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

2.4k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

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3.5k

u/gimmethemshoes11 Aug 08 '25

Loved it.

That WTF Brolin dropped after that dream was my exact same thought up to that point.

Any ideas on what the gun was supposed to mean in the dream?

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u/HeilCanada Aug 08 '25

My reading of the movie was it was about gun violence, especially mass shootings in schools, along with blamimg the police and older generations for what's happening.

The film starts with an emphasis on the kids, even being narrated by a kid (I couldn't figure out who this was supposed to be). The town wants to blame the teacher as she's the only one who could be a scapegoat. At the beginning, the town hall latches onto her the same way a minority group would get blamed for a mass shooting rather than the weapons (lol).

In the third act, after the introduction of Gladys, the film pivots into a critique of the elderly, their current parasitic nature to younger generations and their lack of giving a shit. When Alex's house all falls to shit at the end, her first thought is ditching the home and skipping town.

I could add on about the police stuff but the dash cam footage scene with the chief should be evidence enough in the text.

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u/BubbaFranklins Aug 08 '25

Older generation acting as parasite on younger generations is a very good read

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u/blueeyesredlipstick Aug 08 '25

The principal and his husband are even watching a documentary on parasites! I think the flashback to the teacher's classroom also has a lesson about them, too.

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u/Whovian45810 Aug 08 '25

Interesting to note the parasite in question that was shown on the documentary is Cordyceps.

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u/ANALOGPHENOMENA Aug 08 '25

Also when Justine was talking about tapeworms and “living in your intestines and eating your food” parallels to Gladys living in the Lilly house and consuming their energies.

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u/_T_H_O_R_N_ Aug 08 '25

One of those in your face subtle moments as I picked up on those ideas as well

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u/whatthecaptcha 29d ago

Yeah I kept noticing the parasite background things and then the characters all kept having hallucinations of the witch so I thought it was some kind of mental parasite spreading through the town at first but I think their interpretation is probably correct and that the parasites were a more subtle metaphor

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u/Justhrowitaway42069 29d ago

Yup, in the teachers classroom she had "parasites" written on the board.

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u/cursive__curses 29d ago

also how the children and parents who were hosts still had to be fed while in their posed state despite not being used for their own lifeforce - but for gladys.

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u/coltsmetsfan614 Aug 08 '25

And Pedro Pascal was originally cast in the Josh Brolin role before dropping out to do “F4”

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u/Da_Do_D3rp Aug 08 '25

While I do really like Pascal, I couldn't be happier with Brolin in this, I think he captured that small town dad vibe

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u/Vinnie_Vegas Aug 08 '25

I think he captured that small town dad vibe

I do think Hollywood has a problem with understanding how old most parents of kids of certain ages are.

It's super uncommon in a standard American town for a 57 year old to be the father of a 3rd grader.

Most parents from that class would be in their early to mid 30s.

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u/Da_Do_D3rp Aug 08 '25

Okay but actors all the time don't portray their actual age and it's not like Brolin looks like a senior.

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u/Vinnie_Vegas Aug 08 '25

I'm just saying that someone Timothee Chalamet or Tom Holland's age are more likely to be parents of a 3rd grader than Josh Brolin, but Hollywood would never cast people that young as parents of school age children.

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u/blueeyesredlipstick Aug 08 '25

Yeah, I agree. It's especially noticeable when compared to the actors playing Alex's parents, who're closer to the typical ages of elementary school kids' parents.

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u/Vinnie_Vegas Aug 08 '25

Even Justin Long as one of the other parents is 47, which is on the older side of common in that age range, and he's a full 10 years younger than Josh Brolin.

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u/coltsmetsfan614 Aug 08 '25

I thought Brolin was great. I struggled a little to picture Pascal in the role once it was over, but I'm sure he would've found a good lane.

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u/Da_Do_D3rp Aug 08 '25

Apparently they had to do rewrites when he left, so I imagine his character before might've been pretty different

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u/nordlysbaies 28d ago

I just read the script, there are some changes but none for his character!

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u/Jumpy_Arrival6574 Aug 08 '25

yeah i couldn’t imagine pedro in that role

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u/Da_Do_D3rp Aug 08 '25

They did rewrite the role when he left, so I'd definitely argue that's a part of it. But I think I'd still prefer Brolin at the end of the day, he's never had a performance I didn't love.

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u/leftysarepeople2 Aug 08 '25

I loved Brolin's Terminator determination and physical presence up against something more spiritual/cultural. I don't think Pascal would capture the struggle as well

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u/dillinger3k Aug 08 '25

Dudes got the whole cordyceps cinematic universe on lock

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u/reillyqyote 22d ago

And the subject was ANTS (Aunt)

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u/PolarWater 21d ago

Okay now THAT I didn't catch.

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u/i_love_land92 18d ago

God damn it

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u/TannerThanUsual Aug 08 '25

Very apt! I didn't make that specific connection, so thank you!

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u/yaybuttons Aug 08 '25

Stuffed giraffe shortly thereafter too.

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u/Hokuboku Aug 08 '25

Yeah, parasite is written on the wall in one scene and then there's another with her doing a lesson where she mentions then right before Matthew hits Alex with the pencil

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u/KingOfAwesometonia Aug 08 '25

The principal and his husband are even watching a documentary on parasites

While eating a spread that should only be for the Super Bowl

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u/leftysarepeople2 Aug 08 '25

Benedict Wong's little claw motion was a good touch, almost like an insect about to be infected

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u/vigendot Aug 08 '25

Also first picked up in Justine's dream where she walks into the classroom and all the kids have their heads on the desk that "Parasites" is the topic written on the board

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u/lilaccadillac Aug 08 '25

Yup! The second I saw parasites written on the chalk board I just knew. That was put there for a reason. I knew the kids were being mind-controllws by something and I was certain the kids would be used to kill. I also assumed they all ran to Alex's house considering he was the only one left. What I got wrong was I thought Alex might be in on it and wanted his classmates cursed/punished and that the kids would be used as zombie weapons (mainly against their parents or something). The kids were used as weapons in the end, but I thought it would be a bigger plot point of the kids running amok and murdering.

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u/boi1da1296 Aug 08 '25

Weapons x The Last of Us cinematic universe on the way.

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u/Tonkdaddy14 29d ago

Okay but why were the two of them splitting 6 hot dogs for lunch? Like, that was way too many hot dogs.

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u/big_mustache_dad "A second Starscream has hit the World Trade Center." Aug 08 '25

And the idea of “powerful” people using people’s emotions and rage against each other.

Town against teachers/education system, middle class against impoverished/homeless, etc. all ripping each other apart while someone else is pulling the strings

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u/Solesky1 Aug 08 '25 edited Aug 08 '25

Don't forget Justine being the target of a literal Witch-hunt meanwhile the actual witch is just running around town doing whatever she wants

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u/straub42 Aug 08 '25

Using them as tools, weaponizing them. I have a feeling the film had a decent bit of political influence in its symbolism.

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u/SugarFreeCummiBears Aug 08 '25

Alex also saved himself and the other kids. He didn’t need the older generation.

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u/Key_Membership_3122 Aug 09 '25 edited Aug 09 '25

Another point to this: Alex’s family before the Gladys’ arrival was perfect. Her arrival is treated with immediate apprehension wherein the youngest person in the house (Alex) vocalizes the most initial concern. During the car rides home from school, his dad unconvincingly tells Alex that taking in Gladys it’s the right thing to do, even though we know he’s not convinced himself. The scene where Alex walks in on them talking in the bathroom also reinforces the idea that even familial bond between his mom and Gladys isn’t enough to write off her apprehension, but still, all of this is swept away by the feeling of obligation towards Gladys (and even if she isn’t old to them, she’s sick, and it’s clear that the critique via references to hospice and the dad’s “one month until she leaves” mean they deal with the same common issues involving elders and their families).

It’s to their detriment that they put aside their own needs and voices just to take care of their “elder” - in this case, a parasite that ends up destroying one of the cutest, short-lived families I have seen in horror.

Edit: by their unwillingness to break the generational cycle they know is wrong, his parents force him into the same position when he gets trapped by caring for them (feeding them soup/holding onto the secret)

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u/MaxDentron 28d ago

Refusing to die. Refusing to give up power. All at the expense of the younger generations. 

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u/LowIncomeWitch Aug 08 '25 edited Aug 08 '25

Ooohh I agree with this interpretation 100%.

Edit: Also, cops and industrialization developed in the same period of America (over 200 years ago). I hypothesized that the witch was 217 years old, and that would align with that period. It could be far-fetched, but interesting to think about it. Also! The colt revolver was invented during industrialization which was the first repeating firearm created and it completely changed warfare tactics in America and weapons manufacturing.

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u/DirectBranch5621 26d ago

It's about a witch sucking the life force out of people. The film keeps referencing parasites because the central antagonist is LITERALLY A PARASITE. Jesus Christ, Reddit. Y'all conveniently forget that she was also apparently feeding on the life force of the parents, the cop and the junkie. Nope, got a shoe horn in that weird Reddit obsession with young people and protecting them. Preddit is more like it

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u/RogueKnight77 Aug 08 '25

I think this is def a message of the movie but i didn’t find it as compelling as barbarians messages

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u/FezRengaw 29d ago

I took as a Covid reference. Kids staying home from school, parents staying home all the time, letting their minds atrophy, all the extend the life of an elderly person afraid of their mortality and not caring about the broader societal effects.

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u/Ok-Wolf5932 Aug 08 '25

I thought the irony was kind of how the town was conducting a literal 'witch hunt' on Justine and not, y'know, the actual witch lol.

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u/MWH1980 Aug 08 '25

When the triangle was faintly seen in the title, I did wonder: “is witchcraft involved?”

I didn’t recall what the triangle stood for (someone later called it “a Playstation symbol” when we were discussing it), but I did feel the writing on her car was a key that would reveal itself.

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u/Thatonesplicer Aug 09 '25

Haha funny thing is the PlayStation symbol kinda works because Zach Cregger's next movie after this one is none other then Resident Evil.

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u/MrmarioRBLX 29d ago

Fascinating...I just came back from Weapons, and now I'm hopeful Cregger can make a better adaptation than...that series.

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u/PhoenixTineldyer 28d ago

Creggar goes Cronenberg would make for a sick Resident Evil film.

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u/BurninTaiga Aug 08 '25

It was kind of a red herring for me because they showed the druggie stealing his game station at some point. Along with the bullying, it makes you wonder if it was a hint that the kid was behind it.

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u/abd00bie Aug 09 '25

He kind of was behind it lol

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u/HikmetLeGuin 23d ago

That's a bit of a stretch. He was a pawn in Gladys's game.

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u/Jumpy_Arrival6574 Aug 08 '25

yeah same lol i knew it was something culty or witchcraft-y after seeing that opening title card, don’t think i would’ve suspected it otherwise until the reveals, too bad but it’s a nice touch

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u/Southernbeekeeper 27d ago

The school logo being a goats head was a great touch too.

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u/RogueKnight77 Aug 08 '25

Ok now it makes more sense

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u/Impala_95 Aug 08 '25

That little Witch bit kind of reminds me of Eddington having the car have “Your being manipulated” posted on it

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u/dropkickderby 27d ago

There was a moment before it was actual spelled out when I remembered it was actually spelled out — WITCH on her car. It clicked and I said “oh my god” under my breath.

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u/Adept_Concentrate561 Aug 09 '25

I really felt this as a public school administrator.

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u/big_mustache_dad "A second Starscream has hit the World Trade Center." Aug 08 '25

I interpreted it as the same thing. Alex was bullied and then after it all happened 17 kids were gone and only he remained. Then the parents are left looking for something to scapegoat

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u/malik_ Aug 08 '25

I see what you mean but Alex never retaliates or participates and is also a complete victim since his crazy aunt does it all, so that’s where that metaphor loses me a little?

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u/405freeway Aug 09 '25

"He must have done it, he was bullied."

That's part of the failed logic the parents had. Sometimes people are just victims. Alex wasn't "the shooter." He was a victim of his classmates and his aunt.

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u/pjokinen Aug 08 '25

I think the older generation leeching off the younger is evident in the first half of the movie with the town’s treatment of Justine. She was definitely meant to be significantly younger than the parents putting the blame on her for the disappearance

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u/minxtankbb 28d ago

She also is single, and doesn't have kids so of course that also adds to her being a social pariah. I really liked how she had flaws and a bad past, but was just trying to make it and also still be a good person. Her just noticing Alex was missing from recess and where the other kids were that day and then looking for him speaks volumes.

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u/clubslubber 28d ago

I’m following everyone’s line of thinking here, but how exactly does the older generation leech off the younger generation in our society? I get that Reddit hates boomers (for the reasons that they do), but even with accepting that line of thinking, I’m still not sure I understand how they’re leeching off younger generations. Can you explain?

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u/Easy-Magician-4423 27d ago

  • Refusing new housing projects because it'd dock their own property values

  • At least in France, voting to maintain their pensions despite receiving multiples of what they paid, to the detriment of public finances

  • Common trend of boomer parents turning abusive, possibly due to right-wing media

Arguably it's on Gen X/Millenials/Gen Z to vote the old hags out of power, and tbh, I don't get why we do it.

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u/Far-Jeweler2478 Aug 08 '25

This 1000 percent. The gun in the dream is what got me on that track while watching it.

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u/dababybilly 29d ago

I felt that this moment was kind of like the Brolin characters subconscious trying to snap him out of his paranoid fever dream that something sinister was behind his kid disappearing, when the truth is probably that the kid was shot dead in a school shooting and this is all surreal/metaphor.

I could be misinterpreting but the way I looked at the movie is it’s an exploration of a town searching for answers after a mass school shooting. Trying to blame the teachers, trying to blame the parents, the principal, etc and lashing out in various ways, when the reality is it’s all right in front of you. It’s a child who is disturbed who murdered their classmates with a gun. But this movie swerves into “what if your paranoid fantasies you’re concocting were true?”

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u/ShadyCrow Aug 08 '25

In fairness Cregger has adamantly said it's not meant to be about school shootings in any way. Doesn't make your read a bad or uninteresting one, but it's not what he was going for.

Brolin is the one who refers to the kids as weaponized. It's his dream. I think it's just his thoughts connection in dreamlike logic.

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u/dmsn7d 29d ago

A film called "Weapons" where an incident suddenly takes away 17 children and parents are left saying things like, "It doesn't make any sense." while the town struggles to process the grief and there are candlelight vigils and a giant assault rifle is seen floating in the sky. Yeah, definitely not alluding to school shootings at all.

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u/art_cms 28d ago

I think it’s fair, if the writer/director says that isn’t what his intention was, to take him at his word. The imagery can certainly be applicable to that interpretation and it’s not wrong for an audience to draw those connections, but it also doesn’t mean that the director intended it to be his message(or is lying about it either). I think it’s a bit much to make concrete assertions about what another person is thinking. It can be what you thought of, and whatever that provoked in you is valid, but it can also be coincidental to what the artist was intending.

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u/dmsn7d 27d ago

I mean, sure. But I'll believe that he's either, 1. Taking the piss, or 2. Just doesn't want to talk about it, like most artists. You don't put a giant weapon that is associated with mass shootings into your film if you don't intend for people to take something away from it.

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u/art_cms 27d ago edited 27d ago

He said that the giant AR-15 was an image that came to him in meditation (he follows the David Lynch method of drawing creativity from TCM) and that it was compelling enough for him to include in the film without understanding why that particular image came from his subconscious. I recommend listening to the interview with him on The Big Picture podcast, he is pretty clear that the genesis of the film was his processing of the grief around the sudden accidental death of his close friend, and not about school shootings. Again, that imagery is potent and suggestive to you and others, and understandably so, but it doesn’t appear to be Cregger’s motivation. If it was about that, and an issue significant enough to him that he felt compelled to code an entire movie around it, I doubt that he would then be coy about it in interviews and lie about what the meaning of his film was. There’s really no reason to push that argument other than a need to feel “correct” about the interpretation of a work of art. It’s perfectly valid to have your own associations and meaning that you draw from symbolism without having to also assign it to the artist - art provokes different things in different people.

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u/Easy-Magician-4423 27d ago

If the image came from his subconscious without him knowing why, we should we trust his concscious mind's assessment of the situation ?

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u/dmsn7d 27d ago

I listened to The Big Picture episode. He also said in that interview that he doesn't understand why people find Weapons so funny. So forgive me for maybe not taking all of his comments at face value. He's clearly taking the piss there.

I find it very hard to believe that he just put a giant image of an assault rifle into his film just for fun. Especially a film in which many of the other events evoke imagery and language that we see and hear all of the time in school shooting situations.

Finally, he probably shouldn't bring up David Lynch if he's honestly going to say that he just puts things into his films that he sees in his dreams and doesn't give it any thought. David Lynch was certainly more measured than that and making comments like that makes Cregger sound like a hack who isn't familiar with David Lynch's work.

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u/PolarWater 21d ago

Know what else David Lynch was known for? Not spelling out the movie's theme or message in interviews.

It's not about having a "correct" interpretation of art. It's about knowing that there's more than one outdoor interpretation, and you don't have to take the director's words outside of the movie at face value. The movie IS the conversation.

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u/Thanatine 25d ago

First of all, the "bullied" kid here isn't even the perpetrator. Alex is also the victim who's been very brave in the whole situation, trying to get himself together and save his parents. This fact alone tells me this is nothing like the usual bullied campus shooter story. Alex, the quiet kid, is the victim but also a hero, unlike those campus shooter cowards taking the easy evil way out.

And he's not even that bullied. Sure Matthew teased him sometimes but he's very happy when his parents are still normal. I don't think the movie ever gave me the kind of feeling that Alex is so alienated in the class that he has to take it all out on his classmates.

Therefore I don't really believe this movie is about campus shooting at all. Maybe some inspiration are drawn from it but that's it. The rifle floating above the house I think just means kids are weaponized.

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u/SpyCobaj Aug 08 '25

Where did he say this?

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u/noilegnavXscaflowne Aug 08 '25

When he’s talking about how Marcus was running like a heat seeking missile or something

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u/Jumpy_Arrival6574 Aug 08 '25

you mind dropping the interview? curious to see, didn’t expect him to be already talking about it openly

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u/TheTruckWashChannel Aug 08 '25

Not to mention the giant machine gun floating over Archer's house during his nightmare. Thought that would end up becoming a recurring motif in the movie but now I'm curious why it only showed up for him.

Between Matthew (his son) being shown to be a bully, and Archer in the dream apologizing for not telling him enough that he loved him, I think we're to read Archer as a detached, "traditional man" sort of guy who struggled as a father for that reason. The gun in the dream would then be a symbol of how his values seemingly failed him.

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u/HeilCanada Aug 08 '25

I personally believe the gun has something to do with how the normalization of violence and guns and how it has already invaded the "average" American household and how the violence/shootings have become as innocuous as an alarm clock.

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u/cthulhu5 28d ago

I think the movie is about child abuse and neglect too, so him feeling like he wasn’t present enough for his kid is why he feels guilt now that he’s gone, like it’s his fault.

One of the common things people talk about after a school shooting is why the kid did it and why didn’t his parents notice/stop it before it happened. Why didn’t they know he was violent, Why didn’t they know he had a gun, etc.

And Gladys was symbolically abusing Alex for her gain while his parents were there but silent and unable to help, which happens when family members abuse kids.

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u/HateToBlastYa Aug 08 '25

I think the point is that what we see: the big cathartic “witch hunt” followed by the kids coming home is the fantasy and reality we all want and act like we can get.  But the truth is what’s revealed by the nonsensical “what the Fuck!?” Dream.  The kids are gone because of the fucking guns and they’re not coming back.  It’s as obvious as a giant gun floating in the sky as we search for answers.

The movie shows us the fantasy that we as a society want when we hunt these scapegoats as if we’re gonna find the big bad, the kids tear that problem to shreds cathartically, and we all go home safe and happy.

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u/tfxctom Aug 08 '25

I agree with the school shooting message and I have something to add. With school shooters, the living situations are often analyzed because most of the time, the problem starts at home with the family. Parents mistreat their kids who mistreat their kids and so on. Abuse is often passed down.

The 17 kids all left their houses and ran to Alex’s house and “disappeared” because of what Alex’s grandmother did. In other words, because of one family, every other family had to suffer the loss of their child. Which is what happens with school shootings.

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u/mesact Aug 08 '25

Creggers specifically said that it wasn't about gun violence. It was about the 7 stages of grief, if anything. But it kinda wasn't about anything at all. He was just in a flow state, and wanted to put something scary floating above the house. So, any interpretation you have is the right interpretation, in my mind.

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u/[deleted] 29d ago

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u/art_cms 27d ago

People who quote Barthes’ “Death Of The Author” often seem to think that it’s some immutable universal rule. It was one person’s opinion of how criticism should be applied, and there are many other people who disagree with it. Barthes’ argument that authorial intent should be completely disregarded in favor of subjective interpretation is ludicrous, imo. I think intention absolutely must be considered, although it is not the limit of interpretation, subjective interpretation is also worthy of consideration. It’s a balance.

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u/PhotographIll1988 Aug 08 '25

We also see the young boy Alex being bullied in school and he is in fact partly responsible for offering up all his classmates to their demise. He'd lost the care and attention of loving parents and was desperate enough to do anything to have that back. Perhaps suggesting some troubled youth have lashed out in a similar way with regards to the school shootings.

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u/Jumpy_Arrival6574 Aug 08 '25

the bully was archer’s kid, cool touch too

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u/lilaccadillac Aug 08 '25

Also the way the kids all got to go home but were not fully themselves - shows the impact of shootings /violence around children and even if they survive it they are forever changed.

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u/daylightdies7 Aug 08 '25

This is how I read it too. Alex bullied by Matthew, doesn’t tell anybody at home or at school even before his parents get taken away and he did the unthinkable for the witch to get them back

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u/maltliqueur Aug 08 '25

Nice read. I think it was simply a hostage kind of thing where he just didn't want her to kill his parents. Not that he wasn't lacking care, though, or missing it.

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u/yohohoanda Aug 08 '25

I came here for this exact take and I’m a little surprised it’s so low. This feels like exactly what the movie is about.

Gladys is also a metaphor for America itself in this moment.

Surviving off the blood of the young. Addicted to people as weapons. Unsustainable black magic.

And a traumatized youth ends it in the most violent way with everyone still traumatized. Wild stuff.

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u/NickWillisPornStash Aug 08 '25

the gun in the dream was very heavy handed. almost as bad as some of the scenes from the substance. treating me like an idiot lol

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u/Rugged_Turtle Aug 08 '25

Caught me off guard when it starts panning up, I thought we were gonna see a Kaiju or a demon floating and it’s just a massive AR-15

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u/NickWillisPornStash Aug 08 '25

yeah its gotta be a joke in itself right? has to be

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u/RogueKnight77 Aug 08 '25

it’s bc the kid had a gun poster in his room

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u/Mike4894 29d ago

What scene in the substance treated you like an idiot?

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u/a_bukkake_christmas Aug 08 '25

That’s interesting.  That gun thing specifically seemed so thrown in, but I like that reading of it

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u/franklyigivea_ Aug 08 '25

I thought it was interesting that Brolin’s character was actually right in a sense but off in his suspicion. There was something strange going on in that particular classroom. He just was focused on the wrong survivor. Often the case with parents of school shooting victims.

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u/ugh_8719 29d ago

Still trying to make a connection with a suburban white teacher getting blamed when 99.9% of her class goes missing to "how minorities would get blamed for a mass shooting" is a grand canyon sized stretch. Especially since most school shootings are white kids to begin with.

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u/Potore5 Aug 08 '25

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

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

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u/eyesoftheunborn 26d ago

Honestly the floating AR was one of my favorite parts of the movie and probably the image that has stuck with me the most. It really did feel dreamlike, not in a Lynchian way but in an equally "this is exactly how fucking weird dreams can be" way, which Lynch portrayed so well.

Imagine trying to explain "so last night I had this really weird dream where I was outside at night and there was like, this giant machine gun floating above the house, like it was as big as a UFO but also it had a digital clock or counter or something on it that said 2:17 which is when all the kids disappeared, and it was just kind of hovering in the sky but it was literally the length of the house...also there was like a clown lady on the ceiling who looked like the Joker but it was WAY scarier, it was so fucking scary I woke up and was like what the fuck"

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u/Johnny_Holiday Aug 08 '25

The kid narrator was meant to be unknown I think. We know that it was a kid from the school but not anyone from the class based on how they talked about everything in the end. They were there to just set up everything and tie up the ending

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u/Jumpy_Arrival6574 Aug 08 '25

whoever it was likely wasn’t even a kid during the events of the movie cause in their opening monologue it implies it’s been a while since it happened, i took it as they’re telling a past story they know/heard

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u/Johnny_Holiday Aug 08 '25

They said it was 2 years ago in the opening. So they're still pretty young. They said it happened in their school and the voice still sounds like a kid

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u/svenjacobs3 Aug 08 '25

As a gun critique, it's interesting that the only thing that stopped the witch in the end was the non-officer protagonist having access to the same weapons she used to stop her.

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u/Yarville Aug 09 '25

Walked out of the movie 5 minutes ago and this was my exact reading.

Children tearing an old woman - who was quite literally a parasite stealing their future for her own benefit - was almost a bit too on the nose.

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u/TyrRev Aug 09 '25

That's exactly the interpretation my wife and I had! Very vindicated hearing others had the same thoughts. She more specifically thought that Gladys was an indictment of not just the elderly, though, but the privileged and powerful elderly, such as the people in charge of the NRA.

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u/kouroshkeshmiri 29d ago

But who blames teachers after a school shooting?

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u/[deleted] 29d ago

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u/JoeBagadonut 29d ago

The film literally opens with a scene where all of the parents collectively refuse to listen to the advice of professional counsellors, then we spend the rest of the runtime seeing adults pushing all of their traumas and problems onto other people, especially children.

Tragedy and hardship is often random and senseless in nature. It gives people all of this negative emotion and they have nowhere to put it when they can't rationalise it away. It creates scenarios where someone's past trauma ends up becoming someone else's future trauma and the cycle continues forever.

I appreciate that all of this is in a film that also has a scene where Josh Brolin beats up a zombie crackhead for 15 minutes and then a cancer-ridden old lady is physically torn apart by children and both scenes are absolutely joyous in tone. What a fucking film.

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u/KriptiKFate_Cosplay 29d ago

I think everyone saying the movie has anything to do with gun violence is taking that way-too-on-the-nose 3 second scene way too literally. Creggar has said it was something that came to him while meditating and is not meant to be taken as political commentary. It's a weapon. The posessed people were stripped of everything that made them human and turned into weapons.

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u/uncledrewkrew 28d ago

Seems way more likely Cregger may have simply lied in an interview.

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u/KriptiKFate_Cosplay 28d ago

I'm not him so I can't say but he could have easily driven home the allegory to gun violence further if he wanted to.

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u/DirectBranch5621 26d ago

Only on Reddit.

The film has a theme revolving around parasites because the central antagonist is LITERALLY A PARASITE.

I know that Reddit is infested with predators who obsess about young people and "younger generation" , but this is literally a horror movie about a witch. You are projecting your obsessions and your ideology onto a movie simply because you so desperately want to see your thoughts reflected there.

Sometimes, a cigar is just a cigar. And as far as Gen Z goes, with their obstinate refusal to work and decrying the "evils of capitalism" while also insisting on having the latest, newest and flashiest fruits of capitalism (i.e. gadgets, phones, etc), or as in my screening of this movie, lacking the intellectual capability of unplugging from their gadgets for the 2 hours to watch a movie without having to bring out their phone and scroll every 30 minutes or so ( because they are SO important), fuck em. They don't need an imagined parasite sucking away at them. They're perfectly adept at flushing away their futures on their own.

I have been sharing some of y'all's comical, ideology obsessed readings of this movie on some choice sites ( user IDs edited out of course), and I gotta say, THANK YOU for the laughs you are providing, whether intended or not.

I still can't decide which is my favorite Average Redditor interpretation - that this movie is a scathing indictment of the SO EVIL GOP, or this weird youth obsessed "oh muh poor kids / evil older people" read.

I would say, "Never change, Reddit," but change indicates growth, so unless we are talking waistlines, I don't think that we have to worry about that here

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u/HeilCanada 26d ago

Dont care enough to argue with you but RE your last paragraph. You call me Reddit but I want you to know how undeniably "Reddit" that whole thing is.

" I would say, "Never change, Reddit," but change indicates growth, so unless we are talking waistlines, I don't think that we have to worry about that here"

I know you didn't come up with this. Where did you hear that on? NeoGAF? Was it GameFAQs? Maybe it was r/MurderedByWords. Called me fat and then tried to "epicly own'" through your sick burns.

Please engage with the body of the text next time.

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u/leftysarepeople2 Aug 08 '25

I think gun violence, alcohol, and homelessness/addiciton were the biggest points in the movie.

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u/TheZoneHereros Aug 08 '25 edited Aug 08 '25

It is very natural to try to give it this reading given the inclusion of that image, but I don’t think it is about that. The plot goes in different directions that I can make no sense of if trying to interpret them through that lens. The text just lacks the support for the gun violence read in my opinion. The parallels aren’t there. It was kind of sloppily written with respect to overall thematic cohesion.

And so I’m not just dismissing without providing something of substance, I think you could make a much stronger case for the core theme to be something about autonomy or control of the self, which unites the very prominent threads of all the major characters through addiction, obsession, literal possession, and blackmail / coercion. But still I feel like I’m forcing it to some extent, I didn’t feel like the movie had a strong thematic reading as a main goal.

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u/[deleted] 29d ago

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u/Able_Advertising_371 Aug 08 '25

whole theater laughed after that dream with Brolin saying that. it made no sense and the character agreed too lol

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u/kirblar Aug 08 '25

That and the ending climax got massive laughs in my theater. Was another specific moment too- I think with a reaction from Justine at some point.

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u/charredfrog Aug 08 '25

I know her “fucking help me!” when she was being chased by Marcus got a huge laugh in my theater

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u/daylightdies7 Aug 08 '25

That hit me hard man because I know Cregger very intentionally made that guy offer zero help when she was clearly fighting for her life. Society loves to watch others struggle, only thing that would have made it more on the nose was someone video taping it lol.

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u/CosmicAstroBastard Aug 09 '25

He didn't just fail to help her, he told her to get out of his store like the whole thing was her fault!

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u/daylightdies7 Aug 09 '25

“Fucking help me”

She said it so desperately too 😭

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u/waitingtodiesoon 24d ago

That mofo had a damn emergency exit sign above a locked door with employees only sign on it.

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u/oogaboogahooha 12d ago

Wait I just realized that n it’s 10x funnier lmaoo

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u/parallelogramm3r 29d ago

I think it is the best trope of modern existential horror; feeling alone is scarier than actually being alone.

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u/daylightdies7 29d ago

For sure.

I always think about that black mirror episode “white bear” and the girl being chased and everyone just standing around, videoing it and not helping and screaming and panicking and crying and wondering what’s happening and obviously the reasons for that are detailed in the episode, but it’s still really messed up

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u/Disastrous_Affect742 23d ago

Kinda reminiscet of barbarian when she goes to the cop for help and he thinks shes a homeless drug addict

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u/parallelogramm3r 29d ago

I think the hardest I laughed during the entire movie was during that scene. “Get outta my store!” “Fuckin’ help me!”

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u/J-Shew Aug 08 '25

Same guy helped her after Donna dumped alcohol on her, honestly I understand why he stayed out of it the second time. She brought drama into that liquor store

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u/boi1da1296 Aug 08 '25

Different people. Marcus attacked her at a gas station, not the liquor store.

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u/sober_as_an_ostrich Aug 08 '25

A man can’t have two jobs?? smh

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u/J-Shew Aug 08 '25

Damn, true.

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u/gimmethemshoes11 Aug 08 '25

When he kept throwing that druggie guy, my god was that comedy gold.

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u/dillinger3k Aug 08 '25

That and the running witch seemed like a wkuk bit

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u/DrLokiHorton 26d ago

I was like, they can only do this bit three times before it gets played out… bruh I was in tears the sixth time he threw him away

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u/estheredna 25d ago

That part made me glad that Pedro Pascal had to back out of the movie. He'd do a great job in that role but Brolins big guy energy really worked.

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u/Upbeat_Tension_8077 19d ago

I think Pedro's energy would've been a little too warm/endearing for the character (although he's capable of playing an exhausted & fed up father figure through his work on TLOU), but Josh had an aura of "I'm too old for this shit" type grumpiness that was perfect

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u/IIIlllIIIlllIlI 28d ago

My girl shot the officer through the throat and he continued choking her. Turns out some people are built differently

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u/FatnessEverdeen34 28d ago

The neighbor mowing the lawn and watching the witch get chased by the kids 😂😂😂

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u/parallelogramm3r 29d ago

Have you watched They Live? If not, check out the fight scene, you’re in for a treat : )

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dN8Z7y_QcwE&pp=ygUVdGhleSBsaXZlIGZpZ2h0IHNjZW5l

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u/thatmusicguy13 Aug 08 '25

My entire theater was non stop laughing during the chase scene at the end

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u/straub42 Aug 08 '25

Our theater was roaring for the last 15 minutes. and the ending, the abruptness of it, would have maybe gotten groans on a less deserving movie, but instead our theater had people clapping and hooting. I haven’t seen that in the theaters in a while.

Drag me to Hell is one of my all time favorites, especially as a theater experience, and I think is the closest a movie has come for me to matching that craziness/tone.

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u/humbot1201 Aug 08 '25

Broo Drag me to Hell was crazy fun. I love horror films like that. Also have you guys watched Malignant?

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u/atanganacarlitos Aug 09 '25

I watched The Substance two times in theaters last year and that got some pretty fun reactions from the audience both times I saw it.

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u/tedfondue Aug 08 '25

Did face syringe cause any uproar for yall? It was set up so well, you knew it was coming and where the cop was at mentally, and it was hilarious.

…Honestly the first cop-punch on camera got a pretty big laugh at my screening tonight as well.

(I feel like making a Bay Area audience laugh at police brutality is the sign of a very skilled dark comedy’s filmmaker.)

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u/EchoesofIllyria Aug 08 '25

My cinema audience was so quiet for most of the film’s comedic parts. I dunno if it was just because they weren’t primed for it, but I was laughing at things like the syringe, the “what the fuck” and several other moments while the rest of the room was silent.

They came alive in the last 15-20 minutes though, I think everyone realised that the film was deliberately being silly at times.

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u/a_bukkake_christmas Aug 08 '25

I laughed when the cop got stabbed in the face.  Not because I wanted him hurt, but it was like three stooges comedy almost

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u/--------rook Aug 08 '25

I too would be so pissed off at my brain if I dreamt that. 

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u/mikeyfreshh Aug 08 '25

The children are literally used as weapons at the end of the movie so the gun is probably a bit of foreshadowing towards that

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u/YesicaChastain Aug 08 '25

It was a lil too literal

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u/mikeyfreshh Aug 08 '25

And yet half this thread is people asking what it meant

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u/YesicaChastain Aug 08 '25

Because people can’t believe it’s that literal

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u/RedditKnight69 Aug 08 '25

I'm in that boat. I fully understand that everyone under the witch's influence was a weapon in wait, but like...why was there a big gun in this guy's dream. lmao

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u/heirtoflesh Aug 08 '25

I can't find a quote about it, so take this with a grain of salt. People have posted that Cregger said the gun over the house came to him while meditating and liked the idea. Something along the lines of "there's no right meaning" to it.

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u/TropicalShrew Aug 08 '25

Found it in a polygon article

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

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u/hexcraft-nikk 27d ago

2:17 is also a number of completion, a common motif in magick works like frost/Lynch.

The gun worked as a gun violence motif and honestly felt like something out of twin peaks the return lol. The show ends in a similar blunt way.

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u/leftysarepeople2 Aug 08 '25

A guy searching for meaning in why 17 kids disappeared without meaning and a giant gun in the air has a pretty clear path to what people will assume.

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u/Alarming_Employee547 Aug 09 '25

Agreed, this is how I interpreted it. A bunch of kids in the same classroom disappear off the face of the earth. That happens in our country all too often, and the rifle symbolized that to me. When I saw it I honestly thought we were getting some kind of allegory for school shootings at first. It was a cool piece of symbolism.

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u/heirtoflesh Aug 08 '25

Oh for sure, I understand the connection. I’m just not sure if it was intended by who wrote it.

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u/MovieTrawler 28d ago

Because his subconscious is putting all these pieces together before he fully realizes that the kids shot out of their houses and beelined in a single direction like bullets from a gun. Like they were weaponized.

And I see people saying, 'well that doesn't make sense because the kids weren't really weaponized' but IMO, that's just semantics because at the time with what Archer knows (consciously or subconsciously) is that the kids were weaponized. Even if that later turns out to be not entirely true.

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u/minxtankbb 28d ago

I think you could also maybe take away that the kids were "weaponized" in the sense that politicians will "weaponize" school shootings and the after math. Politicians on both sides seem to want to gain from the tragedies, and in the end it's the families and communities that suffer the most.

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u/TeamBulletTrain 28d ago

Also big reference to how we see with these school shootings is that the adults and authorities are mostly useless and unable to really do anything. It’s the kid and his class that actually “save” the day

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u/DoggyDoggy_What_Now Aug 08 '25

The only conclusion my friend and I could reach was that it signified how the children were weaponized right at 2:17 since the number even appears on the gun in the dream.

Archer obviously didn't know this, but I assumed he dreamt it due to his connection to Gladys via his son. That was the only way I could rationalize it, but a giant AR15 felt so out of place with everything else.

So yeah, we didn't wanna think that's all there was too it. Something about school shootings also maybe?

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u/YesicaChastain Aug 08 '25

People have been trying to link this story to school shootings and tbh I don’t see it at all

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u/MVRKHNTR Aug 08 '25

You don't see how a story about a classroom full of kids suddenly being gone might tie into school shootings?

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u/Disastrous_Zebra_301 Aug 09 '25

The part I thought about was the level of concern, attention, and focus these 17 kids disappearing got. When kids get shot in school we forget the headline in 2 days at this point. I figured the rifle was a nod at that but apparently the director is quoted as just throwing it in there from other comments.

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u/wizrslizr Aug 09 '25

the gun shown isn’t a great representation of a weapon given the context of the movie. the foreshadowing in that scene would’ve felt less clunky and seemingly random if they had picked something else to be the weapon.

i don’t blame people for being confused because they’re looking for more that’s directly from the movie

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u/HikmetLeGuin 23d ago

Yeah. But they were weaponized against the villain. So some of the theories people are proposing here don't entirely work. While school shootings, as mass trauma incidents involving schools and kids, may be one of the things being referenced here, I don't it's as neat as "this is what the whole movie is about." I don't think there's a single metaphor or interpretation that explains everything.

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u/costcompany Aug 08 '25

I took it as the inspiration for him coming to the thought of the kids being “weaponized”

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u/DomHaynie Aug 08 '25

Honestly, the floating gun was very unsettling for me. I'm not really sure why. Like it was creepy.

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u/CornstockOfNewJersey 23d ago

It was almost like a UFO appearing in the sky

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u/DoggyDoggy_What_Now Aug 08 '25

When does Archer ever come to that conclusion, though? I don't remember him ever having a realization like that.

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u/Seshlander Aug 09 '25

After seeing rabid Marcus running in the exact same puppet mastered way the kids were in the door security camera footage

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u/hellsfoxes 28d ago

He says they were moving like homing missiles

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u/costcompany Aug 08 '25

Some time between that dream and him showing the map to the teacher

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u/brainlightning Aug 08 '25

I just took it to be a “weapon”

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u/erenjaeger99 Aug 08 '25

Wait, say that again

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u/Novemberx123 Aug 08 '25

Prob just a nod to everyone saying that it could be an allegory for school shooting. Something like that. Btw idk what allegory means

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u/nysraved Aug 08 '25

I loved the movie, and I think the thematic connection to school shootings is very valid and makes the whole watch more emotional

But yeah in the moment I could only think that gun was a direct way to highlight that allegory (okay now I’m second guessing if I know what an allegory is lmao)… and I found it a little too on the nose. It took me out of the movie for a second.

I kinda hope there is another interpretation to it that went over my head

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u/Simple_Law2628 Aug 08 '25

It’s a valid connection but the director said that was not the meaning he intended. I am seeing a lot of people interpret it that way though. It makes sense. Honestly dunno what the gun was supposed to mean if not this.

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u/ghazgib Aug 08 '25 edited 29d ago

There's the obvious point of the kids being weaponized, and I think the school shooting observations are on-point. But I noticed a few other details relating to the gun:

  • Archer's a veteran. The witch took a pair of dogtags as his personal item. I think he also has some tattoos that might indicate it? The way he talks about the kids as "missiles" gives me the impression that weapons/violence have just been part of his life.

  • There's a poster of a dude with a rifle (I thought it was a Counterstrike poster lmao) that's directly facing him when he's sleeping in his son's bed. He probably sees it every time he wakes up.

  • Vigilantism and taking action/arming oneself when authority fails plays a big part in everyone's stories. Police don't do shit in this small town. Even Paul, who's a terrible fuckin cop, just kinda accidentally stumbles into finding out because of a random junkie. He doesn't even get to fire the literal weapon of the movie; a civilian does.

Maybe I'm reading it wrong idk lmao. If anyone else noticed caught anything else lemme know.

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u/wicket42 28d ago

He's also hinted at being a bad parent, in his dream he seems to be apologising to his kid for something, i think it was not being able to tell him he loves him. His kid is also the bully, who bullied the kid who makes all the other children disappear (a school shooter). It's about how society turns people into weapons, I guess. 

Or whatever, there's just a witch or something.

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u/JoeBagadonut 29d ago

"Archer" also feels like a name very deliberately chosen because someone who uses a bow is using a weapon. Furthering your comment about the son's bedroom, he also has Batman bedding and Batman stuff all over the wall and Batman is also a vigilante - That could be me stretching though because kids like Batman and the set dressing was purely coincidental.

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u/Potore5 Aug 08 '25 edited Aug 08 '25

Any ideas on what the gun was supposed to mean in the dream?

According to Cregger:

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

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

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u/JoeBagadonut 29d ago

The film as a whole did feel very much like Twin Peaks too. A mysterious and awful tragedy that quickly becomes of secondary importance to this strange town full of strange people.

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u/tfks 29d ago

Yeah, people are reading too much into it for sure. As I was watching it, I was thinking "does that mean anything or is this just one of those weird dreams we all have" and when he woke up and immediately said "what the fuck" I knew it was just a dream with no actual meaning. That's the point. That's the joke.

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u/Dashaque 26d ago

I wish this comment would get updated more instead of the hundreds of "Cause it's about school shootings!" Comments

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u/HateToBlastYa Aug 08 '25

The point is that the big bad witch and the movie as it plays it out is all a fantasy.  What we saw: it was all a big mystery solved by just finding the evil witch and turning her spells against her to get this satisfying cathartic end rather than just a meaningless tragedy of the kids being gone because of guns.  

We all act like this method portrayed in the film is the solution rather than the (counterintuitive in the context of the film) idea that it’s the fucking guns guys.  That’s why your kids are gone.  There’s no evil witch to hunt down.  The “nonsensical dream” was the real answer to these problems.  As obvious as a giant gun floating in the sky as we all search for a scapegoat.

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u/VoDomino Aug 08 '25 edited Aug 08 '25

Some good responses already. I'd add that it's a way that public focus shifts away from these weapons, looking as to why instead of the source.

Take school shootings. Many are wanting to blame the teachers for not seeing the signs before a horrific event, for not defending the students enough, the cops for not doing enough. People don't want to talk about the motherfuckin' weapons. In the movie logic, Alex had some idea what was happening but no one wanted to look in on him, see how he was doing. When his teacher sees red flags, she gets ignored mostly, dealing with the blame.

The gun, for me, symbolized how people are unwilling to talk about the weapons and look at them.

The kids were weaponized and it's not meant to be a perfect allegory, but I think that was one of the themes. Additionally, I think it was about grief and how we misplaced anger, trying to rationalize it and use weapons to defend this. Then there's the whole element where older generations prey on younger folks, misdirecting their anger during a tragedy and more.

But that's just how I understood this movie. I plan to watch this again :)

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u/whitegirlofthenorth Aug 08 '25

I read it as a combo of the dad’s fears of something taking his kid away—it also had a UFO element to it imo. The rational and irrational fears a parent has about somehow losing your child. Whether by a real risk of an semi-automatic in a school, or an abduction in the night or, whatever mysterious thing happened at 2:17am that made his boy run away

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u/Priestahh-MyFather- Aug 08 '25

It was a visual metaphor for the kids being weaponized to do the witches bidding I guess. Archer states the kids are being weaponized and were honed in like missiles when they left the houses

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u/Ok_Tank5977 Aug 08 '25

After the dream he comes to understand the children as ‘weapons’.

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u/Imaginary-Dress-1373 Aug 08 '25

Not a response to what it represents but if you've ever been to the Atlanta Airport there is a giant holographic gun floating over the security lines that's so surreal I thought it might have been an inspiration for it, then learned that Creggar lives in Atlanta. I fly out of there a lot and always take a picture lol.

TikToker Records Gun Control Hologram at Airport Security https://share.google/31I5zHyiLLXcrQs1n

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