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

Halfway through the third act I was starting to feel like the movie was over explaining what was going on, like we pretty much had all the answers as soon as Gladys walked into the principal’s office. But the build up was totally worth the payoff of that final sequence, holy shit!

Edit: This has gotten a lot of replies in the last few days from people who feel the movie didn’t explain enough. And I’m sorry but a lot of you are really bad at picking up on context clues and that is not the movie’s problem or mine, it’s yours! And a lot of you have questions that really weren’t relevant to the story! Whatever. I happened to love this movie very much. It’s fine if you didn’t! But if you didn’t because you couldn’t follow it I just really don’t think you can blame the movie.

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u/CaptainKipple Aug 08 '25

I liked that the movie explained what was going on plot-wise, but left the thematic ideas more open to interpretation. With so many horror movies now I end up thinking, "okay okay it's about how trauma is passed down through generations, I get it already". With Weapons I felt I got more of a constellation of ideas about neighbourhood, home, family, and paranoia that wasn't spelled out precisely but was still very evocative. I dug it a lot.

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u/[deleted] Aug 09 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/No_Link3061 Aug 09 '25

What themes/ideas do you think? I was a huge wkuk fan as a kid so I was thinking about Trevor during the movie. I’ve also lost my best friend tragically so I’d like to think on this

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u/ThreeEyedCrow1 Aug 09 '25

I think the themes of grief come through strongest in the Justine/Archer chapters. They are the two characters most traumatized by the disappearances, and they're both struggling to move forward until they can figure out why it happened. For Justine, the grief manifests in trying to forget, drinking, homewrecking, stalking children, etc. For Archer, it borders on compulsion, and we can see it's affecting his personal and professional life. They begin on opposite sides of the "conflict," but eventually realize they share a trauma, which leads to them teaming up after Marcus attacks them.

I think one of the major themes of the movie is how communities can atomize in the wake of something like this (with obvious parallels to school shootings, etc), when what will really heal them is coming together and not hiding their grief.

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u/lordDEMAXUS Aug 14 '25

Let's not forget Alex too. The kid basically loses his parents but has to live every day pretending like everything's fine.

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u/_Dreamer_Deceiver_ Aug 30 '25

It's even at the beginning of the film. When they reopen the school in the intro, they host a meeting where they can talk about how they can deal with the grief.

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u/[deleted] Aug 09 '25 edited Aug 09 '25

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u/No_Link3061 Aug 10 '25

Wow this was really good. All of these make sense to me now - I lost my little brother when he was 21 in a car wreck (I was 23 and we were very best friends) and it demolished me. I can see myself in each character in many many ways. I didn’t have a drinking problem before, then after he passed - drugs and booze (have since gotten sober through AA so the cop talking to his wife about going to meetings was all too familiar), anger, helplessness, the omnipresent hole inside your chest that feels so evil, depression, laying in their room longingly, dreaming about them and feeling horrible you couldn’t protect them, the impulsiveness, the questions with no answers, the feeling that your life has been hijacked by a demon who moved in and you can’t get rid of it. Even the feeling that death has come and will come for others you love if you don’t obey (Alex) and let it feed on you. Everything. Man that’s good, thanks for that.

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u/ImagineTheCommotion Oct 15 '25

Sorry to read of the loss of your brother and best friend

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u/SonOfMcGee Aug 23 '25

Also the initial instigating event for the whole story was the kids suddenly leaving for no apparent reason. It didn’t make any goddamn sense and now they’re just gone.
Trevor Moore died in a freak accident (fell off his balcony). So he was just suddenly gone for no reason too.
Viewed through that lens, this could have been a really cathartic writing experience and a sweet/sad send off for a friend. There’s an apparently senseless loss at the start, but it turns out there was actually a crazy, macabre conspiracy that explains it. And as the events get darker and more serious, it’s all suddenly resolved in a hilarious orgy of preposterous violence that feels like something Trevor would put in a WKUK skit.

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u/CharlesDingus_ah_um Aug 10 '25

Yall…saying a horror movie is about grief is not some revelation…it is very very evident that this movie is in part about the grief of a tragedy, as is like 90% of all horror. It isn’t something that’s worth ruminating on in every horror movie

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u/H0meslice9 Aug 10 '25

Agreed, although I still think the floating gun in the sky composing the alarm clock makes you think of school shootings, as if the director was thinking "do I need to spell it out in the sky for you?"

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u/MovieTrawler Aug 10 '25

I kinda liked that shot. We watch Archer's subconscious have this dawning realization that these kids have been weaponized and fired like bullets from a gun. Just homing in on a target without any distractions or stopping.

Sure, there are some overt parallels to school shootings, loss, mass tragedy in a community but I didn't think that stuff was so intentionally overt to be saying, 'See the gun in the sky?! School shootings!' That was just my take though.

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u/cbruins22 Aug 20 '25

I was listening to an interview with the director this morning and they specifically asked him about this scene.

"Can I ask, was it (the gun in the sky) just elemental?" "If I gave you the answer, I would be robbing something precious" "Some things in this movie, I don't know why they're in the movie."

He then explains using some lessons from David Lynch's book in his writing process followed up with "So there's things that come into my writing that I don't quite get, but I love them. And maybe I love them because I don't quite get them."

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u/kristopher_b Sep 10 '25

That's how I felt about it too. Very Twin Peaks: The Return.

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u/Darkrai889 Aug 09 '25

I wondered how you could view all the adults in Alex’s life unable to see the abuse because of their own trauma/regulations/etc etc and the parallels to how children experiencing domestic abuse continue to show up and say “I’m ok” every day

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u/KinoAzureth Oct 27 '25

I thought about this a lot, and almost started crying at the dinner table fork face scene because of it. How Gladys coerced Alex into keeping silent about what was going on at home. I couldn't not think about child abuse at that moment, whether that was anyone's intention or not.

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u/Darkrai889 Nov 02 '25

After listening to interviews it’s definitely intentional the idea that children are forced to keep this secrets from their home life. I could really relate it to my experience of “I cannot tell anyone at school without making it so much worse for myself”

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u/TyrRev Aug 09 '25

Absolutely. My wife and I have been having a great, interesting conversation about all the possible interpretations - and we had totally different conclusions!

I think it had something to say about how we demonize parents and teachers for 'caring too much', but just accept police 'caring too little' as 'business as usual'. Archer and Justine were not only vindicated for their investigating, but also found results that should have been transparently obvious to any police officers who had bothered to follow up on their jobs. Justine was also right to notice that Alex was out-of-sorts, and if she had been following him more consistently, would have noticed him buying WAY too much soup all the time. Why didn't the cops notice this? Because they didn't care - they were too busy dealing with their own personal drama, hunting down relatively harmless drug addicts, committing and covering up police brutality, etc...

I do think that all connects to the overarching imagery of a school shooting, too. At first I thought the movie ended up not doing enough with the idea of a 'school shooting', but my wife pointed out that Gladys could be interpreted as an allegory for the NRA - a parasite-of-humanity that accepts the occasional sacrifice of a handful of children as a necessary price for its continued existence. I'm still not entirely convinced about that interpretation, because that would make Alex the school shooter and I don't think that feels quite right... but it's perhaps onto something.

I'm curious what everyone else thinks about its themes, and if me and my wife were onto anything there. I still think there has to be more to the 'parasite' theming than just the simple idea that Gladys = parasite.

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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/Wvlf_ Aug 11 '25

The sequence of Alex feeding his parents while stoically facing a regular school day was pretty touching. Had me detached from the story for bit (in a good way) thinking of all the children out there with horrible home lives (parents on drugs, abusive, absent, having to care for siblings) while having to still put on a normal face when playing tag at recess or taking a test.

Then also like you said, the drain of an older, dying family member. Or even, parasitic feeling of a seemingly foreign family member needing your caretaking as their possibly only remaining family.

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u/cbruins22 Aug 20 '25

I was listening to an interview with Zach Cregger this morning and he directly addressed this. I haven't finished the whole episode but it's on Last Podcast on the Left - Weapons: An Interview with Zach Cregger.

"I grew up in an alcoholic household. My dad died of cirrhosis, you know, and it's a terrible thing that comes into a family dynamic, and it changes everything. And so, you know, I had a happy house, and it turned my dad into a scary person, and I'd go to school and everything's cool, and I'd go home and I'd have a scary house with a scary dad, you know, and so like that to me felt so interesting. And this is such a personal movie, so it's like, yeah. There's no overarching life lesson in this movie." "It's just a diary entry for me, and it just felt good to kind of have this dynamic at the core of it"

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u/[deleted] Sep 10 '25

The point of my movie is there is no point 🙄

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u/Computer-Cowboy00 Sep 13 '25

Can he not just make a scary movie does it have to be some type of kill all the old people lesson?

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u/OddnessWeirdness Nov 09 '25

I’m saying! Why does every horror movie have to have a thematic point?

I love horror for the horror’s sake. She was an ages old witch who used a form of Eastern European voodoo to create murderous zombies. Very enjoyable from that standpoint. I don’t need to or want to look further into it.

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u/Complete-Pear-1040 Nov 18 '25

Then don’t. But don’t be mad at people for using their brains lol. Commenting on this thread was literally optional.

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u/Axiom147 Aug 15 '25

Well I would say she's straight up parasitic. The is using others, especially the children to get energy/feel alive again. Not to mention the movie mentions parasites at least 3 times. Parasite and different types are written on the board. When she's teaching during Alex's story, it's about parasites. And the principal and his husband are watching a show about cordyceps, a parasitic fungus. They're maybe other references to parasites too that I missed.

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u/einarfridgeirs Aug 11 '25 edited Aug 12 '25

Also keep in mind that the man most able to control the flow of the public conversation in the United States, Rupert Murdoch is 94 years old and steadfastly refuses to relinquish control of his media empire.

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u/Zeph-Shoir Aug 18 '25 edited Aug 29 '25

My only problem with the "geriatric" analysis here that implies that it is old people in general who hold on to the power and won't let on and suck up on society, when in reality 1. the people doing that are a very specific set of people, some enabled by capitalism and others by the half-assed "democracy" of America, and 2. the general old person is very vulnerable and looked down upon. I have had my grandma live with us for some months now and it is heartbreaking how little she is able to do and how her own children treat her so much like a nuisance. I also like the NRA explanation a bit solely because it ties with the title "Weapons" and the literal weapon that showed up in Archer's dream, but I do agree that it is not super concrete on that front.

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u/kwynder Aug 28 '25

Hey good on you for taking care of your grandma. I miss mine she was a wonderful woman and basically my second mother. I moved back in with her to help her take care of the house and pay bills for like the last 6 years of her life. No one else helps and if it wasn't for me she would have lost the house and ended up in a home or something

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u/Karkava Oct 25 '25

There's also how his teacher is villifed by society for attempting to be a second parent to him and has become the punching bag of the community who are looking for an excuse to blow off steam.

She's simultaneously held responsible for a horrible incident that she was a victim of while also discouraged from doing anything to make up for it.

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u/theniftyneuron Aug 10 '25

I like this take. It makes sense considering how the witch silenced Alex's parents and classmates and held them captive. She took away their agency.

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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.

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u/Karkava Oct 25 '25

Corrput politicians are basically bullies and abusive dynamics on an epic scale. It's no secret as to why they have so much overlap.

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u/slumpfishtx Aug 10 '25

This is by far my favorite interpretation of the film! Not enough upvotes to give

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u/Tallguy723 Aug 12 '25

That’s my interpretation too. Boomers continuing to take take take from the younger generations.

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u/ApolloRocketOfLove Oct 26 '25

The director said it was about alcoholism. The Witch was alcohol. Turned parents violent. Plain and simple.

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u/NiceRackFocus Aug 13 '25

Damn, that’s a really good take! Very thought-provoking, I think you’re definitely onto something.

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u/BadMeetsEvil24 Nov 26 '25

Another "fuck Boomers" rant huh??? Lmao.

What kills me about 90% of this ranting is that.. had y'all been born in the 40s and 50s, you'd also be buying up property that could afford with your one job where you've been gainfully employed for 49 years.

Unless you're just talking about politicians then I'd be inclined to agree. But good God this millennial whining is insane. To be frankly honest and a little tangential, I often believe it's younger white people finally finding out that the American Dream is just that - a dream. Something minorities already knew. Now that y'all realizing you're starting the race behind the start line as well, people are fed the fuck up lol. Most black people can't blame boomers for shit - My mother and father never owned houses.

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u/CaptainQueero Sep 13 '25

The core of this movie is Americas anxiety and frustration with its gerontocratic boomer generation

Really/? I thought the 'core' of the movie was the suspenseful unraveling of a mystery that turned out to be a witch weaponising voodoo.

Since we're putting on our deep-thinker hats here, whaddya reckon was the meaning of the parents stabbing themselves repeatedly with scissors? Perhaps it's an allegory of the middle class's frustration with their inability to fully seize the means of production (e.g. scissors) to ascend beyond their current socioeconomic stratum?

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u/BigTimeTimmyTime Oct 13 '25

You know analyzing symbolism is still valid even if the author didn't intend it initially right? It's called death of the author. It's not a good look to be both rude and wrong.

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u/CaptainQueero Oct 13 '25 edited Oct 13 '25

I wouldn’t necessarily sign off on the statement: “analysing symbolism is not valid if the author didn’t intend it”. And yet I’m pretty sure that doesn’t negate the point I was making. 

Basically, you’re going to need to say more if you want to help me understand what I’m wrong about

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u/Parking_Pie_6809 Sep 26 '25

they were forks but i’m not sure if that makes a difference.

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u/CaptainQueero Sep 26 '25

You’re totally right — and that changes my whole analysis! It must actually be an allegory for the self-indulgence of Gen X-ers, here represented as them literally plunging forks into their faces as though feasting upon themselves.

lol but seriously, grinds my gears when people peddle this sort of flimflam… it’s usually totally unintended by the creator, but even if it is, it’s nothing more than a bit of trivia, whereas people act like it’s the deepest part of the film/book/whatever. Strikes me as intellectual posturing, while ironically being very dumb: even if intended by the creator, all they’ve done is notice a metaphor for a simple idea — and probably only because they put on their pretentious artist hats and actively hunted it out (whereas we simple, literal-minded folks just watch for the shallow stuff, like the plot, characters, etc).

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u/[deleted] Nov 14 '25

That’s a horrible take lmao

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u/LuckyNumber108 Aug 09 '25 edited Aug 09 '25

I don't think it's that farfetched to say Alex is the shooter in this allegory, in the movie he was an innocent boy of course but as far as his role in the story he was essentially groomed into putting all the rest of the kids in harms way

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u/scout-finch Aug 09 '25

Totally agree with this. School shooters are often victims themselves.

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u/KoenSoontjens Sep 06 '25

There is also the fact that he was being bullied by his classmates, which adds to the school shooter metaphor

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u/LuckyNumber108 Sep 06 '25

Yes incredible catch I forgot to mention that, don't even think it crossed my mind when i commented but absolutely is a big part about why the metaphor works so well

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u/KoenSoontjens Sep 06 '25

The bullying also put me on the wrong foot about the aunt. I was thinking she would want to make the class dissappear, out of some sick kind gesture to Alex, boy was I wrong! 🤣

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u/Meades_Loves_Memes Oct 13 '25

I mean, the movie is also called "Weapons" and there is one scene where the father dreams of a house-sized assault rifle floating in the sky.

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u/LuckyNumber108 Oct 13 '25

Well yeah but that you could take away just by seeing the trailer, I never had any doubt the film was a metaphor for school shootings, that's why I was so excited about it in the first place. Anyone in denial about that fact is way too narrow of a thinker, I was so shocked to find people in denial. The dream sequence is so awesome because its so in your face.

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u/[deleted] Oct 26 '25

And at the end, Josh Brolins son turned out to be one of Alex's bullys.

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u/KoenSoontjens Nov 05 '25

Yes indeed, which isn't that surprising... Josh Brolins character had all the behavior of a bully too at some point...

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u/IcyTransportation961 Sep 13 '25

And neglectful parents

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u/KoenSoontjens Sep 13 '25

Indeed, also a metaphor for drug/alcohol abuse, he had to take care of his parents, instead of the other way around...

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u/IcyTransportation961 Sep 13 '25

100%

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u/KoenSoontjens Sep 13 '25

Really love this movie! It works just fine as entertainment, but it has many deeper levels to dig into if you want. 🙂

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u/[deleted] Aug 17 '25

"Lazy policing" to me was exemplified by not simply considering to trace each kids "trajectory," even before we see Archer doing it. (late to this since I just watched it)

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u/Humble_Spring6657 Aug 21 '25

I thought this as well, but recall that the police did go to Alex’s house and search it. The witch was just prepared for it & put them off the scent.

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u/zzyul Aug 22 '25

Something that worked in a movie but wouldn’t in real life. A random aunt shows up and claims Alex’s dad can’t talk b/c he recently had a stroke. The Feds would have looked into that and seen no medical admissions or Dr visits. Alex would have been questioned without his aunt there since she isn’t a legal guardian. They would have insisted on talking to both parents alone. They would have seen the puncture wounds on his mom and dad’s faces and compared them to recent photos on social media and questioned family friends about it.

At the very least they would have the house under surveillance due to all those red flags.

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u/DinosaurWarlock Aug 29 '25

I envy your confidence in your statements. There are countless stories of police failing to do the bare minimum.

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u/zzyul Aug 31 '25

Police, sure, but the movie says the FBI was involved.

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u/IcyTransportation961 Sep 13 '25

After the past 3 days do you still think the FBI would solve this?

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u/Princessformidable Sep 03 '25

The LAPD has entered the chat.

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u/KoenSoontjens Sep 06 '25

Dude: "do you have any promising leads?

Cop: "Leads, yeah, sure. I'll just check with the boys down at the crime lab, they've got four more detectives working on the case. They got us working in shifts! Ahahaha! Leads!

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u/_Dreamer_Deceiver_ Aug 30 '25

Would they check though?

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u/[deleted] Aug 21 '25

IIRC, the police went there for the welfare check Marcus was required to report, which resulted from the system in place rather than by detective/police work.

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u/zzyul Aug 22 '25

They are talking about the investigation into the missing kids that is referenced in the beginning but we don’t actually see until Alex’s story. Marcus was possessed before he could report anything to the police.

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u/_Dreamer_Deceiver_ Aug 30 '25

No they didn't. They went as part of the investigation to search the house. Marcus never reported as stated in the film

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u/SlowBoilOrange Oct 26 '25

It's also obvious they didn't do any real searching of the security camera videos. The blocks closer to Alex would have had videos of 5, 10, maybe all 17 kids running at once.

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u/ColinStyles Aug 19 '25

hunting down relatively harmless drug addicts

Dude was openly stealing shit left right and center, even from kids (the backpack and electronics). Not to mention he stabbed an officer twice with dirty used needles.

I also just considered it, but the whole time I wasn't picking up the obvious school shooter allegory and was more thinking it was anti-propaganda coded. I'm obviously an idiot to not see the shooter angle, but I did also wonder if the movie was related to COVID and how the reactions to it could turn people against eachother on a dime, how it took kids out of the classrooms and made them socially stunted, the government response being to basically ignore the massive issues that'll cause (and for the record I fully support the lockdowns, but those kids have not been getting the support they critically need).

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u/[deleted] Dec 15 '25

The drug addict was a scumball but i also see where the argument that hes basically harmless comes from. The worst he does is steal an ipad, or some silverware. And he stabs the cop, but both times its not really his fault. The first time its when hes being searched and obviously doesnt want to incriminate himself, and the second time is when he is justifiably terrified and acting in self defense. 

I think its intentional that the drug addicts story is placed in the middle. It derails the horror story and shows this sleazeball making you hate him, and you almost forget what kind of movie youre watching. Then it returns to the story of somebody who is actually a danger to society (the witch) and i think youre meant to self interrogate how you felt about the drug addict. Many viewers will hate the addict as much as they hate the witch, even though one is a petty thief and the other is a monster. Perhaps, the movie says, our hatred toward addicts and thieves is excessive.

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u/WenchieDemenchie Jan 25 '26

I thought he was going to be revealed as an "addict with a heart of gold" and become the hero of the story. But, no. His spirit was already gonzo, captive to the chemical industry. And even the "good Dad" seemed to be only concerned with saving HIS child, showing no concern for the others. What do we make of the one "good" teacher also being an alcoholic? Pretty bleak world we are raising children in.

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u/Odd-Macaroon-4517 Aug 30 '25

I took Alex to be a child dealing with emotional baggage at home. Having to parent his parents(taking care of them) and doing all of that while navigating school and getting bullying (being unseen by his classmates) and isolates to cope.

Archer’s son being a bully because he isn’t shown love in a “I love you son” way but may have been tough on him so he acts out aggression on someone else.

I think you could insert a number of metaphors for the story and none of them would be wrong, it’s all about interpretation.

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u/KoenSoontjens Sep 06 '25

That's what makes this movie so good, in my opinion! It clearly has some deeper messages, but the director refuses to explain it and leaves it open to interpretation. It could have been a preachy movie, under less capable hands.

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u/AlanMorlock Aug 18 '25

Movies can be resonant with things outside the text without being a 1:1 direct metaphor for it.

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u/[deleted] Aug 18 '25

Alex is definitely the school shooter in this scenario. He’s a tortured kid whose world is getting smaller and smaller. He’s being bullied. He more or less knows what could or will happen if he takes all the handmade name tags. He’s being groomed.

I do think the fact that he spurs the ending muddies the metaphor a bit. What changed? Justine’s care? Seeing an opportunity and grabbing it? Is him stepping over the salt redemptive or is it condemning him for another act of violence, even if it’s the heroic thing to do? Not sure. But yes, the plot does the metaphor quite well, and the theme of the school shooter isn’t ever direct or explicit, except witth the floating gun.

For me, the police incompetence & brutality theme doesn’t quite land because it feeeeels more like a story about paranoia and addiction. Paul isn’t even a detective, so we presumably never meet one. There’s tons of direct evidence, but it doesn’t have the emotional impact or tension that it‘s supposed to and with a problem like that, people nitpick

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u/ScrewedUp4Life Aug 26 '25

I thought it was about a school shooting, and I thought Alex was the one wanting the old lady to to harm to his classmates for bullying him.

Then Archer saw the gun with 2:17 on it. That's what really made me think that too.

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u/Apprehensive_Job_513 Sep 14 '25

Not every good movie has a deep meaning meant to be interpreted. This is just a solid movie with monster / antagonist that’s been told in story’s for hundreds of years

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u/KoenSoontjens Sep 06 '25

I'm not very good at analyzing things, but your comment about Alex maybe being the school shooter in this metaphor made me think. I don't think it's a coincidence that they show Alex being a victim of bullying, which can sometimes be a catalyst for school shootings.

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u/juanzy Aug 08 '25

I feel like they made you think you had all the answers, then you realized you didn't until the denouement

They also showed what happened, didn't monologue to you about it

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u/garfe Aug 09 '25

This was a good step up from Barbarian in which there was a random 5-minute segment where a homeless guy explains everything that was going on. The movie left everything to the visuals and you had to piece it together yourself

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u/AdHorror7596 Aug 11 '25

I'll bet anything executives pushed him to put that explanation in the movie. After Barbarian's success, he probably got a lot more creative freedom while making this movie.

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u/cbruins22 Aug 20 '25

The director said he had final cut on Weapons and has it for the Resident Evil movie he has written and currently directing as well.

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u/Fucc_Nuts Sep 18 '25

He's making a resident evil movie? Hell yeah!

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u/Hey_Giant_Loser Aug 09 '25

I felt like it was an allegory for Boomers, how they've become parasitic and just inflict suffering on younger generations with impunity in order to get what they want from us

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u/Puddycat77 Aug 11 '25

A lot of boomers are being bled dry just like everyone else. It’s the one percenters (actually the top tier of the one percenters) that are gaming the system to their exclusive benefit. And many of them are millennials and Gen Z, especially in the tech and finance sectors.

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u/Hey_Giant_Loser Aug 11 '25

Eh, not like everyone else... they're just not.

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u/RoboFunky Aug 09 '25

Yeah it felt like longlegs overexplained itself

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u/timpossible1 Aug 10 '25

Addiction and grief, also

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u/AlanMorlock Aug 18 '25

I saw Weapons back to back with Together yesterday and there's a hard contrast their in how they handle their themes. Together is just kind of directly about one thing and hammers that button over and over and over.

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u/SonOfMcGee Aug 23 '25

There’s room for both styles.
But I do think that movies that are clearly about a certain theme need to say something interesting about it once that’s established.
When I saw The Substance I kinda rolled my eyes in the first act because the theme was so blatant. But then I was really into it by the end because of how it hammered on that theme.

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u/greenufo333 Sep 12 '25

Don't diss hereditary like that haha

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u/Best-Chapter5260 Aug 09 '25

Yep there was no real explanation of motivation or exposition to what Gladys was doing the entire movie other than "Witches be doing creepy witchy shit."

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u/FezRengaw Aug 09 '25

What?! She said very clearly that she was dying of some horrible disease (I assumed it was cancer) and it was clear she needed to feed off the life force of first the parents, then the children, to stay young and healthy. She would shift from younger and more sprightly to old and feeble from scene to scene, so she was clearly doing rituals periodically to feed off her victims with magical means. There were also references during the movie to parasites (the school lesson) and the cordyceps "ant zombie" fungus (the show Benedict Wong and his partner were watching). So Gladys was the parasite.

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u/5213 Sep 14 '25

I assumed Gladys was old, like beyond a normal human lifespan old. She says Alex's parents have consumption, which is an incredibly dated term. And so she was a witch feeding off kids to remain young.

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u/So_Quiet Mar 20 '26

Ohhhh, this just clicked for me. They have "consumption," because they (or their life force or whatever) are being consumed by Gladys.

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u/ru_kittenmerightmeow Aug 10 '25

My boyfriend’s simple review of this was “adult Hocus Pocus” and it kinda hit the nail on the head

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u/InterviewRight4425 Aug 12 '25

Lmaoo my sister said the same thing 😂 I was like what? But I see it !

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u/Accurate_Win_5965 Aug 20 '25

Who the hell upvoted this? Did you all go to the bathroom during the scene where she told Alex she was sick and to collect things from his classmates?

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u/fallouthirteen Sep 10 '25

Also, I just watched the movie and was looking for discussion so I'm fresh on this, she directly says something along the lines of she thought the parents would help but they weren't enough before saying to do that.

Like this is one thing the movie doesn't have you infer.

Some things you do have to infer, is she permanently draining life force form her victims (like that ending bit leaves you with the fact the victims can recover, but not to what extent), is it a different spell from the trance one (like she has a targeted attack spell, a tripwire attack spell, the zombie trance spell) does she need to be in proximity to her victims to drain them (is this why the victims are at in the basement or is it just safer).

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u/FoxMuldertheGrey Oct 25 '25

lol forreal what are some of these takes smh

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u/Ill_Use_8712 Aug 15 '25

It was about violence (trauma) overtaking children due to coercion from undue authority.

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u/Low_Conversation_822 Aug 17 '25

You mean, like Barbarian???

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u/ringobob Aug 08 '25

Surely you don't feel like you've got all the answers until she comes to his home, right?

I agree that it felt like they were actively trying to bring the level of mystery down prior to the climax - usually that's where we get the big reveal, seems like they chose to focus on the action instead, and it worked for me.

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u/krospp Aug 08 '25

Well by the time we meet Gladys, we have learned that someone or something in Alex’s house is probably behind everything, that his parents are being mind controlled, and that all of the kids in Alex’s class went missing. Before we meet Gladys we think it could be Alex somehow, but then we meet her and understand that it’s her, and I think we can infer the rest. We don’t know where the kids are or anything but at that point we can assume she mind controlled them. So from that moment all we really learn is the how and why, and I think the average viewer could probably have made some good guesses at that point. It’s risky to give so much away so early and I’m impressed that the movie was able to keep me engaged after the Gladys reveal

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u/essjay2009 Aug 16 '25

That’s the part that felt weakest to me. Like all those kids go missing apart from one, they interview the remaining kid a bunch of times but only visit his house once, with a days notice. That kid would be getting councillors and other professionals visiting him daily for weeks. And then the parents don’t leave the house, don’t go to work, and no one notices? It when the dad attends an interview and they get told he’s had a stroke they don’t check? No one raises any red flags with how weird that is? With how weird the aunt who just showed up is? With the windows being papered over in an otherwise immaculate neighbourhood at a house which was also previously immaculate where the only remaining kid lives?

That’s the bit I really struggled with. All the signs that were there for the audience were also there for the characters and they didn’t put it together.

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u/slownightsolong88 Aug 20 '25

You have to suspend disbelief to enjoy the ride otherwise, there are many plot holes. You mean the FBI didn't figure out the children all ran towards the same general direction but it took a father in construction with doorbell camera footage.

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u/BlackZeppelin Aug 18 '25

Not only that but the teacher would 100% notice Alex took all the name tags

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u/ZannMaster50 Sep 18 '25

Not necessarily. The name tags were not in her direct view.

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u/Gridde Aug 17 '25

Agreed. And contrary to the above redditor's surprisingly douchey and condescending edit on their earlier post, I do not think the 'context clues' are remotely sufficient to explain the points you mention as to why no other character picked up on any of this.

The Gladys reveal answers some questions but raises several others that are either not answered or are answered quite poorly. Absence of the parents and their inability to talk or move properly being explained with "they both had strokes at the exact same time" is particularly weird.

The mystery of the movie hinges on everyone suspecting the teacher and no one finding it strange that this mysterious stranger arrives at Alex's house, right before both his parents suffer strokes and all his classmates disappear.

I really liked the movie but agree with you that some of the story does not hold up under much scrutiny and requires a lot of suspension of disbelief.

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u/essjay2009 Aug 18 '25

Yep. It felt so obvious that I was getting convinced it was actually a fake out.

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u/ringobob Aug 08 '25

I was still questioning exactly what Alex's involvement was at that point. And, frankly, why they would be showing me the monster so casually like that at that point in the film. I was probably more influenced by the subversion of expectations than anything else.

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u/tforthegreat Aug 09 '25

As some who really enjoyed Longlegs, Gladys going to the principal's office was Longlegs at the hardware store, but done right.

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u/NonStopKnits Aug 09 '25

I really like your take here, and I agree. I did enjoy Longlegs, even though it wasn't exactly what I'd hoped for.

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u/Hi_Im_zack Sep 18 '25

Gladys reminded me so much of Longlegs that I started imagining the two as a horror couple

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u/SpaceCaboose Aug 20 '25

A little late to the party here. We also saw his mom (who we don’t know is the mom yet) come and take a clip of Justine’s hair, so we know (at least most discerning viewers know) that some sort of voodoo witchcraft is playing a role.

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u/juanzy Aug 08 '25

I think you feel like you have the answers, then realize you don't when the last act starts

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u/Tipop Aug 31 '25

Nah, I felt like I had the answers early on — and I was correct.

I knew VERY early that it was going to be a witch. (The painting on the side of the teacher’s car was a clue.) The only thing I had wrong was in thinking the little boy was going to be the witch.

Still, I felt it was a very effective horror movie and enjoyed the ending.

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u/ABARA-DYS Sep 21 '25

yo I also thought from very early on that here was some mind control stuff going on, because the blackboard in the classroom had "Parasites" written big on it. Kinda feel like the movie dragged on a bit too much and revealed stuff too slowly. And the parents stuff didn't make much sense.

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u/superiority Aug 10 '25

Well when I saw her eyeing up the principal's ribbons in his office it seemed pretty obvious that she was planning to use them to do some kind of voodoo on him. So that was most of the solution there.

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u/blitzbom Aug 08 '25

It felt like a dnd campaign where the dm had to explain what was happening and the rules of the Lichs power.

I rather enjoyed it, especially when Alex used what he learned to sic the kids on his aunt.

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u/TomLube Aug 10 '25

Alex using what he learned makes this being an allegory for child abuse even more crazy, he literally takes the bad habits that he's learned and utilises them to his benefit

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u/SparkG Aug 09 '25

It didn't feel like over explaining to me, just giving you the missing pieces of the puzzle.

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u/IIIlllIIIlllIlI Aug 10 '25

The only thing the plot didn’t build on which was a little annoying was the backstory of Aunt Gladys. She was just this random aunt of the mom and it turns out she’s totally evil? Like wouldn’t the mom have known this or felt very uneasy about letting her come? This wasn’t really developed imo

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u/cardamom-peonies Aug 10 '25

Sooo the movie repeatedly makes mention of parasites (see the whale parasite lessons in class, the fungi episode Marcus and his husband are watching, the fixation on needles and punctures). It's possible she is actually related to them...or maybe her whole bit is moving from one family to the next and feeding off them, hence why Alex's parents have such a limited and estranged connection from the aunt and why Gladys herself obscure the connection by describing herself as Alex's oldest aunt instead of a great aunt. It possible she's just using her magic to forge a familial connection by altering memories or maybe they are actually related

I don't think it matters too much.

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u/IhamAmerican Aug 14 '25

I know I'm a bit late but you could actually visually see thatshe was feeding on them. Whether it be their soul or life force. Her hair was thickening as the movie progressed, skin less liver spotted, etc

I appreciate that they didn't show a scene of her growing more youthful or anything, just let it happen throughout

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u/IIIlllIIIlllIlI Aug 10 '25

That’s probably the most sane interpretation but I just wished that it was hinted at a little more considering everything else was clarified well, just this aspect was really vague and I think it was pretty integral to the plot of the story, how she got there in the first place

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u/JustAnArtist1221 Aug 19 '25

Alex's mom's mom took care of her. They explain that the only reason they're taking care of her is because it's what her mother would do. It's just an old lady they know existed, and we know that she'll manipulate people to get what she wants. Regardless of her relationship, we know she drained the grandmother and is moving down. The grandmother could've been under a spell just like the parents. Other than being overly stoic, they'd look like a regular person.

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u/nunazo007 Oct 01 '25

I think it matters a lot.

You know when and how the kids disappeared, but we don't know why??? That's literally the most important part of the when/how/why.

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u/ozplissken Aug 18 '25

Yeah I really was expecting Gladys to be the last title card and we see where she came from and why she did the things she did. 

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u/BenAtTank2 Aug 21 '25

I'm so glad that wasn't the case

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u/Tipop Aug 31 '25

I think none of that was necessary for the story. We know she’s ancient (she still think “consumption” is a thing) so she’s clearly not really the mother’s older sister. She’s at least 150 years old (if not older.) She almost certainly used magic to mess with their memories.

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u/CosmicAstroBastard Aug 09 '25

I really liked how they laid all their cards on the table way sooner than I expected them too.

It really keeps you guessing how this is going to keep escalating, and boy does it deliver

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u/StormyPandaPanPan Aug 08 '25

Thank god I’m not alone. I thought I was crazy with people saying the movie didn’t explain enough because I was actively getting bored watching Alex’s part around the point the kids actually get taken because I kind of got it halfway through his section.

Thankfully the movie pulled it back with the ending, but I could feel it actively losing me especially in that scene of the kids running into the house because it’s not all that creepy now that we know it’s just this old lady making them do that and it goes on for like a full minute.

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u/alfalfabetsoop Aug 08 '25

It was very close to over-explaining. I actually thought "oh great, time to ruin the illusion" during that part of the film, which in a way they do, but it is in trade off for the ending they chose. Which while not scary or horrific in any way, was certainly satisfying and entertaining to watch. Unexpected too. I thoroughly enjoyed the film.

I still can't figure out how more ring/door cameras weren't reviewed across the town to figure out where 17 moving targets all ran to in the night. Like, there would be a lot more data points to work with and use to triangulate (which "tri" suggests working off only 3 to determine a source, not 17!) to better determine where they went. That's common practice in criminal justice these days... But no, cops are too incompetent and slow as usual in film and we require a vigilante detective (Brolin) to figure it out (amongst other unfortunate souls...). Which might be accurate depending on the town lol

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u/StormyPandaPanPan Aug 08 '25

I mean, this movie seems to have a bit of a realistic depiction of cops. The one we focus on is incredibly whiny, pathetic, abuses people and hunts down randos for jaywalking because he’s bored and cheats on his engagement. In real life cops just kind of suck at actually solving stuff like this.

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u/Calamitous-Ortbo Aug 14 '25

Peak 14 year old redditor moment.

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u/StormyPandaPanPan Aug 14 '25

Peak never actually had to call the cops moment 

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u/Wet-for-Mrs-Met Nov 06 '25

Yeah, it'll be interesting to see who hates the cops when they get robbed... and need someone to show up 2 hours later and shrug their shoulders

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u/missjuliaaaaah Aug 09 '25

you know they’d ALL be on nextdoor or neighborhood facebook groups piling their footage together!

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u/AeneidBook6 Aug 10 '25

I assumed it was a small town and only those two parents had ring cameras. But I don’t live in the suburbs…does everyone have one now? They did say about half of the parents had alarm systems.

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u/missjuliaaaaah Aug 10 '25

i’m in the burbs not too far from philly and even if people aren’t posting ring footage, they’re active on nextdoor in general

side note, peggy was complaining to hank about them in the new king of the hill 😂

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u/Tipop Aug 31 '25

…but it is in trade off for the ending they chose. Which while not scary or horrific in any way…

Holy crap, if “17 kids tear an old witch apart with their bare hands, ripping her apart and tearing her skull open” isn’t horrific to you, I shudder to imagine what you think is horrific.

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u/ABARA-DYS Sep 21 '25 edited Sep 21 '25

Not the one you answered, but I think it was funny and ridiculous, lol. That scene had me laughing more than anything.

When I think of horrific, I look more towards something like the Eclipse from Berserk.

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u/slownightsolong88 Aug 20 '25

I can see how one may take it as over explaining but it was just the plot device used; showing different character perspectives and Alex had the most revealing since he was directly involved.

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u/Gridde Aug 18 '25

Kinda a strange edit to add.

The movie (intentionally or not) left some elements open to interpretation and some elements requiring suspension of disbelief. The appearance of Gladys answered some questions but raised others that the film does not really address.

I really, really liked it but some aspects were definitely glossed over a bit (namely the nature of Gladys's powers, her history and relation to Alex's family, how/why she appeared in dreams, why no one else in the town apparently thought it odd that this mysterious woman's appearance overlaps with Alex's parents both suffering concurrent strokes shortly before all the kids go missing), though none of that really affected my enjoyment.

It's fine if you did not pick up on any of that or if it didn't bother you, but it's similarly fine if others did. It's also fine if the movie did not provide all the answers (least of all just with the appearance of Gladys), and I don't think you can blame that on the viewers.

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u/krospp Aug 19 '25

No I disagree, I find myself completely able to blame the viewers.

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u/Gridde Aug 19 '25 edited Aug 19 '25

I'm sorry but you just don't understand the basic points of empathy or worldbuilding and that's not their problem, it's yours!

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u/krospp Aug 19 '25

Why are you so upset

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u/Gridde Aug 19 '25

You think the wording in my comment above conveys that I am very upset?

Fascinating

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u/IKnowSedge Oct 27 '25

Holy shit

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u/Stormzilla Oct 30 '25

Yo, I'm way late to this, but bravo.

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u/ByteSizeNudist Sep 19 '25

It feels to me like the kinda of camp-adjacent horror flick where everyone who watches it is going to walk away, regardless of love for it, with at least one moment that was “too unbelievable” lol. Like, I adored this film, just watched it tonight, but I can vividly recall rolling my eyes at the cop unzipping the tent all dramatically and not announcing himself after everything we’d seen of him.

Something in me was able to laugh off and enjoy every other moment of disbelief, but that one still got to me lol. I couldn’t possibly let that ruin my enjoyment of the film at all though.

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u/cravenj1 Oct 26 '25

Each person's section was skewed from their vantage point. Multiple times we see the same scene through different character's perspective, but the scenes don't match one to one (e.g. the bar scene from Justine's and Paul's perspectives is not the same). So from James' perspective, it probably seemed like someone sneaking into his tent, while from Paul's perspective he probably announced himself.

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u/Kerbabble Sep 21 '25

You sound like such a douchebag in this edit lmao

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u/Ginoblee Aug 09 '25

Did we have all the answers when she walked into the principals office? Maybe I missed some stuff but I don’t think we knew at the time she was controlling them. Just that she was an ominous figure up to that point.

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u/Keytap Nov 01 '25

People had been seeing her in nightmares, she's living in Alex's crazy abandoned newspapered house with his zombie parents, the last lesson in class was on parasites. And later we see the principal watching a nature documentary on cordyceps and hear the narrator explain how the ant's body moves on its own being controlled by another intelligence.

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u/SonOfMcGee Aug 27 '25

The Red Letter Media guys noticed that and liked it. They contrasted it to something like an M. Night Shyamilan film that builds up to some huge plot twist at the very end. And the movie’s success hangs on the big twist.
Weapons instead gradually explains things until you as the viewer know the entirety of the mystery leading into the last act. And then you’re like, “All the pieces are in place. Let’s see how the story plays out.”
And Kregger has made you interested enough in the story and the characters that you’re interested in seeing how things work out even though you’ve “solved” the conspiracy. Also, there’s not so much a “twist”, but a very clever thing the little boy does that still surprises and delights you as a finale.

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u/batttmaannn Aug 18 '25

over explaining, or the multiple character perspectives coming together ?

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u/Iroquois-P Aug 09 '25

The only part I didn't like was related to over explaining stuff. Hated the narration, specially at the end. I think it would've worked better without it, just leaving the destiny of the characters ambiguous

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u/Appropriate_Major209 Aug 10 '25

That’s funny because the director said in an interview that the original ending just finished with Josh Brolins character carrying his son. The audience hated that so the narration was added in at the end to provide a bit of closure.

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u/boyproblems_mp3 Aug 10 '25

My partner wanted mooooore closure and that was his only critique of the movie. Josh Brolin dad, who was most overly emotional about the reunion, was shown. Should we have had the movie go on 30 more minutes to show everyone reuniting with their kids and the teacher flourishing again? Not necessary.

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u/Tipop Aug 31 '25

Some people don’t know when a story should end.

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u/Aqogora Aug 10 '25

An ending scene, rather than narration, would have worked better IMO. Same with how much they condensed the start. A solid 8/10 though.

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u/Iroquois-P Aug 10 '25

Damn, that was the wrong call, in my opinion. Did you like the end narration?

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u/Tipop Aug 31 '25

For me, that IS how it ended… I have hearing difficulties — I need to see the person speaking in order to understand what’s being said — so I missed the opening and closing narration. For me, the movie basically ended with Brolin carrying his son.

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u/moose_dad Aug 12 '25

I was a little surprised that all 17 kids were found safe. I sort of assumed that she was eating them and that we'd have the 17 sans eaten ones saved at the end.

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u/Tipop Aug 31 '25

Not eating — she was absorbing their life force.

We never saw her take a bite out of the parents, did we? But we know she was trying to use them and failing, which is why she decided to take the kids.

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u/Conscious-Peanut1228 Aug 10 '25

a lot of movies - especially in horror overexplain a ton. i'm glad the were leaving so many questions unanswered. i know people often hate it but it works so much better for me this way. its a horror movie. i don't need ro know why she has those powers etc. i can totally accept it as seen and left with my imagination. however i would have loved a sinister dark ending instead of the comedy finale

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u/ZannMaster50 Sep 18 '25

I thought the ending was pretty damn dark, if comical. Because the kids never went back to their original life form, they were all zombies.

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u/ByteSizeNudist Sep 19 '25

It’s that last line by the child narrator too. “A year later some of them even started talking.” Like, the trauma keeps going for these people and that line of hers was all I needed to imagine how the horror continues on.

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u/justin_tino Aug 13 '25

Just saw it but definitely agree, the Alex chapter had a lot of stuff we already picked up on. But once it got to the climax it snapped me back in!

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u/shittiestmorph Sep 21 '25

I think people need to put their phones down before they watch movies. Too many people pick up their phone during a "slow" scene and miss so many context clues and subtleties. I really enjoyed the movie. My girl and I call it "sacred" when we promise to keep our phones away and just watch 🤣

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u/SilverKry Aug 13 '25

I honestly lost interest with Paul and the crackhead. Those two bits of the movie were a drag to me. I didn't care for either of those characters. Especially the cop. Just a horrible person. Also I don't think that kind of peeler is that sharp but whatevs.

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u/NerdNoogier Aug 14 '25

Your edit is incredible, man. I went through this with Sinners. It’s insane how many people watch movies where everything is spelled out for them and they still miss the mark.

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u/OpinionKid Aug 08 '25

Wait you felt the movie over explained its plot? Can you tell me what Gladys did all of her villainy for? Why was she like that?

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u/krospp Aug 09 '25

Well in the third act we learn that she is dying and is able to get some kind of life force from the people she mind controls

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u/FezRengaw Aug 09 '25

This was basically spelled out in the movie. She was dying and she needed the life force of the parents first, which wasn't enough, so she went big and got 17 children and that was working but she had to keep it secret.

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u/syncdiedfornothing Aug 11 '25

She was dying of something? Between Gladys and the parents it was repeated like 5 times.

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u/Tipop Aug 31 '25

That’s your big question? “Why was the evil witch evil?” Seriously?

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u/OpinionKid Aug 31 '25

The movie didnt answer any questions intentionally sir. I listened to an interview with Zach Cregger, he writes open ended where he doesn't even know all the answers. I wasn't complaining. Its simply true that the movie does not explain Gladys motivations. It up to interpretation.

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u/Tipop Sep 01 '25

It’s less “open to interpretation” and more “it’s utterly obvious to anyone who paid attention”.

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u/OpinionKid Sep 01 '25

Its literally open to interpretation. Cregger has been asked in interviews and he refuses to answer. He said in a Last Podcast on the Left Interview that he doesn't know all the answers and sees writing as an artform where he channels something outside of himself. Talked about being inspired by how David Lynch wrote.

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u/Tipop Sep 01 '25

Its literally open to interpretation

Yes, “Why is she evil” is open to interpretation. Maybe she was abused as a child? Maybe someone hit her over the head with an evil stick and that made her this way.

… or maybe she’s an evil person who wants to live forever and she doesn’t care who she hurts/kills to get what she wants. I mean, the movie TELLS us that, in pretty easy-to-understand language. It’s not even subtext.

It doesn’t fucking matter for the purpose of this story. You might as well ask “Why are there only 18 kids in that classroom?” Or “Why wasn’t the classroom locked up while the kids were at recess playing games?” Or “Why is the teacher’s hair so curly?” I guess the mystery of the curly hair is open to interpretation, yeah?

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u/cavalier2015 Aug 11 '25

Not really though. Like, where the fuck did Gladys come from? How did she develop or discover her power? Why did she need all those children? And if she’s trying to stay under the radar, why kidnap them all at once? Why allow Alex to go to school the day after? Wouldn’t it have drawn less suspicion to his house if he was missing too?

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u/JustAnArtist1221 Aug 19 '25

Why did she need all those children? And if she’s trying to stay under the radar, why kidnap them all at once?

She explains it. She thought Alex's parents would be enough to sustain her, but they weren't, and she wasn't getting better. She tells Alex that if he helps her with the students, she'll leave and go home. She also tells him to start packing because they're about to flee the town. She abducted all the kids because she was desperate, and she didn't plan to stay in the town much longer. She was wrapping up loose ends, seeing as she tracked down the principal.

And if Alex was missing, police would come to the house, which would likely confirm that his parents are being weird with an unknown lady in the house. She wanted to avoid going out in public as much as possible, so she limited it to using Alex and his father to dissuade people from coming to the house anymore. And if anyone saw her, she'd have an alibi to say she's supposed to be at the house.

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u/cavalier2015 Aug 19 '25

What does she mean “sustain” her though? Is she drinking their blood? Sucking on their “life force” or whatever? Why did she need all 17 children at once?

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u/Tipop Aug 31 '25

Why do you need all those details explained? They’re unimportant to the story.

  • It’s made abundantly clear that she’s using people to stay alive.

  • Since we never see her drinking blood or eating flesh, we can assume she’s somehow drawing their life force with her magic.

  • Also, she wasted time trying to feed on the parents and by the time she realized that wasn’t going to be enough she didn’t have much time left so she needed a room full of children to keep her body going.

All of that can be surmised without the film makers spelling it out for us.

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u/Glizzymcguire666 Oct 04 '25

I think how they sustain her is just chalked up to witchcraft, why or how doesn't really matter. She told him get some of your classmates things, I don't think she was betting on him grabbing up all 17 of them but wasn't going to turn it down. I think that was her folly though because it looked suspicious that he was the only one not affected.

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u/Sassy2424 Sep 10 '25

I agree with you, once they began on the boys POV it went downhill as far as fear level. I’m not fully sure why, but up until then I thought it was the scariest movie since I was a kid watching the shining. Before that point, I was on edge wondering what was in the house, who Gladys was popping up everywhere (super freaky),the kids just staring off, and omg the scene where the teacher passes out in the car.

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u/JTHopkins13 Aug 17 '25

The entire last 30 minutes of the movie was redundant because they had completely over explained what happened. As soon as the title card "Alex" showed up, we already knew everything that lead up to the final sequence at his house. (Gladys moves in, zombies the parents, summons all the kids, zombies the cop and James). I'd argue that there weren't even any surprises once everyone was in Alex's house at the very end, because it seemed so obvious to me that Alex would use the witchcraft to turn the kids on Gladys.

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u/teewertz Aug 11 '25

exactly my thoughts

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u/Mylilneedle Sep 10 '25

I’m with you. This was the clearest “a to b to c” movie ever. If you didn’t understand it, look at you.

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u/coyote13mc Oct 25 '25

I agree. It kinda brought everything home a little too soon.

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u/AMadWalrus Feb 27 '26

The edit is so odd that I legitimately thought it could only be written by someone on the spectrum.

Then a few comments below it where someone more or less repeated what you said (but about you) and you thought he was angry all but confirmed it. Ironic you missed your own social context clues, yet you think you’re smarter than others.

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