Barbarian writer-director Zach Cregger’s upcoming horror movie, Weapons, has turn into some of the mysterious and intriguing films scheduled for 2025. His new film depicts all however one baby from the identical class leaving their homes and disappearing in the course of the evening, leaving their city baffled and frightened as they seek for the lacking youngsters.
Primarily based on the stunning twists featured in his earlier horror hit, Barbarian, the story of Weapons looks like it’s going to defy expectations. The trailers for Weapons depart so much for the creativeness, excluding any clarification of who took these lacking youngsters, how they did it, and why.
All that’s proven are a number of weird and scary photos that trace at a scary, mind-boggling horror film that calls for to be seen in theaters. Regardless of the lack of expertise in regards to the story, there are already a number of theories about what’s actually occurring in Zach Cregger’s Weapons.
7
It is A Fashionable-Day Model Of The Pied Piper
Weapons’ Darkish Story Appears To Come From A Traditional Folktale
One standard idea about Weapons says that the story relies on the story of the Pied Piper (by way of Chilly-Fall-8237 on Reddit). In folklore, the Piper used his magic instrument to lure the kids of a city away after the residents refused to pay him for luring the city’s rats away. This means that the movie’s antagonist made the kids disappear through the use of some form of hypnotic energy as an act of vengeance in direction of the adults.
Associated
20 Greatest Horror Films Of All Time
What are one of the best horror films of all time? Each fan has their opinion, however these films have stood the take a look at of time to turn into certifiable icons.
The bell that is seen in one of many trailers may very well be the villain’s means of summoning individuals to him. The type of hypnotism could even be some type of demonic possession, as individuals are seen within the trailers vomiting black bile and stabbing themselves with forks. Benedict Wong is even proven operating with a bloodied, zombie-like visage, hinting at one thing monstrous taking up youngsters and adults.
6
The Kids Have been Contaminated By Parasites
The Movie Hints That Brainwashing Was Carried out Utilizing Parasites
If the kids in Weapons have been brainwashed into leaving their houses, one of many greatest questions in regards to the movie is how they have been made to take action. Nonetheless, a background element within the first trailer implies that the youngsters have been contaminated by parasites that took management of their brains.
Particularly, Justine Gandy, performed by Julia Garner, goals of coming into her classroom, and she stands in entrance of a whiteboard itemizing totally different parasites. YouTuber @LorenBehindtheScreen prompt that these parasites have been activated by a sure noise or sign, which may very well be the bell rung in one of many movie’s trailers.
5
One Child Is In On The Villain’s Plan
The Trailers Trace At A Villain Hiding In Plain Sight
Within the first trailer for Weapons, when Justine goals of coming into her classroom, she sees all her college students sitting at their desks with their heads down. Nonetheless, one pupil raises their head and offers a sinister smile with their face lined in creepy make-up. This baby seems to be Alex Lilly, performed by Cara Christopher, who’s listed as the one pupil in Ms. Gandy’s class who did not go lacking.
At that second, the kid resembles one other character who seems within the trailer, who laughs whereas sporting comparable make-up. This means that this one pupil wasn’t taken as a result of he was working with the kidnapper the entire time.
4
The Kids Are Managed By A Authorities Experiment
Weapons Hints At A Huge, Sinister Conspiracy Carried Out In Smalltown America
One other Weapons idea suggests the kids have been affected by a authorities experiment gone awry (by way of DueChampionship3661 on Reddit). This means the plot was impressed by MKUltra, a real-life program wherein the CIA experimented on individuals by dosing them with psychedelics, usually with out their data, in an try to create a mind-control drug or fact serum.
Associated
Who Is Zach Cregger? The Comic & Barbarian Director Forward Of His New Film, Weapons
Zach Cregger burst onto the Hollywood scene together with his 2022 horror movie Barbarian, however the comic and director had one other well-known venture beforehand.
Whereas Weapons appears to be a extra supernatural story involving witchcraft, it might have been drawn from MKUltra by displaying civilians being brainwashed to hold out mysterious and even violent orders, changing into weapons themselves.
3
The Villain Is A Baby-Consuming “Clown”
Weapons Might Be Zach Cregger’s Take On A Traditional Horror Subgenre
Having beforehand labored with actor Invoice Skarsgård, who performed Pennywise the Dancing Clown in 2017’s It, Cregger could have been impressed to create his personal story a couple of child-eating clown after working with one on his final movie, Barbarian.
The trailer for Weapons incorporates a temporary shot of a mysterious, clown-looking determine, and the story does present youngsters mysteriously disappearing, like in Stephen King’s It. If this “clown” was the one who took these youngsters away, the previous might need actually rung the dinner bell whereas summoning all of them.
2
The Kids Have been Making an attempt To Escape From Their Mother and father
The Children of Maybrook Might Have Come Throughout A Darkish Secret
It looks like the kids in Weapons have been compelled to go away their houses by an out of doors power, and that could be true for an sudden motive. Ryan Thomas LaBee of Medium theorized that the kids left their houses after studying some “unnameable fact” that has since contaminated the adults in Maybrook, turning them into “weapons of their very own destruction.”
Whereas it is a daring idea, the story is probably going in regards to the cyclical nature of loss and grief, based mostly on how sorrowful adults appear to kill themselves after their youngsters vanish.
1
The Numbers 2 And 17
Recurring Symbols Trace At A Darkish, Epic Narrative Straight Out Of The Bible
The numbers 2 and 17 seem to carry vital which means in Weapons. Footage from the movie reveals seventeen youngsters from Justine’s class leaving their houses in Maybrook and disappearing at precisely 2:17 AM. Although just one baby from the category did not vanish, Justine herself counts as certainly one of two individuals from the classroom who did not disappear.
These numbers may very well be a reference to the Nice Flood from the Bible, which is alleged to have occurred on the seventeenth day of the second month. This Biblical parallel appears to trace at a supernatural and even an apocalyptic occasion occurring within the city. It’s price stating that Cregger cited Magnolia as an inspiration for Weapons (by way of Leisure Weekly).
The previous film options frogs falling from the sky, referencing one of many ten plagues unleashed by Moses within the Bible. Weapons may take a cue from Magnolia and unleash one other Biblical catastrophe that begins with the kids disappearing. Equally, @LorenBehindtheScreen theorized that the numbers may very well reference Matthew 2:17. Josh Brolin’s son within the movie is even named “Matthew,” which can be greater than only a coincidence.
Associated
Barbarian Was Scary, However Zach Cregger’s Observe-Up Appears Like The Most Horrifying Film Of 2025
Zach Cregger’s upcoming horror movie, Weapons, appears to be like superb and terrifying, making it a terrific follow-up to the success of his 2022 film Barbarian.
The Biblical verse is a part of the story of the “Bloodbath of the Innocents,” wherein King Herod slaughtered the kids of Bethlehem in an try to kill the toddler Jesus. This story parallels the disappearance of the youngsters in Weapons, leaving the adults of Maybrook in despair as they fear in regards to the lives of their youngsters.
Supply: EW, Chilly-Fall-8237/Reddit, DueChampionship3661/Reddit, Medium, @LorenBehindtheScreen
Weapons
- Launch Date
-
August 8, 2025
- Runtime
-
128 minutes
- Director
-
Zach Cregger
- Writers
-
Zach Cregger
- Producers
-
Roy Lee, Miri Yoon, J.D. Lifshitz