Let's discuss everything that went down in the latest viral horror movie from &34;Barbarian&34; director Zach Cregger. Weapons ending: Unpacking those offtherai

Let's discuss everything that went down in the latest viral horror movie from "Barbarian" director Zach Cregger.

Weapons ending: Unpacking those off-the-rails, twisty revelations

Let's discuss everything that went down in the latest viral horror movie from "Barbarian" director Zach Cregger.

By Nick Romano

Nick is an entertainment journalist based in New York, NY. If you like pugs and the occasional blurry photo of an action figure, follow him on Twitter @NickARomano.

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Published on August 8, 2025 10:00AM EDT

Cary Christopher as Alex Lilly in 'Weapons'. Credit:

Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures.

**This article contains spoilers from *Weapons*. **

By the end of *Weapons*, any answers about the plot's central mystery are replaced with a myriad of other questions. However, writer/director Zach Cregger is becoming the kind of filmmaker who prefers his work to speak for itself. This can be painful for anyone who tends to watch movies over and over again, poring over every small detail in case it could be some telling clue to the bigger picture.

Ahead of *Weapons*' release on Friday, the filmmaker, who previously gave us viral horror hit *Barbarian* (2022), declined to say much of anything when it came to the actual plot beyond this basic premise: 17 out of 18 children in Ms. Justine Gandy's class at Maybrook Elementary School all mysteriously wake up at exactly 2:17 a.m. one Wednesday morning, leave their separate homes, and run into the night, leaving a grieving town without answers.

"It's an incredibly personal story. In fact, there are certain chapters of this that are legitimately autobiographical that I feel like I lived, but if I explain why, then I'm robbing the audience of their opportunity to engage with it on their terms," Cregger once told **. "One of the most beautiful things about movies is that I'm only half of the equation, but the other crucial part of the process is the audience, when they sit and they absorb it, and you make sense of it in whatever terms you want to. If I'm standing on the sidelines shouting out what it means, then I'm robbing you of that."

Even now, as the movie opens in theaters and the more TikTok-active attendees post spoilers from the *Weapons* ending directly on social media for all to see, Cregger politely declined any post-release press interviews. So in that spirit, here is how *we* absorb and process the film as best we can.

The top-secret role that connects it all

Cary Christopher as Alex Lilly in 'Weapons'.

Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures.

A big inspiration for *Weapons* that Cregger made known early on was *Magnolia*, Paul Thomas Anderson's 1999 drama. He says that movie "was looming over me," though the parallels only become clear once you watch *Weapons*.

*Magnolia* tells a story from the different viewpoints of several interrelated characters, beginning with John C. Reilly's Jim Kurring, a Los Angeles police officer investigating a dead body found in a woman's apartment. The story continues to unravel by shifting to various POVs in the ensemble cast. *Weapons* has a similar structure.

'Weapons' opening scene tells the origin of the movie itself — Watch exclusive clip

What is 'Weapons' about? Cast sets up the key players and shifting POVs

A title card begins with the story of Justine Gandy (Julia Garner), the teacher of all 17 missing children who becomes public enemy No. 1. The story then transitions to the POV of Archer Graff (Josh Brolin), the father of one of the missing who's consumed with finding his son; then Paul Morgan (Alden Ehrenreich), the local police officer who has a history with Ms. Gandy; Principal Marcus (Benedict Wong) of Maybrook Elementary; and finally Alex Lilly (Cary Christopher), the only student of Ms. Gandy's class who didn't vanish.

It's in those final chapters that we meet Amy Madigan's character, Gladys, who presents herself as Alex's great-aunt on his mom's side. She comes to live with the Lillys under the guise of needing elderly assistance in her waning years, but she promptly uses magic to take control of Mr. and Mrs. Lilly. What magic exactly? Well, it's hard to tell, but it seems to be some kind of mashup of Satanic worship and voodoo-doll puppeteering.

A screenshot of Amy Madigan as Gladys from the 'Weapons' trailer.

Warner Bros/Youtube

Her weapons of choice include a small, mysterious bell engraved with an upside-down triangle and the number 6, and sharp, jagged branches from an ominous-looking potted tree. Paired with a personal item from her victim and drops of her own blood, she uses these objects to turn any subject into an empty shell, taking complete control of their actions.

In the case of Alex's parents, she makes them stab themselves with forks as a way to threaten the young boy. With Principal Marcus, she forces him to kill his husband and chase down Ms. Gandy through town. And in the case of Alex's classmates, she summons them from their slumbers one early Wednesday morning at 2:17 a.m. and corrals them in her basement.

The ritual seems to replenish Gladys' health as if syphoning off the life force from her victims, and a classroom full of young kids is the kind of battery she needs.

Only dropping the sticks in a bowl of water will end the ritual, but it doesn't necessarily restore those affected to their original selves. When Alex uses Gladys' magic against her in the climactic finale, by having Maybrook's missing kids rip her apart limb from limb in a particularly comical, albeit gruesome chase sequence, they remain trapped in a fugue state. The child narrator explains that many of them never speak again, though Archer's son spoke his first words years later.

Alden Ehrenreich's Paul attacks Justine (Julia Garner) in 'Weapons'.

Warner Bros. Pictures

Earlier in the film, a character notably watches a documentary on the Cordyceps fungi and how it can take over small ants by embedding its tendrils in their brains to puppet them. It's notable in that Cordyceps entered the pop culture zeitgeist through *The Last of Us*, the award-winning zombie-adjacent video games that spawned the award-winning HBO drama series starring Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey.

Pascal was originally supposed to star in *Weapons* in Brolin's role of Archer before the Hollywood strikes delayed production and forced the A-lister to bow out. So it's not unreasonable to think Cregger could've been inspired by *The Last of Us*. Evolved Cordyceps is what causes the zombie-like outbreak in that HBO series, operating somewhat like how Gladys infects her victims.

Another scene gives us further insight into Cregger's cinematic influences. In the ending of the movie, as Alex takes refuge in his bathroom, a bewitched Mrs. Lilly (Callie Schuttera) punches a hole through the door. The camera offers a close-up of her snarling face poking through as she tries to force her way in. It's a very "Here's Johnny!" moment reminiscent of Jack Nicholson's Jack Torrance in *The Shining*, another character who loses their mind and attacks their family.

Is Weapons based on a true story?

Julia Garner as Justine Gandy in 'Weapons'.

Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures.

Based on the majority of questions inputted into Google searches these days, it seems a lot of people are wondering about any kind of true-to-life inspiration behind the movie. In short, no, *Weapons* is not based on any actual event, but Cregger's inspiration does come from personal experience.

"I had a tragedy in my life that was really, really tough," he told EW. "Someone very, very, very close to me died suddenly and, honestly, I was so grief-stricken that I just started writing *Weapons*, not out of any ambition, but just as a way to reckon with my own emotions."

Cregger went into further detail with *GQ* writer Sam McPheeters, who knows the director personally. That loss was Trevor Moore, Cregger's close friend from the Whitest Kids U' Know, their comedy troupe that had an IFC sketch series from 2007-2011. On Aug. 7, 2021, Moore tripped over a balcony railing and fatally fell onto his driveway, according to McPheeters.

"The movie's about that overwhelming emotion you get when you lose someone close to you," Cregger said. "This script was me venting about that. So I didn't explode."

The characters of *Weapons* all grapple with the grief of losing these kids. Garner's Justine becomes consumed with Alex, saying, "We're the only ones left," as if to justify her stalking. Brolin's Archer is similarly trapped in time, unable to move on from this event. You could say the same of the entire town.

That floating AR-15

Julia Garner as Justine Gandy, Josh Brolin as Archer Graff in 'Weapons'.

Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures.

There are, however, certain pieces of *Weapons* that point to real-world events that we can't ignore.

The most overt element is a haunting vision experienced by Archer. In a similar nightmare Justine suffered, Archer dreams of a giant AR-15 rifle floating above a house on a frantic search to follow the voice of his son. The AR-15 became the weapon at the center of the majority of mass shootings that continue to traumatize families in the United States.

In the context of *Weapons*, the AR-15 brings to mind the tragedy of Sandy Hook Elementary School. On Dec. 14, 2012, a 20-year-old perpetrator shot and killed 26 people, including 20 children between the ages of 6 and 7, at the school in Newtown, Conn.

To date, Cregger has not addressed this specific aspect of *Weapons*. He did set the film in a similar northeast suburban town (the fictional Maybrook, Pa.), though he said that's more so because he grew up in Arlington, Va., which is a comparable environment. The writer-director also shared that he initially toyed with a "way more grizzly and terrible" concept than 17 children running into the night under mysterious circumstances. "It was suicide," he told EW. "I don't wanna watch that movie, I don't wanna make that movie, but I was writing that movie. That was the one self-edit that I did."

Is Weapons connected to Barbarian?

Justin Long's AJ in 'Barbarian'.

20th Century Studios

When the marketing for *Weapons* first began, Warner Bros. launched a fake website featuring news articles about the goings-on in the town of Maybrook. One article stood out, though, due to its connection to the events of *Barbarian*.

Cregger's 2022 horror film focused on a woman by the name of Tess Marshall (Georgina Campbell) arriving at her Airbnb in Detroit's Brightmoor neighborhood one rainy night to find it already occupied by another renter, Keith (Bill Skarsgård). Just like *Weapons*, this simple premise gives way to an onslaught of horrific twists. The two discover a secret network of underground tunnels beneath the house and the naked, deformed woman known as the Mother (Matthew Patrick Davis) who dwells there. The Mother kills Keith and leaves Tess trapped to become her new child.

The article on the Maybrook website reports about Tess' story, including her escape, the tunnels, and an unnamed actor "found dead nearby." Justin Long starred in *Barbarian* as AJ, the owner of the Brightmoor house that he listed on Airbnb and an actor who died at the hands of the Mother.

Georgina Campbell as Tess in 'Barbarian'.

20th Century Studios

So is *Weapons* connected to *Barbarian*? Cregger's official response on the matter, as told to EW, is: "I don't want to definitively say any way or the other."

However, it is worth noting that Long and another *Barbarian* actor, Sara Paxton, both have roles in *Weapons*. Long plays a completely different character named Gary, another father of a missing Maybrook kid. Paxton, who provided the voice of the nurse narrating a breastfeeding tutorial video that the Mother watched in *Barbarian*, plays Gary's wife. Brolin's Archer manipulates his way into their home so he can watch their security camera recordings, hoping to find new clues.

That casting alone suggests these films aren't connected, but that remains unconfirmed. And, again, Cregger isn't commenting — at least not at this time. Perhaps the meaning of everything will be revealed in the bonus features of the home release.**

Some answers we might never get

Cary Christopher as Alex Lilly in 'Weapons'.

Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures.

This may not be what some die-hard cinephiles want to hear, but...even Cregger doesn't know the answers to some of your questions.

Like, why does everyone under Gladys' thrall run the same way, with wild eyes and their arms jutting out sharply to the side? "It was just there, honestly," he told EW. "From the first moment, I was like, 'And they run like that.'" He does think the haunting "Napalm Girl" photograph, depicting crying children fleeing a napalm attack during the Vietnam War, may have subconsciously inspired him.

"I think there's something really upsetting about that posture," he said. "If I had to guess, that might be where the seed is from. I don't know. But there was no second-guessing that pose. I knew that they would run that way."

What about the meaning behind the title, *Weapons*? In recent months, a family friend of the director pointed out how the etymology of the word "weapons" goes back to the phrase "small arms," though he didn't intentionally make that connection with the title choice. "Just think about that for a second. That's crazy," he says of that coincidence. "So already I'm like, *Here we go*. I don't know what else we're going to find. And that's just from people analyzing the teaser."

*Weapons* is playing now in theaters.

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