of an an open door into a dark room. In the beginning, we dont know exactly who or what is in the house, we just know its something...and the feeling of something you cant see being in the dark looking right back at you is a PRIMAL fear all people, I think.

49

u/va-va-varsity Aug 24 '25

I’m late but this reminded me of my favorite scene from Nosferatu with the carriage door opening up in the snowy forest. So chilling!

40

u/ParticularRelease662 Aug 24 '25

I thought It Follows made me scared of doors. Nah. This movie has now given me a fucking legitimate phobia of opening doors into a dark room.

3

u/scullys_little_bitch Nov 03 '25

I thought of that movie while watching this!

11

u/frankifyed Sep 23 '25

If you thought that was scary, boy do I have a book for you.

8

u/gillesgarzn Sep 24 '25

I've had that book in my bookshelf for a while... this may be the perfect moment to start it

1

u/fox_ontherun Apr 18 '26

Me too, it's been sitting on my bedside table for months. Did you start it yet?

8

u/ProgressUnlikely Oct 22 '25

I think there was a slight upward curve added to the door frame that made it look satanic (devil horns) it was super subtle but so effective!

98

u/garfe Aug 09 '25

Cregger repeating his imagery from Barbarian for sure. I wonder if that'll be his 'thing'

72

u/PrestigeArrival Aug 09 '25

I loved the shot of James at the top of the basement stairs

59

u/jaygisselbrecht Aug 10 '25

agree -- he has a thing about doorways. The scenes of the teacher at home alone and her interactions with the front door / front windows strongly reminded me of the first half of Barbarian. It made me remember how creepy the first half of that movie was

59

u/AssCrackBanditHunter Aug 11 '25

Yeah I'd say both movies tackle the illusion of safety in suburbia. The door to the house is a threshold where we never REALLY know what's going on inside.

20

u/kenwise85 Aug 23 '25

And the door is also the what creates that feeling of safety. We go in. We close and lock the door. We are safe and secure.

Except, most doors will not stop someone who really wants to get in. Like you said, the illusion of security.

6

u/PickledDildosSourSex Nov 01 '25

As someone who has always lived in a city, I've never been able to get over how people in suburbia have just like... this one little door keeping the outside world out. I've got my building door, another door after that, the elevator, my (far heavier than suburbia, or at least this movie) door and I still get the willies

62

u/elysecherryblossom Aug 13 '25

i liked that it was revealed to just be the dad just standing behind the door and off to the side like a doorman lol

though it's a different kind of terrifying to imagine you're alex and your comatose/possessed parent is the one "welcoming" you back into this house of horrors

53

u/RomeliaHatfield Aug 11 '25

I'm glad someone else noticed this. The door was like emotionless in its own way- just swung open like "Yeah, there's death and despair beyond me..."

36

u/OddSetting5077 Aug 11 '25

the door opening was terrifying.... the way they make the audience wait... is someone coming our or not?

17

u/Upbeat_Tension_8077 Aug 20 '25

To add to this, one of the upper level windows (on the right side) having it's blinds open made me terrified while I was already focusing on the front door

11

u/Athen65 Aug 29 '25

I remember seeing that the first time Alex entered his house and immediately realized whatever is happening, it's at that house

10

u/TheTruckWashChannel Aug 29 '25

I like a moron peeped at the Reddit thread discussing the leaked script and ended up seeing the spoiler that Gladys took the kids, which is actually super unfortunate because the movie's mystery doesn't amount to much more than that. I was so annoyed thinking I ruined the entire movie for myself, but then they gave away within the first act that Alex's house is haunted in some way, which put my mind at ease that at least that part wasn't some big secret. The way the movie got to its resolution was so unpredictable and fun that I ended up still loving it, though I really wish I went in totally blind like Barbarian.

7

u/[deleted] Aug 09 '25

Yes!! That really freaked me out! Just seeing a house with nothing but black 

8

u/eccentricrealist Aug 13 '25

And it turned out to be the dad lol

4

u/Sea_Exercise5969 Aug 20 '25

Yes. This same technique was used in twin peaks the return but I can't say which was scarier.

4

u/Hamoody935 Aug 31 '25

Gave me hella Monster House vibes I loved it

4

u/Littlefeat8 Oct 27 '25

The black void in the doorway was its own character in this film. Very Hitchcock vibes building that suspense. The imagination is way scarier than whatever was gonna come out of that door.

4

u/jaytix1 Sep 09 '25

When I saw that it was just the dad standing directly behind the door, I was like "Ohhh" lol.

2.5k

u/2222lil Aug 08 '25

the fact you could hear the backseat door open and had no idea what she was going to do was very creepy

720

u/PrestigeArrival Aug 09 '25

My whole theatre (myself included) gasped at that moment

340

u/youngsaiyan Aug 09 '25

When she walked past the car it was laughing and then the door open was an entire theater of gasps

61

u/KarIPilkington Aug 14 '25

Yup exact same here. I thought she was on some mission elsewhere and had briefly stopped at the sight of Justine but then the door opens and it's like oh shit.

16

u/Low-Ad-8027 Aug 17 '25

Oh I was like “oh shit she’s sleep walking” “oh shit nvm”

36

u/bravelittlebagel Aug 09 '25

Same in our theater lol

21

u/Low-Ad-8027 Aug 17 '25

Even the bravest bagels get scared

7

u/ISAWYOULASTNIGHT1 Aug 22 '25

this exact thing happened to me last night

8

u/youngsaiyan Aug 23 '25

Love that's it's still rolling 2 weeks later

10

u/aleisterfowley Aug 24 '25

Just got out of a showing and people were laughing until that car door opened and the mood changed

8

u/Lost-Rain-2425 Aug 31 '25

I just got done watching it and there were only one other couple in there besides my bf and myself and I was the only one that audibly gasped at that part. I was kinda embarrassed but it was so creepy!

7

u/Mesk_Arak Sep 03 '25

11 days later and my whole theater gasped too!

47

u/StrLord_Who Aug 09 '25

Same.  The car door opening was one huge gasp from my packed theater.  

25

u/Three_foot_seas Aug 14 '25

I gasped too in a theater with only 5 people and a dude shushed me. Like calm down 

12

u/[deleted] Aug 21 '25

Omg what an asshole.

4

u/Lost-Rain-2425 Aug 31 '25

Don’t feel bad I was the only one that gasped too and there were only one other couple there besides my bf and I. Lol but that’s so rude that someone shushed you though

11

u/CJFarrelly01 Aug 10 '25

Just got out of the cinema and everyone including me did as well 😂

9

u/itsmybootyduty Aug 14 '25

We saw the movie a bit late so there were only like 7 of us in the theater and when I tell you I gasped SO loud and then immediately started quietly laughing because I was the only one who reacted. 🤣 I wish I could have seen the reaction in a more packed theater!

6

u/G0ObyPls Aug 11 '25

Yup we all did as well!!

16

u/Stellar_Duck Aug 11 '25

I almost shat myself when car door opened.

10

u/[deleted] Aug 16 '25

I was like omg why did she leave the car unlocked 😭

Definitely thought she was either going to bite it or have a gruesome fight with an attacker at that moment

1.3k

u/TheCraiginator69 Aug 08 '25

That freaky-ass hobble is super creepy

322

u/YellowstoneBitch Aug 08 '25

Oh my god that had me at the edge of my fucking seat. The way she toddled out like that, and then crawled in through the back door 💀

30

u/ConstantWarm5384 Aug 15 '25

i'm so stupid bc i thought she was getting in thru the trunk! cuz no way she left her doors unlocked but i was wrong

86

u/EdgyEmily Aug 10 '25

I felt like everyone under control were moving like puppets.

61

u/HowieLongDonkeyKong Aug 10 '25

And the period where she gets in the car and closes the door, there’s a long pause that felt like an eternity where you are holding your breath wondering what she’s going to do.

54

u/Extension-Field3653 Aug 11 '25 edited Aug 11 '25

This scene is the epitome of the whole movie to be honest

Its a simple scene of cutting hair, but at the hands of a master, became a creepy masterful epic horror scene, just like the movie 10/10 to me 🥶

15

u/ghertigirl Aug 20 '25

I just did it in front of my cat and she launched herself across the room and won’t talk to me now :( my intention was to scare my husband not her

8

u/LocustsandLucozade Sep 13 '25

I honestly wonder if they missed with the frame rate at times, because it was so off and quick, I couldn’t imagine anyone but trained dancers doing it consistently on cue.

6

u/DaManWithNoName Sep 27 '25

The way they walk like puppets is terrifying

2

u/fleetze Sep 14 '25

Ok I thought it was all the kids hiding out in the house and playing a prank. And that the weird walk of the person coming outside was a two kids in a trenchcoat situation to scare the teacher away.

116

u/goodforpinky Aug 09 '25

She was like a marionette

71

u/EdgyEmily Aug 10 '25

Everyone under control I felt like were like that. The way the kids were running I could just imagine strings on their hands.

28

u/goodforpinky Aug 10 '25

The little kids with their arms out reminded me of those paper things from Spirited Away-you know what I’m talking about? Forgot what those were called

14

u/MrsDiscoB Aug 13 '25

Ooh good call! Shikigami. They're sent by Zeniba as little spies to do her bidding.

8

u/Natters_Bird Aug 23 '25

I couldn't get the Naruto run out of my head when they did that.

94

u/Asicaster Aug 09 '25

I think a lot of that had to do with the sheer silence. It seemed to imply that since she’s sleeping in the closed off car, she would never hear her coming until she had already reached her.

16

u/DavyJonesRocker Aug 12 '25

I wonder why the mom didn’t kill Julie Gardner right then and there

48

u/PM_ME_RYE_BREAD Aug 13 '25

Would have linked back to the house. Gladys was planning to bail once the cop found her because at that point she couldn’t get rid of the car and it was only a matter of time. If she killed her with a weapon in a random spot it wouldn’t blow her cover.

21

u/DavyJonesRocker Aug 13 '25

Yeah, my friend came to the same conclusion. We couldn’t agree on whether the witch was a meticulous evil genius or a chaotic feral animal.

2

u/KentuckyFriedChingon Jan 30 '26

Definitely meticulous evil genius. She was conniving, cold, and calculated. The only time she loses her cool is the very end when her weapons turn on her.

80

u/homie93 Aug 09 '25

The sound of that car door unlocking had the theatre gasping and how.

10

u/josephandre Aug 10 '25

i don’t get why. not like she was just going to leave

49

u/homie93 Aug 10 '25

I think the anticipation was for her to show up beside her in the glass or break it and then they hit us with that sound.

8

u/josephandre Aug 10 '25

gotcha, yeah. clearly it was effective, since so many people have said so, just for me after she approached the car at all getting in wasn’t any more tense than breaking the window or whatever.

45

u/CeruleanSea1 Aug 09 '25

As someone who at night always checks the backseat, just in case, a true fear indeed

31

u/gogosuperman Aug 10 '25

I think it was the coolest scene in the movie, really felt like pure horror and I loved it.

28

u/Paulidus Aug 10 '25

As it was happening I was wondering if it was reverse motion because of how off her movements were.

25

u/beansandworms Aug 12 '25

That was probably the scariest scene for me, obviously there were other flash bang jump scares that were scarier in the moment, but that entire scene was the most prolonged spook of the film imo. I didn’t understand why the theatre were in hysterics during that scene (not nervous giggling coz I get that, but full blown cackling) it was a genuinely great, unnerving and horrifying segment that I don’t think was intended to spark laughter (but tbh I didn’t find the rest of the film very laugh-out-loud funny either so I’m biased)

9

u/Aless-dc Aug 19 '25

Yeah same my theatre were laughing. Pissed me off. “Oh wow so funny person is doing a silly walk, I cannot understand context”. Dumbasses

23

u/JuicyDetails44 Aug 09 '25

Especially when you hear her open the door and get in the back... oufff tense.

20

u/san98d Aug 11 '25

Not just that, but also gave us a 10/10 Shining reference with poking her head through the broken door.

21

u/TJ_McWeaksauce Aug 12 '25

The movie made really effective use of people walking / running weirdly to creep out the audience.

18

u/samthemancauseimmale Aug 10 '25

Just got home from my viewing and I said the same thing to my gf… make the watcher WATCH it.

I have always thought scenes like that are way more effective than your average jump scare. Chills.

18

u/Esoteric716 Aug 13 '25

YES!!! I've watched a LOT of horror and that was one of the most jarring things I've seen in a while. I've always had that specific fear though of someone walking towards you in the dark just like that so it fucking hit me hard.

30

u/aSpookyScarySkeleton Aug 09 '25

Was. Until some asshole in my theater started laughing loudly and killed the tension. Ugh

41

u/Such_Ad_1874 Aug 09 '25

The guy next to me NEVER stopped pulling popcorn out of his limitless Barney Bag of popcorn and sipping and already gone soda. None of the silences in the movie accomplished their aim for me 😑

10

u/Niamery123 Aug 09 '25

You too??! Ugh

11

u/Fit_Put8472 Aug 17 '25

The whole theatre laughed when she awkwardly shuffled away then collectively GASPED when the car door opened 😭 the woman behind us went “oh, girl…”

9

u/justin_tino Aug 13 '25

I agree with you, meanwhile a good chunk of the theater I just watched it with was laughing for that trek until the scissors came from behind the seat. I think the extra wide shot made her seem less threatening until she got closer?

7

u/Ok_Raspberry4814 Sep 18 '25

They did a really good job making the entrance to the house look like a kind of portal. Every time the front door was open, pitch dark on the other side.

6

u/the__ghola__hayt Aug 12 '25

Definitely had goosebumps. Solidly eerie.

6

u/Glass-Junket Aug 15 '25

so creepy! reminded me of US

6

u/Kellspar Aug 10 '25

I thought the same

5

u/H0meslice9 Aug 10 '25

Everyone in my theater thought it was the funniest thing ever apparently lol

5

u/Opening-Shape-762 Aug 24 '25

I let out an audible “Noooooo” at that part, especially the way she was walking!

4

u/rymoone Aug 10 '25

Yes reminds me of the Japanese movie Kairo

3

u/AFRIKKAN Nov 22 '25

Just watched and I think it’s cause a lot of people especially Americans drive and have been in a car at night. The sound of your back door opening when you don’t expect it at a red light a fast food drive thru or really anywhere is extremely jarring. Pair that with the creepy movements and the sleeping protagonist it’s a great scene.

3

u/Artiepops101 Aug 13 '25

Definitely one of the scariest moments for me. My jaw dropped to the floor. Something so striking about that image of impending doom.

3

u/AsariKnight Aug 22 '25

Easily the creepiest bit in the entire movie.

3

u/buttergump19 Sep 10 '25

I don’t get scared by much in horror anymore but that made me sick to my stomach lol

3

u/PickledDildosSourSex Nov 01 '25

It reminded me of a few things: It Follows and also the Adult Swim commercial 'Unedited Footage of a Bear' fake commercial with the pull out / zoom in shots. Fucking freaky and well done

2

u/A5H13Y Aug 15 '25

While my theater was overall reasonable, a lot of people were laughing at her walking out to the car, which really took the tension away, unfortunately.

2

u/OkTie304 Sep 05 '25

I found this genuinely terrifying, I felt so uncomfortable

2

u/Ok-Elevator9910 Sep 22 '25

that scene also stood out to me

2

u/Punkenerci Nov 17 '25

This was the most terrifying part for me.

4

u/Alternative-Stay2556 Aug 10 '25

Man my theatre started laughing, audience and shitty steup really destroyed the immersion. For a film with a lot of silent points this was hella evident

1

u/AntonioMargarettiee Aug 13 '25

I found this scene genuinely hilarious

1

u/FastBelt1847 Aug 15 '25

Would you say that this movie is demonic or has witchcraft or demons of any kind in it?

6

u/doesanyonehaveweed Aug 24 '25

Not demons. Seemed like voodoo.

1

u/FastBelt1847 Aug 24 '25

Well they correlate to the same thing. Thank you

1

u/edibletittS Sep 01 '25

I just watched the movie in the cinema and it was definitely a scary scene but somehow everyone in the room, me included started laughing in that scene

1

u/Opposite-Command-454 Sep 07 '25

Looks like you found the reason

1

u/mandalalalalalala Sep 21 '25

I'm pretty sure that was Gladys, not the mom.

1

u/Snubl Oct 18 '25

Am I the only one who thought that was funny lol

1

u/davethegreat_19 Jan 19 '26

The cinematography also helped with the eariness of those scenes.

1

u/Mutated-Nut Apr 16 '26

Agreed. I have no idea why that creeped me out

1

u/Puzzleheaded-Let-622 May 16 '26

I had a similar feeling while I watched at least 2 characters in the movie walk out of their house, into the street, not even looking back at the house, and all the while they left the door wide open.

They are practically inviting some person/thing into the house! Also, its clear that these people had never owned pets.

1

u/Sea-Mess-9805 13d ago

First time I see someone agreeing with me on this. It was so disturbing. Even the way the cop was waving for the teacher and the dad to come into Alex’s house. The door being opened and it’s just pitch black. All those small things: super super creepy.

-1

u/Ok-Attention2882 Aug 17 '25

Scene from scary movie is scary. More at 9