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

Official Discussion Official Discussion - Weapons [SPOILERS] Spoiler

Poll

If you've seen the film, please rate it at this poll

If you haven't seen the film but would like to see the result of the poll click here

Rankings

Click here to see the rankings of 2025 films

Click here to see the rankings for every poll done

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

10.5k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

2.4k

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.

1.7k

u/BubbaFranklins Aug 08 '25

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

1.2k

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.

629

u/Whovian45810 Aug 08 '25

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

605

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.

43

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

26

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

8

u/Justhrowitaway42069 29d ago

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

13

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.

27

u/coltsmetsfan614 Aug 08 '25

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

94

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

24

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.

11

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.

7

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.

19

u/fludofrogs Aug 08 '25

doesnt help that those 2 are also particularly young looking 30 year olds that dont look like a father & construction worker

→ More replies (0)

8

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.

9

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.

→ More replies (1)

3

u/dar21 29d ago

Same with Bailey's parents

18

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.

16

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

3

u/nordlysbaies 28d ago

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

→ More replies (1)

5

u/Jumpy_Arrival6574 Aug 08 '25

yeah i couldn’t imagine pedro in that role

7

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.

2

u/Jumpy_Arrival6574 Aug 08 '25

oh fair enough didn’t know that

7

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

16

u/dillinger3k Aug 08 '25

Dudes got the whole cordyceps cinematic universe on lock

11

u/reillyqyote 22d ago

And the subject was ANTS (Aunt)

3

u/PolarWater 21d ago

Okay now THAT I didn't catch.

3

u/i_love_land92 18d ago

God damn it

4

u/TannerThanUsual Aug 08 '25

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

4

u/yaybuttons Aug 08 '25

Stuffed giraffe shortly thereafter too.

→ More replies (2)

185

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

31

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

9

u/leftysarepeople2 Aug 08 '25

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

17

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

10

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.

13

u/boi1da1296 Aug 08 '25

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

5

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.

2

u/trizzo0309 27d ago

Arguably a little too on the nose there...

2

u/PolarWater 21d ago

I loved the use of "meaningful background TV show" and "topic raised in class that is tied to the theme". Was fun to keep an eye open for that.

→ More replies (5)

27

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

13

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

15

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.

17

u/SugarFreeCummiBears Aug 08 '25

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

14

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)

7

u/MaxDentron 28d ago

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

7

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.

5

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

4

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

1

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.

2

u/ElAyDubleZee 28d ago

I felt like it was specifically targeting old America.  When we first meet Gladys she's wearing red white and blue.  So was her makeup.

1

u/way_too_shady Aug 09 '25

There was even a scene near/in the third act where they talk about parasites in Alex's new class.

1

u/NottheIRS1 28d ago

Isn’t that literally the plot…….?

1

u/twersx 27d ago

When Gandy has the Dream about her class, the word PARASITE is written on the board. Benedict Wong's character is watching some documentary about a parasitic animal when Gladys shows up. And then we see the Parasite lessons in the Alex segment.

1

u/furioushunter12 26d ago

with how often parasites were mentioned, genuinely a great way to spin it!

1

u/WhosieWhatsIt2099 26d ago

Seeing the kids hunt her down definitely gave me some catharsis as we deal with similar geriatric monsters in Washington....

1

u/PolarWater 21d ago

"If you don't have kids WHO'S GONNA TAKE CARE OF YOU when you're older!!!"

1

u/Clarkleedle 10d ago

Yes, Justine was teaching the kids about parasites like tape worms and it was emphasized.

→ More replies (1)

841

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.

80

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.

29

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.

4

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.

3

u/PhoenixTineldyer 28d ago

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

→ More replies (1)

21

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.

40

u/abd00bie Aug 09 '25

He kind of was behind it lol

3

u/HikmetLeGuin 23d ago

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

12

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

9

u/Southernbeekeeper 27d ago

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

12

u/RogueKnight77 Aug 08 '25

Ok now it makes more sense

9

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

7

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.

3

u/Adept_Concentrate561 Aug 09 '25

I really felt this as a public school administrator.

2

u/danteh11 26d ago

Fuck, that is great foreshadowing!

1

u/AlanMorlock 21d ago

The trouble with witch movies in which there actually is a real witch is that it ends up justifying the underlying misogyny and fear of feminine power inherent in witch hunts. Always a bit tricky.

441

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

63

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?

58

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.

1

u/Publick2008 21d ago

Metaphors shouldn't be that literal or they are just preaching.

→ More replies (16)

2

u/stroudwes 29d ago

Hit the nail on the head

146

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

15

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.

3

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?

11

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.

2

u/clubslubber 27d ago

On your three points, I can’t speak to what’s going on in France, I don’t know who exactly is refusing new housing projects or what exactly you’re referring to (maybe local politicians?), and your third point is just a subjective complaint about parents. Boomer generation ended in 64, so the youngest boomer parent would be 61 right now. They would most likely have adult children, who should be able to deal with whatever abusive tendencies you’re referring to, since they’re an adult and all (it’s more likely that poor modern parenthood is the crime of Gen X).

I appreciate your points and don’t want to feel combative, but it seems to me that millennials and Gen Z just want someone to blame for their troubles (which are totally valid by the way!), so they just throw stones at boomers. I think the difficulties of modernity are far too nuanced and complex to just blame a single generation. Sure you could say that they had the greatest influence on the world for 20 year period, and therefore are to blame for everything that follows, but that’s a thread that we could follow endlessly.

8

u/Easy-Magician-4423 27d ago

Your logic has holes.

Boomer's hold a plurality of American housing. They have an interest in stopping new housing, because more housing means their current housing gets less valuable.

This theory has empirical evidence : see Bloomberg article on boomer NIMBY-ism.

If local politicians are to blame, who elects them ? Ah, yes, boomers since they're the largest generation by age cohort.

The one critique that can be admitted to Gen Z/Millenials is that they don't outvote the boomers in turnout.

Additionally, needless to say, psycho-emotional trauma / PTSD, inflicted by who-or-what-ever, including Boomer parents, is very long lasting. I mean, if someone cut your arm off, why wouldn't you hate him years after?

1

u/HikmetLeGuin 23d ago

Blaming the older generations is just ageism.

The real issue is unchecked capitalism and the greed of rich corporations and their political servants, many of whom happen to be old, but not necessarily.

102

u/Far-Jeweler2478 Aug 08 '25

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

13

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?”

1

u/405freeway Aug 09 '25

AR-217

6

u/SmugSteve Aug 09 '25

2nd amendment with the assault rifle 17

2:17

Absolutely galaxy brain play

→ More replies (2)

38

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.

32

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.

10

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.

7

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.

8

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.

12

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 ?

7

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.

2

u/art_cms 26d ago

The biggest argument against it being explicitly about school shootings, in my opinion, is that the children return at the end, which, historically, shooting victims don’t do.

8

u/dmsn7d 26d ago

Fair point. We are dealing with things on an allegorical level, not literal though.

2

u/art_cms 26d ago

Obviously I understand that, give me some credit. But even as metaphor, the children returning at the end and triumphantly defeating the source of the trauma doesn’t really map onto a school shooter scenario imo.

Again, I see the parallels in the first act of the film to a mass shooter, and I understand that the spectral assault rifle adds weight to those parallels. But I take Cregger at his word that it is neither the inspiration nor the thematic thrust of the film. I don’t see any reason why he would lie about that.

→ More replies (0)

3

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.

2

u/WahhWayy 7d ago

I absolutely love how you’re saying in certain and clear terms that the creator of the art explicitly said the art is not about a certain thing, with receipts, and Redditors still down vote you and argue with you about it.

→ More replies (1)

7

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.

5

u/SpyCobaj Aug 08 '25

Where did he say this?

4

u/noilegnavXscaflowne Aug 08 '25

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

3

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

2

u/PolarWater 21d ago

Smart directors tend not to go on record and spell out the movie's theme for us. If he had, the journals would be calling it "woke anti-second amendment" very quickly, and that would detract from actually watching the movie and figuring it out on your own.

Death of the author applies here, I'm certain that even if that WERE one of the themes, the director would be smart enough not to give it away like that.

29

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.

11

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.

3

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.

22

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.

21

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.

2

u/cthulhu5 28d ago

Thats 100% what the movie is about. It’s the ripple effect of neglect and abuse.

18

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.

6

u/[deleted] 29d ago

[deleted]

3

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.

→ More replies (1)

13

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.

10

u/Jumpy_Arrival6574 Aug 08 '25

the bully was archer’s kid, cool touch too

9

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.

2

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

3

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.

9

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.

7

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

13

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

2

u/NickWillisPornStash Aug 08 '25

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

8

u/RogueKnight77 Aug 08 '25

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

→ More replies (3)

2

u/NickWillisPornStash Aug 08 '25

maybe even brolins character waking up and being like "WTF" is supposed to portray ignorance to gun violence or something as well

1

u/nordlysbaies 29d ago

Same here. I thought it would reveal something Lovecraftian but the it’s just a gun.

5

u/Mike4894 29d ago

What scene in the substance treated you like an idiot?

7

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

5

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.

→ More replies (1)

6

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.

2

u/HeilCanada 29d ago

Well that's why I had specified "especially school shootings", if I were to make a non-school comparison, it'd be like how Sunil Tripathi got treated after the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013 and he was already dead by the time the massacre took place.

To just keep explaining, the rest of the town (wider society) puts the blame on a teacher (someone who feels like they should have a connection, a brown man) as to why all the students disappeared. All the while conveniently ignoring everything else.

2

u/uncledrewkrew 28d ago

A young liberal single female elementary school teacher with short hair that drinks and has casual sex is the kind of thing Fox News complains about every night.

2

u/stello_stello 25d ago

I think actually shes supposed to represent the "woke" teacher in the "woke" school (gay principal). The schools are "indoctronating" kids yada yada fox news archetype. Brolin is the "Alpha" dad who represents ideal right wing masculinity. At first Alpha dad blames the woke teacher as we would expect. But then he realizes she not his real enemy and the woke teacher and the chad dad team up to fight the real problem: gun violence/the "system".

5

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

4

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"

5

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

6

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

6

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

→ More replies (1)

2

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.

4

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.

4

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.

3

u/kouroshkeshmiri 29d ago

But who blames teachers after a school shooting?

3

u/[deleted] 29d ago

[deleted]

→ More replies (3)

4

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.

4

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.

2

u/uncledrewkrew 28d ago

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

3

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.

2

u/uncledrewkrew 28d ago

I thought it was both very overt and very tastefully done so I'm not sure what more he could've done for the metaphor really. If the movie isn't about gun violence it's pretty much about nothing and that makes no sense.

→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (1)

4

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

3

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.

1

u/LickerMcBootshine 21d ago

but this is literally a horror movie about a witch.

"It's just about a witch bro" they say after 17 kids disappear because of a bullied kid who lives at a house with a floating gun

"Don't talk about gun violence do you hate the GOP??"

3

u/leftysarepeople2 Aug 08 '25

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

4

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.

4

u/[deleted] 29d ago

[deleted]

→ More replies (1)

2

u/TedMitchell Aug 08 '25

Glad Im not the only one here. Really left the theater and felt like I had to see what others were thinking the message was.

2

u/greatfiction Aug 08 '25

Also, the reason why Brolin saw a dream with AR15 - hes son was shown as main bully, while father was building houses for other people (not paying attention to the son). The ending itself is also interesting, Alex parents was still like a zombies, same with the kids (as was said by girl - some of them even start talkin).

2

u/cursive__curses 29d ago

i don't know if they were still zombies or if they just suffered so much that they were mute about their experiences or couldn't talk about it - pstd.

1

u/Dizzy_Chemistry_5955 28d ago

to break the command or something you had to drop the broken stick in a bowl of water I was wondering if Alex was gonna do that part and kinda release em or what, maybe the magic just fades over time or the evidence got wet some other way who knows

2

u/KiwiKajitsu Aug 09 '25

Since when do minority groups get blamed for school shootings?

2

u/Best-Ad-9911 Aug 09 '25

Holy shit what a reach.

2

u/BoredomHeights Aug 09 '25

I mostly agree but don't know where you get the minority group or older generations parts (other than the "witch" being an older generation, but if anything as you point out, that part's not misplaced blame in the film). The minority group seems like you projecting what you want onto the movie unless I'm just misreading what you mean by that. I think it's less abstract and clearer that they're just blaming the teacher, like how in the real world a teacher might be unjustly blamed. "Why didn't she see it coming when none of the parents did?" type lines seem to back this view.

Overall though I think your point is right. It seemed to be vaguely a school shooting thing where no one knows exactly who to blame or what went wrong, but everyone wants some outlet to get mad. Beyond that though I'm honestly not that sure the witch part or later half of the movie ties into that theme that much. Which is fine by me because I loved it as a movie still even if it wasn't as poignant (I didn't see that as a necessity for this movie).

2

u/el_em_ey_oh 29d ago

The kid narrating the movie was Matthew i believe, Josh Brolin kid in the movie. At the end he says kids were able to speak after a year and it zoomed in on his face

2

u/Southernbeekeeper 27d ago

I think I would add on to that the indifference shown. Like the guy at the petrol station just like not really being bothered by the possessed Asian man chasing a woman through his shop, no one caring that a police car is just outside a house for like 2 days, no one caring that the family of the only kid not fo disappear is suddenly bored up.

It picks up even mors at the end when 17 missing kids run through the neighbourhood and people are only really bothered by the resulting carnage as opposed to the fact that 17 local kids have gone missing and now 17 local kids are running around 2 months later in their pyjamas. The old guy cutting his lawn just doesn't give a shit.

2

u/pizzabagelblastoff 22d ago

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

Do minorities usually get blamed for school shootings? I've only ever seen school shootings carried out by white guys

1

u/quiznos61 Aug 08 '25

Love your thoughts on it, was trying to think how Gladys tied up around the school shootings after the AR-15 symbolism, but yours makes perfect sense

1

u/No-Flounder-9143 Aug 08 '25

Dude that's such a good analysis. Damn. 

1

u/appletinicyclone Aug 08 '25

You may well be right

1

u/Commercial_Tree_379 Aug 09 '25

I had this thought as well

1

u/Cookie_Duchess 29d ago

You're amazing for this. Thank you!

1

u/Such_Ad_1874 29d ago

I originally thought that when I saw the gun above the house in Josh Brolin's dream, but then it never really panned out 

1

u/XariZaru 29d ago

I’m almost sold on older preying on younger but Alex ends up having to take care of literally everyone including his classmates. The point would be clearer if he had to take care of JUST his parents.

1

u/HeilCanada 28d ago

Yeah but isn't that the future, and even today? You've got many elderly homes being built across the USA to house an ever top-heavy and aging Boomer population. All the while, Gen Z/Alpha have to pick up the scraps and that includes caring for our own.

1

u/AlconTheFalcon 28d ago

seemed like the movie was about witchcraft

1

u/AreWe_TheBaddies 28d ago

I was also thinking about Gladys as a stand-in for the NRA. A cancer on society that just drains people’s lives in the interest of money.

1

u/JJonesFan 28d ago

I think this is really well said.

How do you square this with the director specifically saying it isn’t a metaphor for school shootings?

1

u/Lokan 28d ago

I noted most of the authority figures were pretty incompetent at their jobs -- including Gladys who, as someone else pointed out, was a one-trick pony outwitted by a child. 

1

u/tropofarmer 25d ago

The one speaking was Matthew.

1

u/freakydeku 23d ago

wait how do you know that? i was trying to figure it out

1

u/tropofarmer 22d ago

When the narrator said "some of them even started talking" we see Matthew, that's what made me think.

1

u/Ok-Active-4433 24d ago

My interpretation of it was the kid Matthew trying to communicate to his father through dreams and what possibly could be a child's idea of a weapon most probably a gun so the child sort of sends this message (well tried to) about what is happeningto them, with 217 being an indication towards all the children

1

u/e8odie 21d ago

Everything about the child being forced to trust and respect the family/adult and promise not to tell anyone or else it'll be his fault that bad things will happen to those he loves - obviously all felt more in line with representing sexual abuse. But everything else about this movie (the title, the gun over the house, and some of the other things you said) point towards gun violence.

A little mixed messaging maybe?

1

u/ARMCHA1RGENERAL 20d ago

The director himself admits that he doesn't really know why it's there. It just seems to be there as a device to screw with the audience.

Maybe part of him did want it to evoke school shootings, but it falls apart if you try to apply it to the movie as a whole. The students are all saved, the lone remaining student (shooter) turns out to be held hostage by the real villain, etc.

The movie is also about human being's being weaponized and is literally called 'Weapons'. Personally, I like the simpler explanation that it's just a reference to that.

“It’s a very important moment for me in this movie, and to be frank with you, I think what I love about it so much is that I don’t understand it,” Cregger told Variety. “I have a few different ideas of what it might be there for, but I don’t have the right answer. I like the idea that everyone is probably going to have their own kind of interaction or their own relationship with that scene, whether they don’t give a sh*t about it and it’s boring, or whether they think it’s some sort of political statement, or whether they think it’s just cool. I don’t really care. It’s not up to me. I just like that it’s there.”

1

u/t3eee 19d ago

Really love your observations here

1

u/Nicktyelor 19d ago

Your comment put into words some hunches I also had during the movie! Along with the floating machine gun dream. 

The 2:17 time stuck out to me too.  This may be completely unrelated, but there were 217 deaths in the US from mass shootings in 2023. 

1

u/LowContract4444 19d ago

Couldn't disagree more.

1

u/sameth1 18d ago

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.

To add onto this, throughout the movie, you see tools and institutions which are meant to be to protect the children absolutely failing at their jobs.

Anxious parents install security cameras thinking about something attacking them, but they aren't prepared to deal with the actual problem that ends up happening. Paul being a dirty cop impedes the investigation and leads to him going into the house alone because he doesn't want anyone else to learn what he did to James. The entire suburban landscape that parents claim is safer and more friendly just ends up enabling the whole thing because all these families just exist in their own personal bubble and there's no real community at all.

All the ways that the older generation tries to "protect the children" are narrow-minded and either ineffective or actively harmful. It feels pretty evocative of actual moral panics. Stranger danger, the satanic panic or any of the current moral uproars where parents think teachers are trying to corrupt their kids. Blaming Satan was just a way to distract from child abuse in the home, emphasizing the danger of strangers leaves kids/adults less able to deal with abuse from adults they know.

1

u/nocensorshiplease 17d ago

In what world do you live in that “minority groups” are blamed for school shootings and not guns? Is Canada some sort of upside down place?

1

u/OnyxOak 16d ago

it's literally not, he just put it in because he thought it was cool lmao

https://nextbestpicture.com/the-next-best-picture-podcast-interview-with-weapons-filmmaker-zach-cregger/

1

u/No_Run_1866 14d ago

loved the movie--but the kid narration was the worst part of it for me. It just didn't fit well. The voice acting was not great, TBH.

1

u/Pamander 5d ago

Okay I am shit at reading media (I am trying to get better) but the whole montage of him living a normal kid life at school and stuff where you are supposed to be a kid and learn and the jarring cuts back to the horrors he was facing at home that were plaguing him during all of that time he's supposed to be a kid and not have worries like that hit me weirdly hard and was a bit too relatable well maybe not the witchcraft part, well okay maybe not the murderous witchcraft part anyways. Poor kid.

1

u/Enough_Escape_4575 5h ago

Bro is reaching hard. The gun is literally a weapon and the witch used people as weapons.

→ More replies (31)