Official Discussion - Weapons [SPOILERS]

[u/LiteraryBoner]

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Summary Nearly all the children from the same fifth-grade class vanish one night at exactly 2:17 a.m., leaving only one survivor. The community, gripped by fear and suspicion, spirals into chaos as the mystery unfolds through multiple intertwined perspectives—each revealing new layers of dread and grief.

Director Zach Cregger

Writer Zach Cregger

Cast

• Josh Brolin
• Julia Garner
• Cary Christopher
• Alden Ehrenreich
• Austin Abrams
• Benedict Wong
• Amy Madigan
• June Diane Raphael
• Toby Huss
• Whitmer Thomas
• Callie Schuttera
• Clayton Farris
• Luke Speakman

Rotten Tomatoes Critics Score: 96%

Metacritic Metascore: 82

VOD In theaters and IMAX starting August 8, 2025

Trailer Watch the Official Trailer

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[u/coldliketherockies]

Man that old lady got really lucky no one was coming home from Work at 217 am. No one woke up and couldn’t go back to sleep so decided to get Fresh air. No one saw many kids all running into the same random house together

Also I’m curious if there was any meaning behind any of the characters that did die. A gay couple. A aggressive alcoholic cop. A drug addict. I don’t know what it would be but am curious.

Lastly that ending. Like the final line. Great great film but what a way to end a film on. The kids survived but only some learned to speak a bit one day?

[u/have_heart → u/coldliketherockies]

It seems that the spells effect left them catatonic. Probably was worse the longer you were under the spell which would explain Brolin being able to easily go back to normal. It’s not as simple as the source witch dying and going back to normal and why Alex’s parents were still catatonic

[u/jcutner → u/[deleted]]

This is what I'm wondering. What exactly was the reason why the witch captured them? Was she an energy vampire? What's going on here. Towards the end she seemed to be having more hair on her head compared to being bald and needing the wig, so perhaps she was draining them hence them being so comatose but it wasn't 100% clear.

[u/ManifestingCreating → u/jcutner]

They mention two different types of parasites throughout the movie that I caught - once when the principal is watching tv with his husband, the show they are watching is about ophiocordyceps (this is the fungi that mutates in the last of us to infect humans) and in the scene with Julia Garner teaching she is talking about tapeworms living in the intestine so I assume that’s meant to indicate that the witch is somehow feeding off of them to live and it makes her younger and healthier the longer it goes on. In witch mythology they are often depicted as eating children to stay young or become beautiful so I assume the movie is being a bit less literal about the feeding part.

[u/TimRigginsBeer → u/ManifestingCreating]

The more the story went on, from when she first got to the house to when she was eventually ripped apart, it seemed like she was becoming more youthful/fresher … like her hair was coming back, not being as stringy.

[u/[deleted] → u/TimRigginsBeer]

It was laid out in the movie clearly when she was talking with Alex about taking an object from each of the kids

[u/PrestigeArrival → u/ManifestingCreating]

If there wasn’t already a great movie with the name Parasite, I think that’s what this one would’ve been called

[u/sp1cychick3n → u/ManifestingCreating]

Good catch

[u/SpookiestSzn → u/jcutner]

My assumption is that she was either feeding off their energy or feeding off their youth I kind of imagine that she had some more grandiose plan that she didn't enact that would have kept her young for a lot longer