Who or What Was Behind the Children's Disappearance?

Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for ‘Weapons’Nearly three years after the release of Barbarian, The Whitest Kids U’Know stalwart turned horror auteur Zach Cregger has returned to the big screen with his twisty new odyssey, Weapons. Set in the small Pennsylvania town of Maybrook, the film begins when 17 children leave their homes simultaneously at 2:17 a.m., never to be seen again. Their connection? They are all third-graders in Justine Grandy’s (Julia Garner) class. And only one of them, Alex Lilly (Cary Christopher), hasn’t gone missing. As the town devolves into hysteria, looking for someone to blame, the real truth is even wilder than you could ever imagine. Featuring a cast that also includes Josh Brolin, Benedict Wong, Alden honorableand Austin Abrams, Weapons has gone on to become one of the most critically acclaimed and celebrated horror movies of 2025. And for good reason, it’s a damn unique horror movie, unlike anything we’ve seen in some time.

Similar to the structure of Barbarian, Weapons unravels its mystery through a nonlinear, overlapping narrative told through six chapterseach one focusing on a specific character. We start with Justine, then Archerthe father of one of the missing children, then Justine’s ex, Paula temperamental police officer, then Jamesa young homeless drug addict and burglar. And then there’s Marcus, the school principal, and young Alex, and it is in these last two chapters that Cregger reveals what is really going on.

There’s a Witch in Maybrook, and It’s Not Miss Grandy

Table of Contents

There’s a Witch in Maybrook, and It’s Not Miss Grandy
Aunt Gladys Is the True Villain of ‘Weapons’
‘Weapons’ Ends on a Bittersweet Note
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It’s not long into Weapons that we first hear the word “witch,” after someone paints it onto Justine’s car. Justine’s not a model citizen by any means, as we learn that she has a history of overstepping boundaries with students, having sexual relationships with married men, and struggling with alcoholism, which resulted in her receiving a DUI. However, she’s not a bad person, and it’s clear that she is someone who deeply cares about her students. In the film’s first two chapters, both Justine and Archer have nightmares that culminate in seeing a strange elderly woman (Amy Madigan), wearing far too much makeup for comforthiding in places where she shouldn’t be. Later on, during James’ storyline, we see her standing in the woods, seemingly having followed the young man after he broke into her home and discovered the children hiding in her basementwhich also happens to be in the home of Alex, the one student of Justine’s who didn’t disappear.

It’s not until the Marcus section of the film that we actually learn who this creepy woman is: Alex’s Aunt Gladys. Gladys visits Marcus in his office, where she claims that Alex’s parents are “very sick” and are unable to talk with him, and that she’s been left to take care of the family. Marcus is suspicious of Gladys, especially her claims that Alex’s parents are dealing with “a touch of consumption.” Towards the end of this scene, we see Gladys eyeing a row of ribbons in Marcus’ office.

Later, Gladys arrives at Marcus and his husband’s (Clayton Farris) house, asking to come in for “a bowl of water.” Marcus wants nothing to do with Gladys, but his husband insists on inviting her in. Upon giving Gladys her “bowl of water,” she pulls out a wooden stick, adorned with ribbons, and pricks her finger on it, then snaps it in half, hypnotizing Marcus and ordering him to murder his husband before leaving to go out and kill Justine. Marcus, with his eyes bulging and face covered in his husband’s blood, sprints out of the house in the same fashion as the missing schoolchildren did when they left their home, and finds Justine and Archer at a gas station. While Justine is able to escape with the help of Archer, Marcus is hit by a car, instantly killing him. After the incident, Archer shows Justine a map of the town, which shows that the running patterns of the missing children all lead to Alex’s house.

Aunt Gladys Is the True Villain of ‘Weapons’

Alex’s chapter in the film shows us that before all this violence and terror, he lived a perfectly normal life. His parents (Whitmer Thomas and Callie Schuttera) are incredibly loving, but one day they decide to welcome Aunt Gladys to their home, who we’re told is extremely ill and at death’s door. Alex is immediately suspicious of Gladys, and one morning, while sneaking about, notices a weird-looking potted tree in her bedroom.

Alex’s dad would always pick him up from and to school every day, so when he doesn’t show up one day, the poor, confused boy walks himself home. Upon entering his home, he realizes that something is immediately up, as his parents are seated at the dining room table, seemingly in a trance. Gladys, on the other hand, seems much healthier and far more lively. We soon learn that Gladys is feeding off the youth of others to stay alive by performing rituals that involve her potted tree. For the next few days, Alex is forced to spoon-feed his parents soup, with Gladys threatening him that she will kill them if he tells anybody about what’s going on. As Gladys begins to weaken once more, she forces Alex to summon his entire class to their home. He sneaks out of gym class and steals all of his classmates’ name tags, later giving them to Gladys. Then, at 2:17 AM, Gladys uses her bowl of water and “a wand” from her potted tree once more and summons Alex’s entire class to their house. Around a month later, Alex returns home from school to find James and Paul standing in a similar trance.

‘Weapons’ Ends on a Bittersweet Note

Image via Warner Bros.

After we learn the truth, the film then cuts back to Justine and Archer working together, breaking into Alex’s home, where they find James and Paul surrounded by salt circles. Justine attempts to approach Paul but inadvertently triggers Glady’s spell, leading the two men to chase her and Archer around the house. Alex also tries to approach his parents, disobeying his Aunt’s rule of not stepping over the salt circles, and causes them to chase him into Gladys’ bedroom. Justine steals Paul’s gun, and shoots both him and James dead, and Archer flees to the basement, where he finds his son, Matthew, along with the rest of his class.

Alex locks himself inside Gladys’ bathroom as his parents ravenously attempt to break in. Remembering the witchcraft rituals, Alex uses a branch from the potted tree and a strand of hair from Gladys’ wig, and snaps it in half over the toilet, breaking the spelland causing the children to violently chase Gladys around Maybrook, and tear her apart, limb from limb. Realizing that the spell has been broken, Archer rushes to find his son, catatonic, but no longer possessed. Justine sees that Alex’s parents are also no longer possessed, with the young boy hugging them both.

The film ends with a voiceover narration that Alex’s parents have been institutionalized after the events and that he has now been placed under the care of another aunt, albeit one who is far kinder. The last shot of the movie has Archer carrying his son through the street as the voiceover tells us that all the children were reunited with their families, and some of them were “even able to speak again.” Culminating in a bittersweet and darkly comic ending to Cregger’s ambitious suburban nightmare.

Weapons is now playing in theaters.