Barbarianwriter-director Zach Cregger’s upcoming horror film,Weapons, has become one of the most mysterious and intriguing movies scheduled for 2025. His new moviedepicts all but one child from the same class leaving their housesand disappearing in the middle of the night, leaving their town baffled and frightened as they search for the missing children.
Based on the shocking twists featured in his previous horror hit,Barbarian, the story ofWeaponsseems like it will defy expectations. Thetrailers forWeaponsleave a lot for the imagination, excluding any explanation of who took these missing children, how they did it, and why.
All that is shown are several bizarre and frightening images that hint at a scary, mind-boggling horror movie that demands to be seen in theaters. Despite the lack of information about the story,there are already multiple theoriesabout what’s really going on inZach Cregger’sWeapons.
7It’s A Modern-Day Version Of The Pied Piper
Weapons' Dark Story Seems To Come From A Classic Folktale
One popular theory aboutWeaponssays thatthe story is based on the tale of the Pied Piper(viaCold-Fall-8237on Reddit). In folklore, the Piper used his magic instrument to lure the children of a town away after the residents refused to pay him for luring the town’s rats away. This implies that the film’s antagonist made the children disappear by using some sort of hypnotic power as an act of vengeance towards the adults.
The bell that’s seen in one of the trailers could be the villain’s way of summoning people to him.The form of hypnotism may even be some kind of demonic possession, as people are seen in the trailers vomiting black bile and stabbing themselves with forks. Benedict Wong is even shown running with a bloodied, zombie-like visage, hinting at something monstrous taking over children and adults.
6The Children Were Infected By Parasites
The Film Hints That Brainwashing Was Performed Using Parasites
If the children inWeaponswere brainwashed into leaving their homes, one of the biggest questions about the film is how they were made to do so. However, a background detail in the first trailerimplies that the kids were infected by parasitesthat took control of their brains.
Specifically, Justine Gandy, played by Julia Garner, dreams of entering her classroom, andshe stands in front of a whiteboard listing different parasites.YouTuber@LorenBehindtheScreensuggested that these parasites were activated by a certain noise or signal, which could be the bell rung in one of the film’s trailers.
5One Kid Is In On The Villain’s Plan
The Trailers Hint At A Villain Hiding In Plain Sight
In the first trailer forWeapons, when Justine dreams of entering her classroom, she sees all her students sitting at their desks with their heads down. However, one student raises their head and gives a sinister smile with their face covered in creepy makeup.This child appears to be Alex Lilly, played by Cara Christopher,who is listed as the only student in Ms. Gandy’s class who didn’t go missing.
At that moment, the child resembles another character who appears in the trailer, who laughs while wearing similar makeup. This implies that this one student wasn’t taken because he was working with the kidnapper the whole time.
4The Children Are Controlled By A Government Experiment
Weapons Hints At A Vast, Sinister Conspiracy Carried Out In Smalltown America
AnotherWeaponstheory suggeststhe childrenwere affected by a government experiment gone awry(viaDueChampionship3661on Reddit). This suggests the plot was inspired by MKUltra, a real-life program in which the CIA experimented on people by dosing them with psychedelics, often without their knowledge, in an attempt to create a mind-control drug or truth serum.
WhileWeaponsseems to be a more supernatural story involving witchcraft, it may have been drawn from MKUltra by showing civilians being brainwashed to carry out mysterious and even violent orders, becoming weapons themselves.
3The Villain Is A Child-Eating “Clown”
Weapons May Be Zach Cregger’s Take On A Classic Horror Subgenre
Having previously worked with actor Bill Skarsgård, who played Pennywise the Dancing Clown in 2017’sIt, Cregger may have been inspired to create his own story about achild-eating clown after working with one on his last film,Barbarian.
The trailer forWeaponsfeatures a brief shot of a mysterious, clown-looking figure, and the story does show children mysteriously disappearing, like in Stephen King’sIt. If this “clown” was the one who took these children away, the former might have literally rung the dinner bell while summoning them all.
2The Children Were Trying To Escape From Their Parents
The Kids of Maybrook May Have Come Across A Dark Secret
It seems like the children inWeaponswere forced to leave their homes by an outside force, and that may be true for an unexpected reason. Ryan Thomas LaBee ofMediumtheorized that the children left their homes afterlearning some “unnameable truth” that has since infected the adults in Maybrook, turning them into “weapons of their own destruction.”
While it’s a bold theory, the story is likely about the cyclical nature of loss and grief, based on how sorrowful adults seem to kill themselves after their children vanish.
1The Numbers 2 And 17
Recurring Symbols Hint At A Dark, Epic Narrative Straight Out Of The Bible
The numbers 2 and 17 appear to hold significant meaning inWeapons. Footage from the film shows seventeen children from Justine’s class leaving their homes in Maybrook anddisappearing at exactly 2:17 AM. Though only one child from the class didn’t vanish, Justine herself counts as one of two people from the classroom who didn’t disappear.
These numberscould be a reference to the Great Flood from the Bible, which is said to have occurred on the 17th day of the second month. This Biblical parallel seems to hint at a supernatural or even an apocalyptic event occurring in the town. It is worth pointing out that Cregger citedMagnoliaas an inspiration forWeapons (viaEntertainment Weekly).
The former movie features frogs falling from the sky, referencing one of the ten plagues unleashed by Moses in the Bible.Weaponscould take a cue fromMagnoliaand unleash another Biblical disaster that begins with the children disappearing. Similarly, @LorenBehindtheScreen theorized thatthe numbers may actually reference Matthew 2:17. Josh Brolin’s son in the film is even named “Matthew,” which may be more than just a coincidence.
The Biblical verse is part of the story of the “Massacre of the Innocents,” in which King Herod slaughtered the children of Bethlehem in an attempt to kill the infant Jesus. This tale parallels the disappearance of the kids inWeapons, leaving the adults of Maybrook in despair as they worry about the lives of their children.
