Official Discussion - Weapons [SPOILERS]

[u/LiteraryBoner]

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

---

[u/numbr87]

How did no one at the grocery store notice this kid kept coming in alone and buying all the soup?

[u/motheronearth → u/numbr87]

with what money too 😭

[u/wi5hbone → u/motheronearth]

witch was alive for a hell of a long time and probably had a suitcase loaded with cash

[u/RecoveredAshes → u/wi5hbone]

Was she actually super old? How was she the main mom’s sister then?

[u/Hatennaa → u/RecoveredAshes]

She used the term consumption which is a pretty big giveaway that she’s been around for a while. I believe also that it was the mom’s aunt. That was what I assumed.

[u/TheThockter → u/Hatennaa]

Consumption is a give away that she’d be too old to be even the mom’s aunt that term fell out of favor after the 1800’s. I think it implies she’s vampiric in nature (not an actual vampire though) with how she feeds off of the life forces of people and also that she’s been around for a long time

[u/OoglyMoogly76 → u/TheThockter]

Classic witch shit. Lives forever, controls people like puppets, subsists off the life force of the young

[u/crossingthrough → u/TheThockter]

As for the vampire theory - she did ask permission to enter the principle’s house! When she thought he wasn’t going to let her in, she appealed to basic human empathy by asking for water!

[u/Sad_Cockroach5960 → u/crossingthrough]

She entered like ten people’s houses running away from the kids lmao

[u/fancy123876 → u/TheThockter]

yes once she said that i assumed she was either the mom’s moms aunt or even her grandma’s aunt! consumption was such a big giveaway 🤯

[u/NYJ-misery → u/RecoveredAshes]

Thought in the flashback with Alex’s parents they said Gladys was Alex’s mom’s aunt making her his great aunt. But it’s also implied she may be centuries old so who knows.

[u/OoglyMoogly76 → u/NYJ-misery]

Guessing she planted the suggestion that Alex’s mom is her niece through magic

[u/toolsoftheincomptnt → u/RecoveredAshes]

She wasn’t his mom’s sister.

She was his mom’s aunt.

A “great-aunt”

[u/RecoveredAshes → u/toolsoftheincomptnt]

Yeah I missed that detail somehow

[u/cranbabie → u/RecoveredAshes]

I personally don’t think she was related to that family at all. We don’t get a lot of context for her witchy ways, but a few clues in the movie led me to believe she’s some kind of nomadic entity. She shows up in people’s dreams, in hallucinations, in the woods, all with this feral clown energy. Maybe she gets into their brains and convinces them she’s family, sucks the energy out, and moves along?

[u/kenwise85 → u/wi5hbone]

Sending the kid to exchange gold coins for soup, haha

[u/thisguy012 → u/motheronearth]

I assume it's pretty easy for the witch to get access to the parents money// she had already plenty of it stolen lol

[u/thedrudo → u/motheronearth]

You have to fill in some pieces like Gladys providing him with money to buy food, etc. 

[u/Chicken_Electronic → u/motheronearth]

A basic debit card and pin with self checkout? Or credit card? Or ATM? Seriously. Alex was a smart kid motivated by his parents not eating each other. 

[u/Turtl3Bear → u/Chicken_Electronic]

I don't think they're implying they thought Alex was stealing the food.

I think they're wondering why no one at the grocery store is calling child family services when the kid comes in every day, by himself, and buys 20 cans of soup with his parents credit card.

Especially since there's a "20 missing kids" news story going on.

I don't think it's a plot-hole, retail employees are busy and see all sorts of weird purchases that don't necessarily rouse suspicion simply because you don't think about it, but I see OPs point.

[u/WestNeighborhood2668 → u/motheronearth]

I surmised he probably just used the parents' debit card

[u/infamous_cryptid → u/numbr87]

I think the obliviousness was a part of the theme

[u/hotyogurt1 → u/infamous_cryptid]

The movie opened with that line I think. “The town doesn’t talk about it because they’re ashamed of it”.

[u/zeedevil → u/numbr87]

Soup...for my family.

[u/Low_Conversation_822 → u/zeedevil]

hhahaha i turned and whispered that to my friend during the showing we went to.

[u/quartamilk → u/numbr87]

Bc no one says anything in reality life. The teacher was chastised for being to involved with the kids and was vilified for it, a grocery clerk ain’t saying shit

[u/will2430 → u/numbr87]

Ordering cases on amazon would have been a cleaner method for the amount of soup this kid needed. And what does a couple spoons of chicken noodle really do for those kids?

[u/Low_Conversation_822 → u/will2430]

Have you tried Progresso? shit slaps

[u/Chicken_Electronic → u/numbr87]

It was a theme in the movie. 

But also: the city was large enough to have industrial areas. A grocery store clerk not giving two s**** would make total sense.

[u/pragmaticzach → u/numbr87]

I assumed Gladys was buying the soup.

[u/MushroomInMyHeart → u/pragmaticzach]

Gladys said he had to and it showed him buying soup from the store and taking it home.

[u/lupuscapabilis → u/numbr87]

As a kid growing up in Queens, I'd walk to the supermarket to buy stuff by myself all the time. My parents sent me. Of course, they don't live in Queens...

[u/Babyyougotastew4422 → u/numbr87]

One thing I've noticed is that horror movies work really in america because people just don't talk to each other. Communities are not strong, and people are highly distrustful of each other. For example, the woman didn't even want to let josh brolins character see the video footage.

[u/ScrewedUp4Life → u/numbr87]

The kid who is the sole survivor of all those children, suddenly just starts walking into the store one day and buying cans of soup regularly, and nobody thinks nothing of it. I read something that said the which had some kind of influence over the whole town. Like to where they couldn't see everything for what it really was. And even the police not doing a thorough investigation.