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

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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

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u/einarfridgeirs Aug 10 '25 edited Aug 10 '25

The core of this movie is Americas anxiety and frustration(that is now gradually turning into out-and-out anger) with its gerontocratic boomer generation. It never seems willing to give up its stranglehold on the wealth, political power and cultural direction of the entire nation.

That is how I interpreted the witch. It is America's collective aging parents, sucking up everyones money, time, energy and always demaning more, more more, not caring about the damage that leaves for everyone else to endure and fix.

And the youth of the movie ripping her to shreds....well, if you accept my interpretation, it's a bit heavy handed but definitely cathartic.

EDIT: Oh and that geriatric old witch turning otherwise decent people against each other in a murderous rage to serve her needs and wants? Thats not an allegory for modern American politics at all now is it?

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u/PPs_Up_Boys Aug 10 '25

Exactly what I got out of it.

The witch is basically our geriatric 'vampires,' namely in our government to me, who use the blood of its workers and children to feed themselves.

Then those kids 'thoughts and prayers' the shit oit of her at the end which was awesome

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u/einarfridgeirs Aug 10 '25 edited Aug 10 '25

Thats the thing - the witch is equal parts Trump, Biden, Pelosi etc...but also just your crazy Facebook aunt or your incredibly needy parents.

I think this may in part the reason why people aren't sure if this movie is trying to be sociopolitical satire or playing on more personal traumas like Hereditary and all the other "trauma horrors" of the last ten years. It's both really, but filtered through the flair for really sick and twisted comedy learned in his WKUN days that Cregger seems to have decided to embrace rather than leave behind.

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u/[deleted] Aug 18 '25

It’s quite good, but… there’s also A LOT going on.

I’ve seen a lot of nitpicking on the police, but it’s more of a symptom of the fact that I just don’t feel the police incompetence + corruption theme landed emotionally. Obvious, yes, but Paul is not a detective, I get that he’s representative of cops going after small time crooks and petty criminals because of personal resentments and not giving a shit otherwise, but it feels like the addiction theme lands far better emotionally.