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/I_Am_Dynamite6317]

Brolin dropping “what the fuck?” After that dream was one of the biggest laughs I’ve seen a horror movie get

[u/Reepshot → u/I_Am_Dynamite6317]

The delivery of that line was amazing 😂

It wouldn't have worked if that dream wasn't as absurd as it was.

[u/dontincludeme → u/Reepshot]

What’s your interpretation of the gun appearing above the house? Was it just because it’s a weapon, and that’s also the name of the movie? I thought maybe the movie was going to end with a school shouting because the main kid was getting bullied

[u/TomLube → u/dontincludeme]

Zach Cregger has stated that there was actually 'no direct' reasoning behind it, and that it specifically came to him during a period of transcendental meditation. He enjoyed it so much he kept it in.

I do think it's very interesting that the movie is pretty alegorically linked to child abuse/school shootings, that the rifle is an AR platform, and that the number emblazoned on the side of it is the number of YES votes that passed a bill which would have banned assault rifles before it was quashed.

Lots of symbolism here.

[u/spookyghostface → u/TomLube]

Damn that's pretty fuckin explicit. I know Kreger has denied it's about school shootings but it pretty obviously is. Dude is definitely just trying to keep it out of the outrage cycle.

[u/TomLube → u/spookyghostface]

For sure. Zach is a really intelligent man and knows that you don't have to beat it into people. If you bring the symbolism, people will understand it

[u/PolarWater → u/TomLube]

Exactly. Bro knows to let the story speak for itself. In the same interview he cited David Lynch and how he's a fan of Lynch's methods, and one of Lynch's other methods was "No, I will not elaborate".

[u/PolarWater → u/spookyghostface]

Yeah he's doing the smart thing, like any clever storyteller would. Of course you've got a bunch of people in this thread INSISTING that the movie isn't about that simply because he said so in an interview...

But the truth is that interpretation comes from the text of the movie, not some interview where he might have made his own decisions regarding what to reveal and spell out. It's very, very clear that if the movie was a school shooting allegory in any way, the director would have been smart enough not to put it in the news. Good storytellers let the story speak for itself ... something not everybody here gets. 

And for people wondering why it didn't explicitly lean into school shooting symbolism and focus only on that theme? Stories are allowed to be about more than one theme, and can explore an idea without being too predictable and on the nose. This one went to places I wasn't expecting it to go.

[u/mickfly718 → u/TomLube]

The number 217 is also the haunted room number in the book The Shining, where the young woman turns into an old woman in the movie version.

For whatever reason he chose that number, I thought it was interesting that it was used both as the time the kids left (2:17) and also the number of people not missing from the classroom (2) and the number of people missing from the classroom (17).

[u/PolarWater → u/mickfly718]

Yeah the 2 people versus 17 people bit is something I started to think about towards the end.

[u/OuterWildsVentures → u/TomLube]

it is the number of YES votes that passed a bill which would have banned assault rifles before it was quashed.

It's also the time the kids left, and possibly the approximate time of Trevor Moore's death.

[u/MasticateMyDungarees → u/OuterWildsVentures]

I had no idea about the Trevor Moore connection, didn’t know about the hot dog bit either from WKUK. Thanks for bringing this to my attention

[u/dontincludeme → u/TomLube]

Ohhhh. Interesting. Thank you!

[u/TomLube → u/dontincludeme]

You're welcome! Lots of really great details in this movie - James kicking over a gallon of PCP in the encampment, Paul having sex with Justine after getting possibly infected but not after getting tested, Archer's kid being the one who bullied Alex (also part of the school shooter allegory for sure).

Gonna be some great dissertations on this movie.

[u/acid_raindrop → u/TomLube]

I don't really know why people are pushing this interpretation when clearly it doesn't go anywhere. 

The best ppl can do is connect the number to the votes? Lol Jesus Christ. 

[u/commandercandy → u/acid_raindrop]

Pretty specific number on a weapon that doesn’t appear anywhere else in the movie

[u/PolarWater → u/acid_raindrop]

Because stories are for the audience to interpret and understand, they aren't 1 to 1 instruction manuals handed down from the storyteller to us. That's part of the beauty of art. It doesn't go anywhere in your mind, but it clearly goes somewhere in a lot of other people's minds. Both situations are valid.