There isn’t a bigger story in Hollywood right now than Zach Cregger’s new horror film Weapons. Despite losing nearly all of the original cast before cameras could start rolling, the filmmaker and his crew persevered, creating a terrifying yet humorous movie that’s taking the world by storm. The proof is in the pudding, with Weapons blowing away its initial box office projections, taking the top spot on its opening weekend and beating out two major Disney projects, The Fantastic Four: First Steps and Freakier Friday. Cregger is getting butts in seats by delivering a fascinating mystery, one that forces the viewer to think twice about what they’re watching.
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While Cregger’s movie sets out to solve the puzzle, putting a couple of characters on the case after they find themselves deeply affected by the disappearance of 17 children, it doesn’t want to spoon-feed everything. Here are five questions that Weapons fans still want answered after the movie.
1) Where Does Aunt Gladys Get Her Power?
It’s hard to get a read on the situation in Maybrook, Pennsylvania, early in Weapons because everyone has their eyes on Justine Gandy, the teacher of the missing students. However, as the story progresses, it becomes clear that she’s not the mastermind of the kidnapping plot, as the real answers reside in Alex Lilly’s house, where the mysterious Gladys is staying.
Gladys shows up in Maybrook and immediately begins using some form of dark magic to suck the life force out of Alex’s parents. She does the same thing to the 17 children she lures to the house, using their energy to fend off whatever illness is threatening her life. Weapons opts not to dive deeply into Gladys’ abilities, though, leaving the audience to fill in all the blanks.
2) How Old Is Aunt Gladys?
Before Gladys arrives, Alex’s dad explains that the old woman is his wife’s aunt and that she has nowhere else to go. While it’s easy to buy that at first, the more Gladys talks, the more holes show up in her story. In fact, by the end of Weapons, it feels like the witch has been around for a lot longer than eight or so decades.
The biggest clue about Gladys’ real age comes when she meets with the school principal, Marcus Miller. She claims that Alex’s parents have “consumption,” another word for tuberculosis that was used in the 19th century. More likely than not, Gladys has been fighting off death for a couple of centuries, but the movie doesn’t confirm her date of birth.
3) Why Does Everyone Run Like That?
Kids running around in the middle of the night is terrifying enough on its own, but it’s worse when they all stick their arms out while doing it. Weapons mentions the stance that people possessed by Gladys have on multiple occasions, most notably when Marcus is chasing after Justine at the gas station. However, there’s never a real explanation for it in the movie.
Cregger revealed in an interview that he borrowed the posture from an image he came across of a young girl dealing with napalm burns. While the choice is powerful, connecting to the movie’s message about children paying for their elders’ mistakes, it still would’ve been nice to know for Weapons to explain the arms move the way they do.
4) What’s the Deal With the Giant Gun?
Another haunting image comes from the dream that Archer Graff has while sleeping in his son’s bed. The troubled father initially sees his son leaving home, which isn’t surprising because he watches the security camera footage of the incident again and again. The vibe shifts, though, when Archer turns around outside to see a giant gun floating in the air alongside the numbers “2:17.”
Of course, 2:17 is a reference to the exact time that all the kids left home. The gun’s role, on the other hand, isn’t as clear. Unlike the arm pose, Cregger doesn’t have an answer to the gun mystery, but it’s fair to assume there’s a connection between the weapon and the movie’s commentary on gun violence and trauma.
5) Who Is Narrating the Movie?
The biggest question surrounding Weapons reveals itself at the very start, when a little girl’s voice begins explaining the situation in Maybrook. She’s speaking from a couple of years in the future, revealing that everything that happened in the town got covered up. The narrator returns at the very end to provide an update on the survivors, including the children, some of whom are speaking again.
Weapons decides not to reveal the girl’s identity, but there are a lot of theories floating that claim she could be one of the children Gladys kidnapped. Unfortunately, there’s no way to know for sure if that’s true.
Weapons is in theaters.
Which of the questions on this list do you want answered the most? What other Weapons mysteries are you trying to figure out? Let us know in the comments below!
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Image courtesy of HBO
