Barbarian director Zach Cregger's second feature, Weapons, is now playing in theaters, and we're delving into the twisted mystery at the heart of the movie that's outlined in the opening narration.
“Last night, at 2:17 am, every child from Mrs. Gandy’s class woke up, got out of bed, went downstairs, opened the front door, walked into the dark … and they never came back.”
If you haven't been to see the movie yet, be warned that major spoilers follow from this point on.
Not everything from the narration is entirely accurate. One boy named Alex (Cary Christopher) remains in the classroom, and the other kids do eventually come back... albeit forever changed by their nightmarish ordeal.
The movie deals with the fallout of this incident, with the story unfolding from the POV of several characters. Justine Gandy (Julia Garner) must deal with carrying the weight of suspicion from the devastated parents; the father of one of the missing kids, Archer Graff (Josh Brolin), harasses Justine while carrying out his own investigation; town cop and Justine's ex Paul (Alden Ehrenreich) pursues a drug addict named James (Austin Abrams) who he believes knows more than he cares to admit, and school principal Andrew (Benedict Wong) checks in with Alex’s parents, only to discover that the lad's Aunt Gladys (Amy Madigan) is now looking after him.
At this point, we begin to get some answers. It turns out that Gladys is actually a powerful witch, who commands her nephew to bring her personal items from his classmates so that she can cast a spell (sticks, twine, hair and blood are used in the ritual) and control the children's minds, forcing them all to run and hide in the basement of Alex's house. Though it's never explicitly stated, Gladys appears to be feeding off the kids' life-force(?) in order to rejuvenate and reverse the ageing process.
After a series of horrific events leads Justine and Archer to the house, they are set upon by Paul and James, who have also been brainwashed by Gladys. They are able to overpower and kill their attackers, but Archer then falls under the witch's spell and turns on Justine, while Alex's parents are "weaponized" against their own son.
Ultimately, Alex is able to use Gladys' own magic against her, resulting in his formerly catatonic classmates chasing the witch down and tearing her to pieces. The closing narration tells us that the kids all returned home, and "some of them even started talking again this year."
Have you seen Weapons yet? If so, what did you make of the ending? Let us know in the comments section.
From New Line Cinema and Zach Cregger, the wholly original mind behind Barbarian, comes a new horror/thriller: Weapons. When all but one child from the same class mysteriously vanish on the same night at exactly the same time, a community is left questioning who or what is behind their disappearance.
The film stars Josh Brolin, Julia Garner, Alden Ehrenreich, Austin Abrams, Cary Christopher, with Benedict Wong, and Amy Madigan.
Cregger directs from his own screenplay, and also produces alongside Roy Lee, Miri Yoon, J.D. Lifshitz and Raphael Margules, with Michelle Morrissey and Josh Brolin executive producing. The filmmaker’s creative team behind the camera includes director of photography Larkin Seiple, production designer Tom Hammock, editor Joe Murphy and costume designer Trish Sommerville. The music is by Ryan Holladay, Hays Holladay and Zach Cregger.